Color It Evaporation

Abstract

Evaporation is a major hydrologic process in arid and semiarid lands. A brief review of evaporation literature indicates that a unique parameter, color, is desirable. Artificially colored water was used in a west Texas experiment to monitor evaporation rate and to note the effect of color on evaporation. Artificially green water had a higher evaporation rate than sewage and runoff. Five different colored waters were studied from 1966 to 1970. Color seems to affect the amount of adsorbed radiation as well as the extent of black radiation. The trend for a higher daily rate of evaporation existed for colored waters except during periods of low air temperature. Seven graphs are presented to support these conclusions.