aet

AET is an acronym that can refer to several terms, but in scientific literature it most commonly denotes Actual Evapotranspiration, a key variable in hydrology and ecohydrology. Actual evapotranspiration is the amount of water that is actually removed from a landscape through evaporation from soil and interception by vegetation, plus transpiration from plants, over a given period. It differs from potential evapotranspiration (PET), which is the amount of evapotranspiration that would occur under unlimited water supply. In a given environment, AET is limited by soil moisture, vegetation, temperature, humidity, and available energy, and thus AET is typically less than or equal to PET.

Estimation and measurement: AET can be measured directly with lysimeters or through micrometeorological techniques such as eddy covariance, or inferred via water balance approaches that combine precipitation, runoff, soil moisture, and storage changes. It is commonly reported in millimeters per day or millimeters per month and is used to characterize water use, drought stress, and ecosystem productivity.

Applications and significance: Accurate AET estimates support irrigation planning, agricultural and forest management, hydrological modeling, and climate-change impact assessments. In ecosystem studies, AET is linked to plant water-use strategies and energy exchange with the atmosphere.

Other uses: The acronym AET is used in other contexts to denote different terms in education, engineering, or timekeeping; however, these usages are not standardized and depend on organizational conventions.