Swedish evaporation research has gone through a rapid development, and there is now a need to overview the results. This review presents the research in a broad sense. The brilliant research by Wallerius between 1739 and 1747 clarified the basic nature of the evaporation process. After him, research has been concentrated to two periods. The first, in the beginning of this century, was connected with the establishment of the meteorological and hydrological services in Sweden. The second period of progress started with the International Hydrological Decade (1965-1974). Recent evaporation research has been strongly focused on forest, and aimed at establishing the causal relationship between changes in land use and changes in the hydrological cycle. Applications to problems of clcarfellirig, large-scale introduction of water-demanding energy forests, and effects of atmospheric pollution have shown the great importance of the evaporation component of the water budget. Present evaporation research in Sweden is directed along three main lines. Firstly the development of reliable methods to measure evaporation. Secondly sophisticated turbulence measurements within and immediately above a vegetation cover. Thirdly the development of simple, yet physically realistic models of evaporation from plant covers.

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