Use of pan evaporation to estimate terrestrial evaporation trends: The case of the Tibetan Plateau

There is still no general agreement on the relationship between the evaporation of open water from a small pan and the terrestrial evaporation from the surrounding landscape under drying conditions. A possible way out of this impasse is reviewed and applied to the harsh and extreme climatic conditions of the Tibetan Plateau. It is confirmed herein that during 1966-2000 with a pan evaporation trend of -4.57 mm a-2, the terrestrial evaporation trend was +0.7 mm a-2, in agreement with the experimental findings of Zhang et al. (2007). ©2013. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.