Ziwei Xu

Heihe Watershed Allied Telemetry Experimental Research (HiWATER): Scientific Objectives and Experimental Design

A major research plan entitled “Integrated research on the ecohydrological process of the Heihe River Basin” was launched by the National Natural Science Foundation of China in 2010. One of the key aims of this research plan is to establish a research platform that integrates observation, data management, and model simulation to foster twenty-first-century watershed science in China. Based on the diverse needs of interdisciplinary studies within this research plan, a program called the Heihe Watershed Allied Telemetry Experimental Research (HiWATER) was implemented. The overall objective of HiWATER is to improve the observability of hydrological and ecological processes, to build a world-class watershed observing system, and to enhance the applicability of remote sensing in integrated ecohydrological studies and water resource management at the basin scale. This paper introduces the background, scientific objectives, and experimental design of HiWATER. The instrumental setting and airborne mission plans a...

Assessment of Uncertainties in Eddy Covariance Flux Measurement Based on Intensive Flux Matrix of HiWATER-MUSOEXE

To study the multiscale characteristics of ecohydrological processes in the Heihe River Basin, an intensive flux observation matrix was established, which consisted of mainly 17 eddy covariance (EC) flux stations in a 5.5 km × 5.5 km area of the Zhangye oasis. Formal observations began in June and continued through September 2012. Before the main campaign, an intercomparison for all instruments (including 20 EC sets) was conducted in the Gobi desert. All the data provided a rare opportunity to assess the flux uncertainties of EC measurements. Three methods were chosen in this assessment. For the Gobi intercomparison, a simple method based on elementary error analysis could provide the systematic errors and random uncertainties for each EC; uncertainties for sensible heat flux were generally less than 10% in this area. For flux matrix observations, by using mainly the method of Mann and Lenschow (1994), the uncertainties estimated for sensible heat, latent heat, and CO2 fluxes were approximately 18%, 16%, and 21%, respectively, for the selected period. These were comparatively high because of the inherent heterogeneities of the oasis. The flux uncertainty quantification, including its probability distribution and the nonconstant variance characteristics shown for these data sets, is essential for flux data interpretation and applications, particularly the validation of relevant remote sensing models.

A multiscale dataset for understanding complex eco-hydrological processes in a heterogeneous oasis system

We introduce a multiscale dataset obtained from Heihe Watershed Allied Telemetry Experimental Research (HiWATER) in an oasis-desert area in 2012. Upscaling of eco-hydrological processes on a heterogeneous surface is a grand challenge. Progress in this field is hindered by the poor availability of multiscale observations. HiWATER is an experiment designed to address this challenge through instrumentation on hierarchically nested scales to obtain multiscale and multidisciplinary data. The HiWATER observation system consists of a flux observation matrix of eddy covariance towers, large aperture scintillometers, and automatic meteorological stations; an eco-hydrological sensor network of soil moisture and leaf area index; hyper-resolution airborne remote sensing using LiDAR, imaging spectrometer, multi-angle thermal imager, and L-band microwave radiometer; and synchronical ground measurements of vegetation dynamics, and photosynthesis processes. All observational data were carefully quality controlled throughout sensor calibration, data collection, data processing, and datasets generation. The data are freely available at figshare and the Cold and Arid Regions Science Data Centre. The data should be useful for elucidating multiscale eco-hydrological processes and developing upscaling methods.

Temporal Upscaling and Reconstruction of Thermal Remotely Sensed Instantaneous Evapotranspiration

Currently, thermal remote sensing-based evapotranspiration (ET) models can only calculate instantaneous ET at the time of satellite overpass. Five temporal upscaling methods, namely, constant evaporative fraction (ConEF), corrected ConEF (CorEF), diurnal evaporative fraction (DiEF), constant solar radiation ratio (SolRad), and constant reference evaporative fraction (ConETrF), were selected to upscale the instantaneous ET to daily values. Moreover, five temporal reconstruction approaches, namely, data assimilation (ET_EnKF and ET_SCE_UA), surface resistance (ET_SR), reference evapotranspiration (ET_ETrF), and harmonic analysis of time series (ET_HANTS), were used to produce continuous daily ET with discrete clear-sky daily ET values. For clear-sky daily ET generation, SolRad and ConETrF produced the best estimates. In contrast, ConEF usually underestimated the daily ET. The optimum method, however, was found by combining SolRad and ConETrF, which produced the lowest root-mean-square error (RMSE) values. For continuous daily ET production, ET_ETrF and ET_SCE_UA performed the best, whereas the ET_SR and ET_HANTS methods had large errors. The annual ET distributions over the Beijing area were calculated with these methods. The spatial ET distributions from ET_ETrF and ET_SCE_UA had the same trend as ETWatch products, and had a smaller RMSE when compared with ET observations derived from the water balance method.

Characterizing the Footprint of Eddy Covariance System and Large Aperture Scintillometer Measurements to Validate Satellite-Based Surface Fluxes

To validate satellite-based surface fluxes by ground measurements properly, several numerical simulations were carried out at a homogeneous alpine meadow site and mixed cropland site, considering various atmospheric conditions and different land cover distribution types. By comparing various pixel selection methods, the results showed that footprint was significant in insuring a consistent spatial scale between ground measurements and satellite-based surface fluxes, particularly for heterogeneous surface and high-resolution remote sensing data. Because large aperture scintillometer measurements cover larger areas than eddy covariance (EC) system measurements, the spatial heterogeneity at a subpixel scale in complicated surface should be further considered in validating coarse satellite data. Thus, more accurate validation data and scaling methods must be developed, such as measuring surface fluxes at the satellite pixel scale by a flux measurement matrix or airborne EC measurements.

Assessment of the Energy Balance Closure under Advective Conditions and Its Impact Using Remote Sensing Data

AbstractA unique and intensive flux observation matrix was established during May to September of 2012 in an oasis–desert area located in the middle reaches of the Heihe River basin, China. The flux observation matrix included 22 eddy covariance systems belonging to the first thematic experiment of the Heihe Watershed Allied Telemetry Experimental Research (HiWATER) project. The energy balance closure ratio (EBR) was assessed and possible mechanisms were investigated using remote sensing data. The results showed that 1) the EBR was in the range of 0.78–1.04 at all sites with an average EBR of 0.92, and 2) the calculated daily EBR exhibited better performance than the 30-min averages. 3) The heat storage cannot be ignored during the crop growing season. An improvement of approximately 6% in the total closure was found after considering the heat storage terms (canopy and photosynthesis storage) in the energy budget at the maize surface, and the canopy and photosynthesis showed approximately equal contributi...

A Study of Shelterbelt Transpiration and Cropland Evapotranspiration in an Irrigated Area in the Middle Reaches of the Heihe River in Northwestern China

The transpiration from shelterbelts and the evapotranspiration (ET) from cropland (maize and vegetables) and orchards (apple) in an irrigated area in the middle reaches of the Heihe River, China, were estimated using a modified Penman-Monteith (P-M) formula and airborne remote sensing data. The results were compared to the shelter transpiration results obtained from measurements of sup flow in tree trunks made with thermal dissipation probes and the latent heat fluxes observed by the eddy covariance technique at flux towers in croplands. The modified P-M formula was found to be an effective means to estimate not only the cropland and orchard ET but also the shelter transpiration. The seasonal variation of shelterbelt transpiration was smaller than those of cropland and orchard ET. Estimates of ET made using the P-M formula along with the remote sensing data showed that 9.9%, 3.1%, and 87.0% of the total ET were allotted to shelterbelts, apple orchards, and cropland, respectively.

Diurnal and Seasonal Variations in Carbon Dioxide Exchange in Ecosystems in the Zhangye Oasis Area, Northwest China

Quantifying carbon dioxide exchange and understanding the response of key environmental factors in various ecosystems are critical to understanding regional carbon budgets and ecosystem behaviors. For this study, CO2 fluxes were measured in a variety of ecosystems with an eddy covariance observation matrix between June 2012 and September 2012 in the Zhangye oasis area of Northwest China. The results show distinct diurnal variations in the CO2 fluxes in vegetable field, orchard, wetland, and maize cropland. Diurnal variations of CO2 fluxes were not obvious, and their values approached zero in the sandy desert, desert steppe, and Gobi ecosystems. Additionally, daily variations in the Gross Primary Production (GPP), Ecosystem Respiration (Reco) and Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE) were not obvious in the sandy desert, desert steppe, and Gobi ecosystems. In contrast, the distributions of the GPP, Reco, and NEE show significant daily variations, that are closely related to the development of vegetation in the maize, wetland, orchard, and vegetable field ecosystems. All of the ecosystems are characterized by their carbon absorption during the observation period. The ability to absorb CO2 differed significantly among the tested ecosystems. We also used the Michaelis-Menten equation and exponential curve fitting methods to analyze the impact of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) on the daytime CO2 flux and impact of air temperature on Reco at night. The results show that PAR is the dominant factor in controlling photosynthesis with limited solar radiation, and daytime CO2 assimilation increases rapidly with PAR. Additionally, the carbon assimilation rate was found to increase slowly with high solar radiation. The light response parameters changed with each growth stage for all of the vegetation types, and higher light response values were observed during months or stages when the plants grew quickly. Light saturation points are different for different species. Nighttime Reco increases exponentially with air temperature. High Q10 values were observed when the vegetation coverage was relatively low, and low Q10 values occurred when the vegetables grew vigorously.

Quantification of the Scale Effect in Downscaling Remotely Sensed Land Surface Temperature

Most current statistical models for downscaling the remotely sensed land surface temperature (LST) are based on the assumption of the scale-invariant LST-descriptors relationship, which is being debated and requires an in-depth examination. Additionally, research on downscaling LST to high or very high resolutions (~10 m) is still rare. Here, a simple analytical model was developed to quantify the scale effect in downscaling the LST from a medium resolution (~100 m) to high resolutions. The model was verified in the Zhangye oasis and Beijing city. Examinations of the simulation datasets that were generated based on airborne and space station LSTs demonstrate that the developed model can predict the scale effect in LST downscaling; the scale effect exists in both of these two study areas. The model was further applied to 12 ASTER images in the Zhangye oasis during a complete crop growing season and one Landsat-8 TIRS image in Beijing city in the summer. The results demonstrate that the scale effect is intrinsically caused by the varying probability distribution of the LST and its descriptors at the native and target resolutions. The scale effect depends on the values of the descriptors, the phenology, and the ratio of the native resolution to the target resolution. Removing the scale effect would not necessarily improve the accuracy of the downscaled LST.

Partitioning Evapotranspiration into Soil Evaporation and Canopy Transpiration via a Two-Source Variational Data Assimilation System

AbstractThe primary objective of this study is to assess the accuracy of the two-source variational data assimilation (TVDA) system for partitioning evapotranspiration (ET) into soil evaporation (ETS) and canopy transpiration (ETC). Its secondary aim is to compare performance of the TVDA system with the commonly used two-source surface energy balance (TSEB) method. A combination of eddy-covariance-based ET observations and stable-isotope-based measurements of the ratio of evaporation and transpiration to total evapotranspiration (ETS/ET and ETC/ET) over an irrigated cropland site (the so-called Daman site) in the middle reach of the Heihe River basin (northwestern China) was used to investigate these objectives. The results indicate that the TVDA method predicts ETS and ETC more accurately than TSEB. Root-mean-square errors (RMSEs) of midday (1300–1500 LT) averaged soil and canopy latent heat flux (LES and LEC) estimates from TVDA are 23.1 and 133.0 W m−2, respectively. Corresponding RMSE values from TSEB...