Calibration and evaluation of five radiation-based reference evapotranspiration estimation methods in Yazd province

The purpose of this study is to compare and evaluate five different methods of estimating the evapotranspiration of the reference plant on a nine-year daily data scale in Yazd province. Selected methods included Hargreaves-Samani (HS) , Priestley-Taylor (PT) , Turk (Turc) , Makkink (MK) and Dalton (D). For this purpose, data from ten synoptic meteorological stations were used covering a period of 9 years. The results of the mentioned methods were evaluated by FPM-56 method. Also, using FPM-56 method, the mentioned methods were calibrated for the studied stations. Also, using FPM-56 method, the mentioned methods were calibrated for the studied stations. RMSE, NS, SI, MAE, R^2 statistical criteria were used to evaluate the results. The results showed that before calibration the results of different methods are very different from FPM-56. The only acceptable model before calibration was the HS model. After calibration, the results of the models improved and model D, which was the worst model before calibration, was recognized as the best model for estimating evapotranspiration in Yazd province among the five selected methods. Mean values of Model D before calibration MAE = 3.83, R^2= 0.84, NS = -1.99, SI = 0.83, RMSE = 4.21 and after calibration MAE=0.83, R^2=0.86, NS=0.72, SI = 0.22, RMSE=1.02 was obtained. After calibration, Turc, PT and MK models were in the next categories of the best models.