Incorporation of Hourly Weather Input Data to Cotton2K

Cotton2K is a simulation model that is well adapted to simulate cotton growth and development and lint yield in dry climates in part due to the algorithm used to calculate crop evapotranspiration (ET). However, earlier versions of Cotton2K calculated hourly values of air temperature (T_a) and humidity (RH), wind-speed (U_z) and shortwave irradiance (R_g) from corresponding measured average and daily values of T_a, RH, U_z and R_g. Given the increasing number of weather networks and stations that record hourly values T_a, RH, U_z and R_g it is now possible to use these variables directly as input in models such as Cotton2K. An updated version of Cotton2K was modified to handle hourly input values of T_a, RH, U_z and R_g decreasing the amount of weather parameterization with the expectation that it will be suited and more  readily adopted by users in the Southern High Plains of Texas. Specific examples of modeling efforts using the updated version of Cotton2k will be presented and compared with results from the previous version of the model.