The objective of this study was to investigate the contribution of the heat storage above the soil heat flux plates and within the canopy upon the components of the energy balance in the mango orchard. The Bowen energy-ratio balance method was used for obtaining the energy balance components and evapotranspiration of the mango orchard. The t-Student test was applied to evaluate statistical significance of the difference between energy balance component averages under the following conditions: (i) considering and (ii) not considering the heat storage above the fluximeters. The results suggested that: 1) the canopy heat storage is irrelevant compared to the other energy balance components; 2) the above soil heat plates heat storage does not influence the sensible and latent heat fluxes nor the irrigated mango orchard evapotranspiration; 3) the soil heat flux, when corrected for the heat storage above the soil heat plates differs statistically, at the 5% probability level, from that obtained without correction.
evapotranspiration; Bowen ration; soil heat flux
