Evaporative losses from reservoirs are not well understood due to climatic conditions, size and shape of the reservoir, and reservoir operations. However, these losses have the potential to be managed through science based decision making tools. The current method(s) used to estimate and account for evaporative losses rely upon technology from a century ago (i.e. Class A Evaporation Pan) and area-capacity tables for individual reservoirs. Technological advances using remote sensing (e.g. LandSat-8) and highly sensitive instrumentation (i.e. 3-D Sonic Anemometer with hygrometer, infrared sensor, etc.) have shown the potential to be used in estimating evaporation losses on spatial and temporal scale with more accuracy. Preliminary studies (BoR Technical Report RO5AC40438 2013) have been conducted at Elephant Butte and Caballo reservoirs by US Bureau of Reclamation and New Mexico State University.
