PyET Essentials - Live Training - Australian Water School

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About

Potential evaporation (PET) is a core input to hydrological modelling, yet it is rarely measured directly. Practitioners instead rely on meteorological data such as temperature, radiation, wind and humidity to estimate PET using empirical and physically based methods. Understanding these approaches is essential for reliable water resource assessments.

In this hands‑on course, participants learn how to estimate PET using the open‑source Python package PyET. Participants explore temperature‑based methods such as Hamon and Hargreaves, then move into more data‑rich approaches including Penman–Monteith and FAO‑56. Each method is introduced in context so participants can see how data availability and site conditions influence the choice of PET estimator.

Working in a Jupyter notebook with example meteorological datasets, participants run multiple PET methods, compare outputs and interpret differences between approaches. By the end of the course, participants will be confident applying PET estimation techniques to their own catchments and integrating results into hydrological modelling workflows.

Details

Date	Thursday, 15 October 2026
Time	4:00pm (Australia/Sydney; find your local time (opens in new tab))
Location	Online
Format	1 x 2-hour sessions + course material & resources
Cost	AUD $295.00 (INC GST)
Contact	Group Booking: For 5 or more contact us: [email protected]
Code	LC-27-1-178
Tags	Python

Register your interest: https://awschool.com.au/training/pyet-essentials/

Presenters

Raoul Collenteur

HydroConsult

Raoul is a hydrologist focusing on groundwater related problems and developing open-source software to solve them. He leads and is involved in developing open-source software such as Pastas, PyEt and ... Read more

Matevz Vremec

Alma Mater Europaea University

Matevž Vremec is an Assistant Professor and hydrology researcher working in the fields of evapotranspiration, groundwater and water resources management. He is a co-developer of PyET, an open-source ... Read more

Course Overview

Potential evaporation (PET) is a key input variable for most hydrological models. Direct measurement of PET is challenging, and the flux is therefore commonly estimated from other meteorological variables such as air temperature, wind speed, and relative humidity. In this course you will learn how to estimate PET from other meteorological variables using different methods and formulas implemented in Python and the open-source PyET software.

Learning Outcomes

In this course, you will be able to:

Understand the basics of estimating potential evaporation.
Choose an appropriate potential evaporation method from PyET based on the available meteorological data.
Estimate potential evaporation using Python and PyET
Compare estimates from different methods and assess method-related uncertainty.

Course Outline

Session: Estimating Potential Evaporation with PyET

Key meteorological controls on potential evaporation.
Selecting an appropriate method based on available input data.
Estimating PET using Python and PyET.
Comparing estimates from different PET methods.
Assessing uncertainty associated with method selection.

Format

2+ hours of session recordings with unlimited access for 30-days.
Pre-and-post-course materials to go through via the AWS learning platform.
Additional resources and working model download/s.
Ability to ask questions to the presenters at anytime through the learning platform.

Pre-requisites

Basic knowledge of Python syntax.
- Register for the Python Training Series: https://awschool.com.au/training/python-training-series/
Some experience using Pandas or Jupyter notebooks is helpful but not essential.
- Register for the Modelling Groundwater Level Time Series with Pastas: https://awschool.com.au/training/modelling-groundwater-pastas/
No previous experience with PyET is required.

Requirements

Software:

Software requirements:
- Python 3.9 or higher: https://www.python.org/downloads/
- PyET: https://github.com/pyet-org/pyet
- JupyterLab or other software to run Jupyter notebooks: https://jupyter.org/

Completion certification

Participants earn CPD hours/points (i.e. with Engineers Australia) for at least 2 hours for the entire course.
On completion of the course attendees will be issued with a Certificate of Completion.

Image source: https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/17/7083/2024/gmd-17-7083-2024.pdf

Refund Policy

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