Evaporation Control Research, 1955–58
Gordon E. Koberg, M.E. Ford Jr. · USGS Water Supply Paper 1480 (1959)
Key finding (our summary)
Early federal program that screened roughly 150 candidate compounds for retarding reservoir evaporation and found straight-chain fatty alcohols (e.g. cetyl/octadecanol) the most effective. Large-scale field tests, however, achieved only modest reductions (on the order of 20% or less) on bigger reservoirs, with wind dispersion of the film identified as the limiting factor.
One of the earliest systematic screens of evaporation-retardant chemicals, and an early documentation of the wind sensitivity that still limits monolayers in the field.
This is a neutral paraphrase for indexing and discovery. For the full abstract, figures and methodology, read the original at the source link.