Geotechnical engineering

Ecology

Engineering

Environmental resource management

Water conservation

Archaeology

Agricultural engineering

Business

Water use

Biology

Farm water

Systems engineering

Geography

Water scarcity

Irrigation management

Water cycle

Evapotranspiration

Water resource management

Agriculture

Water resources

Sustainability

Water balance

Environmental science

Estimation

Hydrology

Evapotranspiration (ET) is a major component of the water cycle and agricultural water balance. Estimation of water consumption over agricultural areas is important for agricultural water resources planning, management, and regulation. It leads to the establishment of a sustainable water balance, mitigates the impacts of water scarcity, as well as prevents the overusing and wasting of precious water resources. As evapotranspiration is a major consumptive use of irrigation water and rainwater on agricultural lands, improvements of water use efficiency and sustainable water management in agriculture must be based on the accurate estimation of ET. Applications of precision and digital agricultural technologies, the integration of advanced techniques including remote sensing and satellite technology, and usage of machine learning algorithms will be an advantage to enhance the accuracy of the ET estimation in agricultural water management. This paper reviews and summarizes the technical development of the available methodologies and explores the advanced techniques in the estimation of ET in agricultural water management and highlights the potential improvements to enhance the accuracy of the ET estimation to achieve precise agricultural water management.

A Review on Evapotranspiration Estimation in Agricultural Water Management: Past, Present, and Future