Sensitivity of potential evapotranspiration to changes in climate variables for different Australian climatic zones

Abstract

Assessing the factors that have an impact on potential evapotranspiration (PET) sensitivity to changes in different climate variables is critical to understanding the possible implications of climatic changes on the catchment water balance. Using a global sensitivity analysis, this study assessed the implications of baseline climate conditions on the sensitivity of PET to a large range of plausible changes in temperature (T), relative humidity (RH), solar radiation (Rs) and wind speed (uz). The analysis was conducted at 30 Australian locations representing different climatic zones, using the Penman-Monteith and Priestley-Taylor PET models. Results from both models suggest that the baseline c..