The objectives of the current study were to estimate evapotranspiration(ET) over the grassland and assess seasonal variation of moisture availability at the wind-water erosion crisscross region in the northern Loess Plateau of China. The Liudaogou Catchment which has the representative climatic and hydrological characteristics of the wind-water erosion crisscross region was chosen as the study location. The reference crop evapotranspiration(ET 0) was estimated by Penmen method, which was recommended by FAO56 and the evapotranspiration over the grassland(ET) was estimated by Penmen-Monteith equation using the observed meteorological data with time unit of 1 h. The soil moisture availability factor was defined by m a =ET/ET 0. The calculated results for 2006 indicated that the total ET 0 was slightly more than the total yearly precipitation and ET accounted for 37 % of that, ET increased distinctly after the intensive rainfall event in the rainy season. Most of the m a was less than 0.4 and its annual mean was 0.34. It was expected that the results provided a basis for studies on dynamic functional analysis of soil moisture, relationship between soil water and crop growth at the wind-water erosion crisscross region in the northern Loess Plateau.
