Evaluation and calibration of alternative methods for estimating reference evapotranspiration in the main hydrosystems of Senegal: Senegal, Gambia and Casamance River Basins

Abstract. Reference evapotranspiration (ET0) is an essential parameter for hydrological modeling, irrigation planning and for studying the impacts of climate change on water resources. The Penman–Monteith method is recommended for estimating ET0 under all climatic conditions, but its application is limited in regions where data is difficult to access. The alternative is to use methods that incorporate fewer climatic parameters. The objective of this work is to evaluate twenty alternative methods using few climate parameters of estimating ET0 and to calibrate/validate the best ones in order to adapt them to the climatic context of the main hydrosystems of Senegal: Senegal, Gambia and Casamance river basins. The KGE and the PBIAS were used to evaluate the performance of the methods. The results show that after calibration/validation the methods of Trabert, Hargreaves, Hargreaves & Samani, Trajkovic and Oudin are the best on for the estimation of the reference evapotranspiration in the Senegal, Gambia and Casamance River Basins.