ABSTRACT
Evaporation is the transferral of liquid water into a gaseous state and its diffusion into the atmosphere. In order for this to occur there must be liquid water present and available energy from the sun or atmosphere. The importance of evaporation within the hydrological cycle depends very much on the amount of water present and the available energy, two factors determined by a region’s climate. During winter months in humid-temperate climates evaporation may be a minor component of the hydrological cycle as there is very little available energy to drive the evaporative process. This alters during summer when there is abundant available energy and evaporation has the potential to become a major part of the water balance. The potential may be limited by the availability of liquid water during the dry months. This can be seen in extremely hot,
arid climates where there is often plenty of available energy to drive evaporation but very little water to be evaporated. As a consequence the actual amount of evaporation is small.
