Xuelong Chen

An improvement of roughness height parameterization of the surface energy balance system (SEBS) over the Tibetan Plateau

Roughness height for heat transfer is a crucial parameter in the estimation of sensible heat flux. In this study, the performance of the Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS) has been tested and evaluated for typical land surfaces on the Tibetan Plateau on the basis of time series of observations at four sites with bare soil, sparse canopy, dense canopy, and snow surface, respectively. Both under- and overestimation at low and high sensible heat fluxes by SEBS was discovered. Through sensitivity analyses, it was identified that these biasesarerelatedtotheSEBSparameterizationofbaresoil’sexcessresistancetoheattransfer(kB 21 ,wherek is the von Karman constant and B 21 is the Stantonnumber). ThekB 21 of bare soil in SEBS was replaced. The results show that the revised model performs better than the original model.

Turbulent flux observations and modelling over a shallow lake and a wet grassland in the Nam Co basin, Tibetan Plateau

The Tibetan Plateau plays an important role in the global water cycle and is strongly influenced by climate change. While energy and matter fluxes have been more intensely studied over land surfaces, a large proportion of lakes have either been neglected or parameterised with simple bulk approaches. Therefore, turbulent fluxes were measured over wet grassland and a shallow lake with a single eddy-covariance complex at the shoreline in the Nam Co basin in summer 2009. Footprint analysis was used to split observations according to the underlying surface, and two sophisticated surface models were utilised to derive gap-free time series. Results were then compared with observations and simulations from a nearby eddy-covariance station over dry grassland, yielding pronounced differences. Observations and footprint integrated simulations compared well, even for situations with flux contributions including grassland and lake. The accessibility problem for EC measurements on lakes can be overcome by combining standard meteorological measurements at the shoreline with model simulations, only requiring representative estimates of lake surface temperature.

The Deep Atmospheric Boundary Layer and Its Significance to the Stratosphere and Troposphere Exchange over the Tibetan Plateau

In this study the depth of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) over the Tibetan Plateau was measured during a regional radiosonde observation campaign in 2008 and found to be deeper than indicated by previously measurements. Results indicate that during fair weather conditions on winter days, the top of the mixed layers can be up to 5 km above the ground (9.4 km above sea level). Measurements also show that the depth of the ABL is quite distinct for three different periods (winter, monsoon-onset, and monsoon seasons). Turbulence at the top of a deep mixing layer can rise up to the upper troposphere. As a consequence, as confirmed by trajectory analysis, interaction occurs between deep ABLs and the low tropopause during winter over the Tibetan Plateau.

On the behaviour of the tropopause folding events over the Tibetan Plateau

Due to its harsh natural conditions, there had not been any intensive radiosonde observations over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) before the year 2008, when a regional radiosonde observation network was implemented through a Sino-Japan joint cooperation project. This paper reports, on the basis of these observations, on an analysis of the structure of upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) and provides observations of stratosphere and troposphere exchange (STE) over the TP. Due to sparseness of high resolution radiosonde data, many previous studies assumed that there was only one thermal tropopause over the TP. Actually, the radiosonde temperature profiles in winter time over the TP often exhibit a multiple tropopause (MT). The MT occurs in winter with a high frequency over the Plateau. MT events during this time are associated with tropopause folds near the subtropical westerly jet. The MT consistently varied with the movement of the jet. The MT becomes a single tropopause with the development of the monsoon. The detailed analyses of MT characteristics are reported in this paper. Earlier analyses of global MT events (with data based on GPS radio occultation, ERA-40 data and Integrated Global Radiosonde Archive database) resulted in a climatic frequency of MT occurrences in the winter season over the Plateau is not more than 40 %. Based on high resolution data of intensive radiosonde observations, our estimations of MT occurrence over the Plateau can be as high as 80 % during Correspondence to: X. L. Chen (chen24746@itc.nl) certain winters. This reminds us to pay more attention to the MT events above the Plateau. The influence of the coarse vertical resolution and other effects on the estimation of MT occurrence frequency are also discussed. The stratospheric intruding episodes are generally associated with the presence of subtropical jet stream over the Plateau. The complex structure of dynamic tropopause folding over the Plateau have been reflected by the thermal MT events observed by radiosondes. The intrusion of air masses from the stratosphere may contribute to a higher upper tropospheric ozone concentration in winter than in summer above the plateau.

First results of the earth observation water cycle multi-mission observation strategy (WACMOS)

Observing and monitoring the different components of the global water cycle and their dynamics are essential steps to understand the climate of the Earth, forecast the weather, predict natural disasters like floods and droughts, and improve water resources management. Earth observation technology is a unique tool to provide a global understanding of many of the essential variables governing the water cycle and monitor their evolution from global to basin scales. In the coming years, an increasing number of Earth observation missions will provide an unprecedented capacity to quantify several of these variables on a routine basis. However, this growing observational capacity is also increasing the need for dedicated research efforts aimed at exploring the potential offered by the synergies among different and complementary EO data records. In this context, the European Space Agency (ESA) launched the Water Cycle Multi-mission Observation Strategy (WACMOS) in 2009 aiming at enhancing, developing and validating a novel set of multi-mission based methods and algorithms to retrieve a number of key variables relevant to the water cycle. In particular the project addressed four major scientific challenges associated to a number of key variables governing the water cycle: evapotranspiration, soil moisture, cloud properties related to surface solar irradiance and precipitation, and water vapour. This paper provides an overview of the scientific results and findings with the ultimate goal of demonstrating the potential of strategies based on utilizing multi-mission observations in maximizing the synergistic use of the different types of information provided by the currently available observation systems and establish the basis for further work.

Analysis of Land-Atmosphere Interactions Over the North Region of Mt. Qomolangma (Mt. Everest)

Abstract To better understand the basic characteristics of the land surface energy budget, nearly 7 years of continuous measurements at the Qomolangma Station for Atmospheric and Environmental Observation and Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (QOMS/CAS) (28.21°N, 86.56°E, 4276 m a.s.l.) have been analyzed systematically. Seasonal and annual variations of micrometeorological measurements and land surface energy balance were analyzed. The general nature of the diurnal variation of the surface winds on the north of Mt. Everest is represented by a maximum in the afternoon and a constant wind speed in the early morning, which is controlled not only by the significant glacier wind but also by the local mountain-valley circulation and upper-level wind. Surface albedo decreases with increasing soil moisture content, showing the typical exponential relation between surface albedo and soil moisture. The data set disclosed that the high soil moisture in summer is coordinated with low albedo. The ratio between sensible heat and net radiation (H/Rn) can be as high as 0.49 when the soil is dry. The ratio (H/Rn) decreases to 0.14 with the increasing of soil moisture. On the contrary, the ratio between latent heat flux and net radiation (LE/Rn) is increased when soil moisture is rising. The highest ratio (LE/ Rn) can be as high as 0.5 when soil moisture changes between 15% and 20%. After defining the effects of different soil moisture level on partitioning of surface available energy into sensible and latent heat fluxes, we can qualify how much the sensible heating is decreasing and the latent heating is increasing in this region under current plateau environment changes of warming and moistening.

A 3-year dataset of sensible and latent heat fluxes from the Tibetan Plateau, derived using eddy covariance measurements

The Tibetan Plateau (TP) has become a focus of strong scientific interest due to its role in the global water cycle and its reaction to climate change. Regional flux estimates of sensible and latent heat are important variables for linking the energy and hydrological cycles at the TP’s surface. Within this framework, a 3-year dataset (2008–2010) of eddy covariance measured turbulent fluxes was compiled from four stations on the TP into a standardised workflow: corrections and quality tests were applied using an internationally comparable software package. Second, the energy balance closure (CEB) was determined and two different closure corrections applied. The four stations (Qomolangma, Linzhi, NamCo and Nagqu) represent different locations and typical land surface types on the TP (high altitude alpine steppe with sparse vegetation, a densely vegetated alpine meadow, and bare soil/gravel, respectively). We show that the CEB differs between each surface and undergoes seasonal changes. Typical differences in the turbulent energy fluxes occur between the stations at Qomolangma, Linzhi and NamCo, while Nagqu is quite similar to NamCo. Specific investigation of the pre-monsoon, the Tibetan Plateau summer monsoon, post-monsoon and winter periods within the annual cycle reinforces these findings. The energy flux of the four sites is clearly influenced by the Tibetan Plateau monsoon. In the pre-monsoon period, sensible heat flux is the major energy source delivering heat to the atmosphere, whereas latent heat flux is greater than sensible heat flux during the monsoon season. Other factors affecting surface energy flux are topography and location. Land cover type also affects surface energy flux. The energy balance residuum indicates a typically observed overall non-closure in winter, while closure (or ‘turbulent over-closure’) is achieved during the Tibetan Plateau summer monsoon at the Nagqu site. The latter seems to depend on ground heat flux, which is higher in the wet season, related not only to a larger radiation input but also to a thermal decoupling of dry soils. Heterogeneous landscape modelling using a MODIS product is introduced to explain energy non-closure.

An Overview of the Regional Experiments for Land-atmosphere Exchanges 2012 (REFLEX 2012) Campaign

The REFLEX 2012 campaign was initiated as part of a training course on the organization of an airborne campaign to support advancement of the understanding of land-atmosphere interaction processes. This article describes the campaign, its objectives and observations, remote as well as in situ. The observations took place at the experimental Las Tiesas farm in an agricultural area in the south of Spain. During the period of ten days, measurements were made to capture the main processes controlling the local and regional land-atmosphere exchanges. Apart from multi-temporal, multi-directional and multi-spatial space-borne and airborne observations, measurements of the local meteorology, energy fluxes, soil temperature profiles, soil moisture profiles, surface temperature, canopy structure as well as leaf-level measurements were carried out. Additional thermo-dynamical monitoring took place at selected sites. After presenting the different types of measurements, some examples are given to illustrate the potential of the observations made.

An Accurate Estimate of Monthly Mean Land Surface Temperatures from MODIS Clear-Sky Retrievals

AbstractMODIS thermal sensors can provide us with global land surface temperature (LST) several times each day, but have difficulty in obtaining information from the land surface in cloudy situations. As a result, the monthly day or night LST products [Terra monthly day LST (TMD), Terra monthly night LST (TMN), Aqua monthly day LST (AMD), and Aqua monthly night LST (AMN)] are the average LST values calculated over a variable number of clear-sky days in a month. Is it possible to derive an accurate estimate of monthly mean LST based on averaging of the multidaily overpasses of MODIS sensors? In situ ground measurements and ERA-Interim reanalyses data, both of which provide continuous information in either clear or cloudy conditions, have been used to validate the approach. Using LST measurements from 156 ground flux towers, it was found that the three mean values , , and (mean biases of 0.19, 0.59, and 0.40 K, respectively) can all provide a reliable estimate of all-sky monthly mean LST. Of the three means...

Simulation of Forest Evapotranspiration Using Time-Series Parameterization of the Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS) over the Qilian Mountains

We propose a long-term parameterization scheme for two critical parameters, zero-plane displacement height (d) and aerodynamic roughness length (z0m), that we further use in the Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS). A sensitivity analysis of SEBS indicated that these two parameters largely impact the estimated sensible heat and latent heat fluxes. First, we calibrated regression relationships between measured forest vertical parameters (Lorey’s height and the frontal area index (FAI)) and forest aboveground biomass (AGB). Next, we derived the interannual Lorey’s height and FAI values from our calibrated regression models and corresponding forest AGB dynamics that were converted from interannual carbon fluxes, as simulated from two incorporated ecological models and a 2009 forest basis map These dynamic forest vertical parameters, combined with refined eight-day Global LAnd Surface Satellite (GLASS) LAI products, were applied to estimate the eight-day d, z0m, and, thus, the heat roughness length (z0h). The obtained d, z0m and z0h were then used as forcing for the SEBS model in order to simulate long-term forest evapotranspiration (ET) from 2000 to 2012 within the Qilian Mountains (QMs). As compared with MODIS, MOD16 products at the eddy covariance (EC) site, ET estimates from the SEBS agreed much better with EC measurements (R2 = 0.80 and RMSE = 0.21 mm·day−1).