AbstractThe eddy covariance (EC) method was used in a 30‐month study to quantify evapotranspiration (ET) and vegetation coefficient (KCW) for a wetland on a ranch in subtropical south Florida. To evaluate the errors in ET estimates, the EC‐based ET (ETC‐EC) and the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) Penman–Monteith (PM) based ET (ETC‐PM) estimates (with literature crop coefficient, KC) were compared with each other. The ETC‐EC and FAO‐PM reference ET were used to develop KCW. Regression models were developed to estimate KCW using climatic and hydrologic variables. Annual and daily ETC‐EC values were 1152 and 3.27 mm, respectively. The FAO‐PM model underestimated ET by 25% with ETC‐EC being statistically higher than ETC‐PM. The KCW varied from 0.79 (December) to 1.06 (November). The mean KCW for the dry (November–April) season (0.95) was much higher than values reported for wetlands in literature; whereas for the wet (May–October) season, KCW (0.97) was closer to literature values. Higher than expected KCW values during the dry season were due to higher temperature, lower humidity and perennial wetland vegetation. Regression analyses showed that factors affecting the KCW were different during the dry (soil moisture, temperature and relative humidity) and wet (net radiation, inundation and wind speed) seasons. Separate regression models for the dry and wet seasons were developed. Evapotranspiration and KCW from this study, one of the first for the agricultural wetlands in subtropical environment, will help improve the ET estimates for similar wetlands. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.