Comment on: “A review of the complementary principle of evaporation: from the original linear relationship to generalized nonlinear functions” by Han and Tian (2020)

Abstract

The paper by Han and Tian (2020) reviews the history of developments in the complementary relationship (CR) between actual and potential evaporation and introduces the generalized complementary principle (GCP) developed by the authors. This comment assesses whether the GCP: (1) can give reasonable results from a wide range of surfaces worldwide; (2) is supported by experimental data that verify the three stages of evaporation implicit in the GCP, particularly in the wet-surface limit; (3) has been proven to be correct by the authors in a previous paper; and (4) is supported by model studies showing that wet surfaces occur predominantly during periods of large-scale moisture convergence. The assessment finds that arguments in favor of the GCP deserve to be taken seriously but ultimately remain unconvincing.