W. Kohsiek

A verification of some methods to determine the fluxes of momentum, sensible heat, and water vapour using standard deviation and structure parameter of scalar meteorological quantities

A set of micro-meteorological data collected over a horizontal, uniform terrain (the plain of La Crau, France) in June 1987 is analysed. Conditions were predominantly sunny and arid, while due to the “Mistral” the wind speed could exceed 10 m/s. Verification of several methods to evaluate surface fluxes of heat, momentum and water vapour from the standard deviation of temperature, wind and specific humidity is presented. Also, a similar approach using the structure parameter of temperature is considered. These methods are all based on Monin-Obukhov (M-O) similarity theory. It is found that the standard deviation of temperature, vertical and horizontal wind speed as well as the structure parameter for temperature behave according to M-O similarity. It is shown that the sensible heat flux and friction velocity can be determined from a fast response thermometer and a cup anemometer. Also, it appears that the analytic solution of the set of governing equations as derived by the first author yields good results. M-O theory does not appear to work for the standard deviation of specific humidity. This may be due to the relative importance of large eddies.

The scintillation method tested over a dry vineyard area

Measurements of a scintillometer device mounted at 4 m above a dry vineyard area in La Mancha, Spain, are used to obtain an average sensible heat flux densityH. Averaging is over a rectangular area determined by the distance between the scintillometer light source and receptor (875 m) and some upwind distance governed by the horizontal wind speed perpendicular to that line. Using similarity relations obtained from La Crau, a good correspondence betweenH measured with the scintillometer and an eddy-correlation device in the centre of a vineyard is obtained. The friction velocityu* was either measured directly using a sonic anemometer or obtained indirectly from two wind speeds and known values of the roughness length zo and displacementd. The free convection formulation underestimates the sensible heat flux by about 30%. This is due to a significant contribution of mechanically generated turbulence to the total turbulent transport, which was caused by relatively strong winds and rough terrain.

Determination of Area-Averaged Sensible Heat Fluxes with a Large Aperture Scintillometer over a Heterogeneous Surface – Flevoland Field Experiment

To test the applicability of the scintillation method over a heterogeneous area an experiment was carried out in the summer of 1998 in Flevoland (The Netherlands). In the patchy area only four crops were grown namely sugar beet, potatoes, wheat and onions. From eddy covariance measurements it was found that the heterogeneity was mainly caused by differences in thermal properties. No variations in the aerodynamics roughness length were observed. Two large aperture scintillometers were installed at a height of 11.6 and 20.4 m. A good resemblance was found between the sensible heat fluxes derived from both LAS instruments and the area-averaged fluxes obtained from the in-situ eddy covariance measurements. The slight underestimation of the lower LAS could be assessed using a blending height model and an analytical footprint model. The results also indicated that when scintillometer measurements are made below the blending height the violation to Monin–Obukhov Similarity Theory is small and that reasonable fluxes can be obtained from path-averaged structure parameters.

Determination of area averaged water vapour fluxes with large aperture and radio wave scintillometers over a heterogeneous surface - Flevoland field experiment

A large aperture scintillometer (LAS) andradio wave scintillometer (RWS)were installed over a heterogeneous areato test the applicability of the scintillation method.The heterogeneity in the area, whichconsisted of many plots, was mainly caused bydifferences in thermal properties ofthe crops; the variations in theaerodynamic roughness lengthwere small. The water vapour fluxesderived from the combined LAS-RWSsystem, also known as the two-wavelengthmethod, agreed fairly well with the aggregatedwater vapour fluxes derived from in-situeddy covariance measurements. The water vapourfluxes derived from a stand-alone LASare also presented. It was found that a single LASand an estimate of the area averagedavailable energy (using a simple parameterisationscheme) can provide also reasonablearea-averaged water vapour fluxes.

Measuring C T 2 , C Q 2 , and C TQ in the unstable surface layer, and relations to the vertical fluxes of heat and moisture

The structure parameters of temperature (CT2), humidity (CQ2) and temperature-humidity (CTQ) were observed at a height of 4 m in the unstable surface layer using thin platinum wires and two Ly-α hygrometers. Two ways of measuring structure parameters were employed: one using spaced sensors, the other using time-delayed observations at one location. It is found that the three structure parameters follow free-convection scaling down to -z/L ∼ 0.02. The scaling functions % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4baFfea0dXde9vqpa0lb9% cq0dXdb9IqFHe9FjuP0-iq0dXdbba9pe0lb9hs0dXda91qaq-xfr-x% fj-hmeGabaqaciGacaGaaeqabaWaaeaaeaaakeaacaWGMbaaaa!3346!\[f\]1 (of CT2), % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4baFfea0dXde9vqpa0lb9% cq0dXdb9IqFHe9FjuP0-iq0dXdbba9pe0lb9hs0dXda91qaq-xfr-x% fj-hmeGabaqaciGacaGaaeqabaWaaeaaeaaakeaacaWGMbaaaa!3346!\[f\]2 (of CTO) and % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4baFfea0dXde9vqpa0lb9% cq0dXdb9IqFHe9FjuP0-iq0dXdbba9pe0lb9hs0dXda91qaq-xfr-x% fj-hmeGabaqaciGacaGaaeqabaWaaeaaeaaakeaacaWGMbaaaa!3346!\[f\]3 (of CQ2) are found to be related through % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4baFfea0dXde9vqpa0lb9% cq0dXdb9IqFHe9FjuP0-iq0dXdbba9pe0lb9hs0dXda91qaq-xfr-x% fj-hmeGabaqaciGacaGaaeqabaWaaeaaeaaakeaacaWGMbaaaa!3346!\[f\]2/% MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4baFfea0dXde9vqpa0lb9% cq0dXdb9IqFHe9FjuP0-iq0dXdbba9pe0lb9hs0dXda91qaq-xfr-x% fj-hmeGabaqaciGacaGaaeqabaWaaeaaeaaakeaacaWGMbaaaa!3346!\[f\]1 ∼ 0.69 and % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4baFfea0dXde9vqpa0lb9% cq0dXdb9IqFHe9FjuP0-iq0dXdbba9pe0lb9hs0dXda91qaq-xfr-x% fj-hmeGabaqaciGacaGaaeqabaWaaeaaeaaakeaacaWGMbaaaa!3346!\[f\]3/% MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4baFfea0dXde9vqpa0lb9% cq0dXdb9IqFHe9FjuP0-iq0dXdbba9pe0lb9hs0dXda91qaq-xfr-x% fj-hmeGabaqaciGacaGaaeqabaWaaeaaeaaakeaacaWGMbaaaa!3346!\[f\]1 ∼ 0.84. The usefulness of the structure parameters for inferring the fluxes of heat and water vapor, as well as the Bowen ratio, is demonstrated. The scatter is about 30% on either side of the mean.

Oxygen sensitivity of krypton and Lyman-a hygrometers

Abstract The oxygen sensitivity of krypton and Lyman-α hygrometers is studied. Using a dewpoint generator and a controlled nitrogen/oxygen flow the extinction coefficients of five hygrometers associated with the third-order Taylor expansion of the Lambert–Beer law around reference conditions for oxygen and for water vapor were measured. Latent heat flux corrections for cross-talk of the sensible heat flux are given as a function of the Bowen ratio. The spread observed in oxygen sensitivities calls for individual oxygen calibrations for each apparatus. It is found that the separation between the tubes is the crucial parameter with respect to the oxygen sensitivity. The oxygen-related nonlinearities in the Lambert–Beer law are stronger than those associated with water vapor. This leads to a strong reduction of the oxygen sensitivity at a more or less constant water vapor sensitivity when the separation between the tubes is doubled from 1.3 to 2.6 cm. This characteristic is supported by a sensitivity analysi...

Estimation of the sensible heat flux of a semi-arid area using surface radiative temperature measurements.

In the framework of an international field program for the study of semi-arid areas, observations were done in the region called ‘La Crau’ in southern France. In this paper, the use of the surface radiative temperature for the determination of the sensible heat flux is addressed. We found that, once proper values of the roughness length of momentum (z0) and heat (z0h) are set, the sensible heat flux can be reliably predicted with a one-layer resistance model using standard observations of wind speed and air temperature, together with the surface temperature. The latter quantity has to be known with a precision better than ±2°C. From our observations, the value of the parameterB−1≡k−1 In (z0z0h) was found to be 9.2, which falls between values quoted by Brutsaert (1982) for grass and bluff bodies.

An extra large aperture scintillometer for long range applications

An incoherent scintillometer with 0.31-m aperture was testedalong a 9.8-km path over grassland. Scintillometer derived heat fluxes were comparedwith in situ eddy covariance measurements. Albeit with considerable scatter, the fluxescompared well during daytime. During nighttime credible fluxes are also obtained. The scintillometerfunctioned satisfactory for 96% of the 7-week period.

Evaporation over a heterogeneous land surface - The EVA-GRIPS project

The representation of subgrid-scale surface heterogeneities in numerical weather and climate models has been a challenging problem for more than a decade. The Evaporation at Grid and Pixel Scale (EVA-GRIPS) project adds to the numerous studies on vegetation-atmosphere interaction processes through a comprehensive field campaign and through simulation studies with land surface schemes and mesoscale models. The mixture of surface types in the test area in eastern Germany is typical for larger parts of northern Central Europe. The spatial scale considered corresponds to the grid scale of a regional atmospheric weather prediction or climate model and to the pixel scale of satellite images. Area-averaged fluxes derived from point measurements, scintillometer measurements, and a helicopter-borne turbulence probe were widely consistent with respect to the sensible heat flux. The latent heat flux from the scintillometer measurements is systematically higher than the eddy covariance data. Fluxes derived from numerical simulations proved the so-called mosaic approach to be an appropriate parameterization for subgrid heterogeneity.

USING A LARGE-APERTURE SCINTILLOMETER TO MEASURE ABSORPTION AND REFRACTIVE INDEX FLUCTUATIONS

The contributions of refraction and absorption fluctuations to the measured scintillations are observed for a near-infrared absorption region using a NOAA designed large-aperture scintillometer. The logarithmic amplitude spectra are shown to decay with frequency as f-8/3 for both the absorption and scattering mechanisms. For the absorption mechanism this is in line with similar observations made at microwave and infrared frequencies. However, for finite transmitting and receiving apertures, theory predicts a stronger decay of the scattering mechanism due to aperture averaging. The spectral shape is characterised by a region of low frequency absorption, higher frequency refraction and separated by a flattish transition zone. The upper observed corner frequency (fC2) compares well with values calculated using the measured transverse windspeed (v) for a known aperture radius. The lower corner frequency (fC1) position is shown to be sensitive to the ratio of the real and imaginary part of the refractive index structure parameter, (CnR2/CnI2)3/8, and v. The part of the spectrum associated with the absorption scintillations is observed to be much less than that due to refraction through the day until evening, when decreasing CnR2 causes CnR2/CnI2 to decrease and absorption to become significant. If absorption is ignored, this may have consequences for calculating nocturnal surface fluxes. During unstable, daytime conditions the large aperture scintillometer is most sensitive to refractive scintillations despite having an infrared source transmitting in a lossy atmosphere. But also under these conditions, the low frequency absorption part of the spectrum is observable.