Estimates of Evaporation in East Africa in Relation to Climatological

Abstract

IN preparing His map showing the climatic classification of East Africa, Sansom (1954) used the Thornthwaite (1948) system of classification and the Thornthwaite method of estimating potential evapotranspiration (or evaporative demand). The areas denoted as having moist climates appear to be optimistically large when compared with observations of the vegetational complexes there. Similarly, Carter (1954) used the Thornthwaite method of estimating evapotranspiration when preparing the water balances for selected stations in East and Central Africa, and Howe (1953) also used this method in preparing a climatic classification of Central Africa: his results also? Matthew Dagg, BSc, PhD, was until recently Head of the Physics Division of the East African Agriculture and Forestry Research Organisation. He is now Director of the Institute for Agriculture Research at Samaru in Nigeria. JR Blackie, BSc, MSc, is a senior Scientific Officer seconded to the East African Agriculture and Forestry Research Organisation from the Institute of Hydrology in UK.