ENERGY SOURCES FOR EVAPORATION ON TROPICAL ISLANDS

The sources of energy for evaporation on tropical islands were explored by studying 49 lowland sites in the Hawaiian Islands with concurrent pan evaporation and solar radiation measurements. The Priestley-Taylor (1972) method was used to quantify the contribution of solar radiation in evaporation and the residual term between estimated and measured evaporation was attributed to heat advection. Pearson correlation coefficients between monthly measured and estimated evaporation (using solar radiation data) were greater than 0.95 at 26 of the sites, 0.90 for 37 sites, and 0.80 at 46 of the 49 sites used in the study. As expected, solar radiation supplies the bulk of the energy absorbed by evaporation at low elevations in Hawaii. However, a pattern of negative advection in summer and positive advection in winter from the surrounding ocean modifies the monthly evaporation values. For the 20 sites showing the greatest oceanic influence, departures ranged, on average, from +0.84 mm/day in November to -0.71 mm/day in June. This onshore advection corresponds to the seasonal lag in sea surface temperatures. At inland and wet lee sites, the effect of advection from oceanic sources diminishes. At dry lee sites, strong positive advection is evident in summer and autumn, enhancing evaporation by up to 2.8 mm/day. [Key words: evaporation, energy, tropical islands, radiation, advection]