Factors affecting evaporation

Evaporation does not take place at a constant rate. The rate of evaporation depends on many factors:

a) The meteorological factors: 1- Heat supply: Heat is the source of energy that causes evaporation. The amount of evaporation that may occur from a water surface is dependent on the amount of solar radiation received and retained.

2- Vapor-pressure differences: The rate at which molecules leave the water depends on the vaporpressure of the liquid. Similarly, the rate at which molecules enter the air depends on the vapor pressure of the air. The rate of evaporation, therefore, depends on the difference between the vapor pressure of the water (ew) and the vapor pressure in the air (ea) above the water surface. The greater this difference the greater the evaporation i.e. evaporation is proportional to (ew - ea) and continues until ea = ew.

3- Relative Humidity: When the air above the water is dry or has a low relative humidity, evaporation will clearly be greater than when air with a high relative humidity overlies the water surface; i.e. the rate of evaporation is proportional to the difference between the actual humidity and the saturated humidity at given temperatures.

4- Temperature: Evaporation is affected by the temperature of both the air and the water. The rate of vapor emission is dependent upon the water temperature. The rate of vapor removal is affected by the temperature of the air. In general, the rate of evaporation is proportional to the difference between the air and water temperatures.

5- Wind: Wind is an important aid in evaporation in that it replaces the moist air near the water with dry air. i.e. the rate of evaporation is directly proportional to the wind speed.

6- Atmospheric pressure: The lower the pressure of the air above the water, the greater will be the evaporation, if all other factors unchanged.

b) The geographical factors:

1- Water quality: The rate of evaporation decreases with increase in salt content of the water. Under equivalent conditions, ocean water will evaporate about 5 % more slowly than fresh water.

2- Area of evaporation:

Clearly, if two volumes of water are equal, evaporation will be greater for the one having the larger exposed surface.

3- Depth of the water body: The seasonal temperature regime of shallow water body is closely to the seasonal air temperature regime. This means that maximum rate of evaporation from a shallow water body will be experienced during the summer, and minimum rates during the winter. But for deep water body, the water temperatures are lower than air temperatures during the summer and higher than air temperatures during the winter, due to the heat storage. So, the highest rates of evaporation from deep water bodies should occur during the winter.

Why does fresh water evaporate faster than salt water? Dissolving something in water which does not evaporate easily will make the mixed solution less likely to evaporate than pure water. The more stuff you add to it, the less likely it will evaporate. Adding salt to water makes ions in solution and these ions reduce the vapor pressure of the solution compared to pure water. The lower the vapor pressure of a liquid or solution, the slower it will evaporate. This effect is also related to boiling point elevation and freezing point depression. The following is taken from the site listed to the left of this answer, but that page has a lot of additional information, and this is the most important part. This is the real reason the vapor pressure of salt solutions are decreased:

"The reason dissolved solutes (such as salt) increase boiling point is that the solute must come out of solution in order for the water to boil. This costs entropy (the entropy of solution). Boiling is entropic ally driven, hence the reduction in the net entropy gain of boiling results in a higher temperature needed for the reaction to go. To put it without jargon: for a little packet of water with dissolved salt to turn to steam the salt atoms must, in the course of their random zooming about, ALL simultaneously leave the packet. This is not a likely event. It becomes more likely as the temperature (i.e. the average speed of zooming about) becomes higher, though, and at a certain temperature above the ordinary boiling point it becomes sufficiently likely to allow boiling in spite of the handicap. You can also see that the effect will naturally increase with the concentration of dissolved solutes (i.e. the number of salt atoms per packet that must simultaneously leave)."