EVAPORATION
Crucial for the future
EXPERIMENT:
An experiment was conducted to determine the amount of evaporation that can be measured in an area. Conditions were not exactly ideal because of the material and surroundings that where available. Even though the conditions and material used where not what is normally used during the duration of the experiment a lot of interesting results came from the experiment. We made a rectangular evaporation pan and readings were taken every 24 hours.
​Step 2:​
Take a normal ruler marked of in mm and plays it on the inside of the tank at a 30º angle to make sure that the increments can be measured to a 0.5mm. The ruler can be stuck to the inside of the tank with anything that is available that would not come loos its adhesive properties when exposed to water. Silicone used on aquariums is very affective.
Step 3:
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It is important to make sure that the tank is perfectly level to ensure that proper readings are documented. Select an area that will be exposed to continuous sunlight and where the wind has access to the tank.
Step 1:
​ Make use of an old aquarium but make sure that the aquarium is completely waterproof. We made use of a tank with dimensions 0.6 x 0.3 x 0.3 meters. This size was found to work perfectly because it was not too large or too small to maintain.
Step 4:
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You can place the tank on a wooden platform if that option is available or you can even submerge the tank in the ground. If none of those options are available you can make use of a grassed area and place some sand on the grass and even it out so that when placing the tank on the sand that it is level.
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​Step 5:​
Place the tank on the levelled sand and make sure that the tank is level. This can be done using a spirit level or by adding a little bit of water and measure the water and make sure that it is the same level in all four corners.
​Step 6:​
It’s important that the tank is black and this can be achieved by painting it with black paint that will not be influenced by water or you can cover the tank with black plastic like garbage bags.
​Step 7:​
Lastly place a range gage in close proximity of the evaporation pan in order to determine the precipitation.
​Step 8:​
When everything is secured and in place the tank can be filled with water to a datum point on the ruler where testing can start. Record the readings every 24 hours for the duration of the test.
