Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
United States
Mexico
NLWS
Tularosa
Truth or
Consequences
La Luz
Alamogordo
Hatch
Las Cruces
Anthony
Legend
Weather station
SLWS
Elephant Butte Reservoir
New Mexico
0
2
4
8km
FIGURE 8.5
Location of Elephant Butte Reservoir and NLWS, New Mexico, United States used for the
estimating pan evaporation case study. (From Beriro, D.J. et al.,
Environ. Model. Soft.
, 47, 29, 2013.)
west of the reservoir at an elevation of ~1345 m. SLWS is located by the Elephant Butte Dam ~0.4 km
south of the reservoir at an elevation of ~1378 m. Both weather stations have been used in previous
daily pan evaporation studies (Abudu
et al., 2011; Moreno
et al., 2010). The weather in Sierra County is
seasonal, characterised by hot summers and cool winters. The region has a typical, semi-arid climate
with maximum temperatures ranging from 36°C to 41°C, minimum temperatures ranging from −8°C
to −21°C and an average annual precipitation of 22 cm (Williams, 1986). The frost period is short and
the reservoir does not freeze over. The prevailing wind blows from the west and southwest with peak
winds occurring during spring and early summer.
Six years (2002-2007) of daily data were modelled for NLWS. Eight standard meteorological
variables had been recorded, using appropriate equipment and, additionally,
E
PA N
had been logged
