Evaporation Estimation for Lake Okeechobee in South Florida

Lake Okeechobee, located in subtropical South Florida, is the second largest completely contained freshwater lake in the United States. The average, annual evaporation is 132 cm, reported following five years of meteorology data analysis (1993–1997). Simple models, developed from an open-water lysimeter evaporation study, are recommended to estimate daily lake evaporation from solar radiation or solar radiation and maximum air temperature. Seven evaporation estimation methods were evaluated to compare their applicability in providing daily, lake evaporation estimation for water management purposes. The analysis used five-year meteorology data, measured inside the lake. Monthly pan coefficients and annual average pan coefficients were produced for seven pan evaporation stations in the vicinity of Lake Okeechobee. Using the recommended simple models and the remote meteorology data collection, Lake Okeechobee daily evaporation can be reported at the end of each day for water management decision-making.