Abstract

The Shuttleworth and Wallace model (SW) was evaluated to estimate latent heat flux above a drip-irrigated Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard, located in the Pencahue Valley, Region del Maule, Chile (35°22′ LS; 71°47′ LW; 150 m above sea level). The performance of the WS model (LEws) was evaluated against the eddy-covariance method (LEed) on a 30 min time interval. Results indicate that the root mean square error (RMSE) and mean absolute error (MAE) were 29 W m-2 and 22 W m-2, respectively. For the vine evapotranspiration (ETv), RMSE was 0.42 mm day -1 and MAE was 0.36 mm day-1. The largest disagreements between LEed and LEws were observed under dry atmospheric conditions. Also, the sensitivity analysis indicates that predicted ETv by the SW model was sensitive to errors of ±30% in leaf area index and mean stomatal resistance, but it was not affected by errors in the estimation of aerodynamic resistances. © 2006 Springer-Verlag.