Evapotranspiration (ET) in subalpine meadows of the Qilian Mountains, Northwest China was studied in 2014. The researchers used the FAO Penman-Monteith model to estimate reference ET and an eddy covariance system to measure actual ET. They found that actual ET was lower than reference ET, with peak values occurring at different times. Factors like air temperature, wind speed, net radiation, soil temperature, and aboveground biomass influenced the crop coefficient used to calculate actual ET. The study validated the accuracy of their ET estimates for the growing seasons in 2015 and 2016.