Abstract Evaporation is the phenomenon by which a substance is converted from its liquid into its vapor phase, independently of where it lies in nature. However, language is alive, and just like regular speech, scientific terminology changes. Frequently, those changes are grounded on a solid rationale, but sometimes these semantic transitions have a fragile foundation. That is the case with “evapotranspiration.” A growing generation of scientists have been educated on using this terminology and are unaware of the historical controversy and physical inconsistency that surrounds it. Here, we present what may appear to some as an esoteric linguistic discussion, yet it was originally triggered by the increasing time some of us have devoted to justifying our word choice to reviewers, editors, and peers. By clarifying our arguments for using the term “evaporation,” we also seek to prevent having to revive this discussion every time a new article is submitted, so that we can move directly on to more scientifically relevant matters.

中文翻译：

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关于“蒸散量”一词的使用


摘要 蒸发是一种物质从液态转化为气相的现象，与它在自然界中的位置无关。然而，语言是有生命的，就像常规演讲一样，科学术语也会发生变化。通常，这些变化都有坚实的理由，但有时这些语义转变的基础很脆弱。 “蒸散”就是这种情况。越来越多的科学家接受了使用这个术语的教育，但没有意识到围绕它的历史争议和物理不一致。在这里，我们提出的内容在某些人看来可能是深奥的语言讨论，但它最初是由我们中的一些人花越来越多的时间向审稿人、编辑和同行证明我们的用词选择的合理性而引发的。通过澄清我们使用“蒸发”一词的论点，我们还试图避免每次提交新文章时都必须重新进行这种讨论，以便我们可以直接转向与科学更相关的问题。