Spatio‐temporal variability of water and energy fluxes – a case study for a mesoscale catchment in pre‐alpine environment

Water and energy fluxes at and between the land surface, the subsurface and the atmosphere are inextricably linked over all spatio‐temporal scales. Our research focuses on the joint analysis of both water and energy fluxes in a pre‐alpine catchment (55 km²) in southern Germany, which is part of the Terrestrial Environmental Observatories (TERENO). We use a novel three‐dimensional, physically based and distributed modelling approach to reproduce both observed streamflow as an integral measure for water fluxes and heat flux and soil temperature measurements at an observation location over a period of 2 years. While heat fluxes are often used for comparison of the simulations of one‐dimensional land surface models, they are rarely used for additional validation of physically based and distributed hydrological modelling approaches. The spatio‐temporal variability of the water and energy balance components and their partitioning for dominant land use types of the study region are investigated. The model shows good performance for simulating daily streamflow (Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency > 0.75). Albeit only streamflow measurements are used for calibration, the simulations of hourly heat fluxes and soil temperatures at the observation site also show a good performance, particularly during summer. A limitation of the model is the simulation of temperature‐driven heat fluxes during winter, when the soil is covered by snow. An analysis of the simulated spatial fields reveals heat flux patterns that reflect the distribution of the land use and soil types of the catchment. The water and energy partitioning is characterized by a strong seasonal cycle and shows clear differences between the selected land use types. Copyright © 2016 The Authors Hydrological Processes Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Estimation of spatially distributed surface energy fluxes using remotely‐sensed data for agricultural fields

Land surface energy fluxes are required in many environmental studies, including hydrology, agronomy and meteorology. Surface energy balance models simulate microscale energy exchange processes between the ground surface and the atmospheric layer near ground level. Spatial variability of energy fluxes limits point measurements to be used for larger areas. Remote sensing provides the basis for spatial mapping of energy fluxes. Remote‐sensing‐based surface energy flux‐mapping was conducted using seven Landsat images from 1997 to 2002 at four contiguous crop fields located in Polk County, northwestern Minnesota. Spatially distributed surface energy fluxes were estimated and mapped at 30 m pixel level from Landsat Thematic Mapper and Enhanced Thematic Mapper images and weather information. Net radiation was determined using the surface energy balance algorithm for land (SEBAL) procedure. Applying the two‐source energy balance (TSEB) model, the surface temperature and the latent and sensible heat fluxes were partitioned into vegetation and soil components and estimated at the pixel level. Yield data for wheat and soybean from 1997 to 2002 were mapped and compared with latent heat (evapotranspiration) for four of the fields at pixel level. The spatial distribution and the relation of latent heat flux and Bowen ratio (ratio of sensible heat to latent heat) to crop yield were studied. The root‐mean‐square error and the mean absolute percentage of error between the observed and predicted energy fluxes were between 7 and 22 W m⁻² and 12 and 24% respectively. Results show that latent heat flux and Bowen ratio were correlated (positive and negative) to the yield data. Wheat and soybean yields were predicted using latent heat flux with mean R² = 0·67 and 0·70 respectively, average residual means of −4·2 bushels/acre and 0·11 bushels/acre respectively, and average residual standard deviations of 16·2 bushels/acre and 16·6 bushels/acre respectively (1 bushel/acre ≈ 0·087 m³ ha⁻¹). The flux estimation procedure from the SEBAL‐TSEB model was useful and applicable to agricultural fields. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Observations of late winter Canadian tundra snow cover properties

Tundra snow cover is important to monitor as it influences local, regional, and global‐scale surface water balance, energy fluxes, as well as ecosystem and permafrost dynamics. Observations are already showing a decrease in spring snow cover duration at high latitudes, but the impact of changing winter season temperature and precipitation on variables such as snow water equivalent (SWE) is less clear. A multi‐year project was initiated in 2004 with the objective to quantify tundra snow cover properties over multiple years at a scale appropriate for comparison with satellite passive microwave remote sensing data and regional climate and hydrological models. Data collected over seven late winter field campaigns (2004 to 2010) show the patterns of snow depth and SWE are strongly influenced by terrain characteristics. Despite the spatial heterogeneity of snow cover, several inter‐annual consistencies were identified. A regional average density of 0.293 g/cm³ was derived and shown to have little difference with individual site densities when deriving SWE from snow depth measurements. The inter‐annual patterns of SWE show that despite variability in meteorological forcing, there were many consistent ratios between the SWE on flat tundra and the SWE on lakes, plateaus, and slopes. A summary of representative inter‐annual snow stratigraphy from different terrain categories is also presented. © 2013 Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada. Hydrological Processes. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simulation of evapotranspiration and carbon dioxide flux in the wheat‐maize rotation croplands of the North China Plain using the Simple Biosphere Model

The North China Plain, which is critical for food production in China, is encountering serious water shortage due to heavy agricultural water requirement. The accurate modelling of carbon dioxide flux and evapotranspiration (ET) in croplands is thus essential for yield prediction and water resources management. The land surface model is powerful in simulating energy and carbon dioxide fluxes between land and atmosphere. Some key processes in the Simple Biosphere Model (Version 2, SiB2) were parameterized based on the observations. The simulated fluxes were tested against the eddy covariance flux measurements over two typical winter wheat/maize double cropping fields. A simple diagnostic parameterisation of soil respiration, not included in SiB2, was added and calibrated using the observations to model the carbon budget. The Ball‐Berry stomatal conductance model was calibrated using observed leaf gas exchange rate, showing that the original SiB2 could significantly underpredict the ET in the wheat field. SiB2 significantly underpredicted soil resistance at the Weishan site, leading to overpredict the ET. Overall, there was a close agreement between the simulated and observed latent heat fluxes and net CO₂ exchange using the re‐parameterized SiB2. These findings are important when the model is used for the regional simulation in the North China Plain. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Determination of regional land surface heat fluxes over a heterogeneous landscape of the Jiddah area of Saudi Arabia by using Landsat‐7 ETM data

In this study, a parameterization method based on Landsat‐7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM) data and field observations is presented and tested for deriving the regional land surface variables, vegetation variables and land surface heat fluxes over a heterogeneous landscape. As a case study, the method and two Landsat‐7 ETM images are applied to the Jiddah area of Saudi Arabia. The regional distribution maps of surface reflectance, normalized difference vegetation index, modified soil adjusted vegetation index (MSAVI), vegetation coverage, leaf area index, surface temperature, net radiation flux, soil heat flux, sensible heat flux and latent heat flux have been determined over the Jiddah area. The derived results have been validated by using the ‘ground truth’. The results show that the more reasonable regional distributions of land surface variables (surface reflectance, surface temperature), vegetation variables (MSAVI and vegetation coverage), net radiation, soil heat flux and sensible heat flux can be obtained by using the method proposed in this study. Further improvement of the method is also discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Diurnal cycle of surface energy fluxes in high mountain terrain: High-resolution fully coupled atmosphere-hydrology modelling and impact of lateral flow

Water and energy fluxes are inextricably interlinked within the interface of the land surface and the atmosphere. In the regional earth system models, the lower boundary parameterization of land surface neglects lateral hydrological processes, which may inadequately depict the surface water and energy fluxes variations, thus affecting the simulated atmospheric system through land-atmosphere feedbacks. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to evaluate the hydrologically enhanced regional climate modelling in order to represent the diurnal cycle of surface energy fluxes in high spatial and temporal resolution. In this study, the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF) and coupled WRF Hydrological modelling system (WRF-Hydro) are applied in a high alpine catchment in Northeastern Tibetan Plateau, the headwater area of the Heihe River. By evaluating and intercomparing model results by both models, the role of lateral flow processes on the surface energy fluxes dynamics is investigated. The model evaluations suggest that both WRF and coupled WRF-Hydro reasonably represent the diurnal variations of the near-surface meteorological fields, surface energy fluxes and hourly partitioning of available energy. By incorporating additional lateral flow processes, the coupled WRF-Hydro simulates higher surface soil moisture over the mountainous area, resulting in increased latent heat flux and decreased sensible heat flux of around 20–50 W/m² in their diurnal peak values during summertime, although the net radiation and ground heat fluxes remain almost unchanged. The simulation results show that the diurnal cycle of surface energy fluxes follows the local terrain and vegetation features. This highlights the importance of consideration of lateral flow processes over areas with heterogeneous terrain and land surfaces.     

Modelling the spatial–temporal variability of spring snowmelt in an arctic catchment

Arctic spring landscapes are usually characterized by a mosaic of coexisting snow‐covered and bare ground patches. This phenomenon has major implications for hydrological processes, including meltwater production and runoff. Furthermore, as indicated by aircraft observations, it affects land‐surface–atmosphere exchanges, leading to a high degree of variability in surface energy terms during melt. The heterogeneity and related differences when certain parts of the landscape become snow free also affects the length of the growing season and the carbon cycle. Small‐scale variability in arctic snowmelt is addressed here by combining a spatially distributed end‐of‐winter snow cover with simulations of variable snowmelt energy balance factors for the small arctic catchment of Trail Valley Creek (63 km²). Throughout the winter, snow in arctic tundra basins is redistributed by frequent blowing snow events. Areas of above‐ or below‐average end‐of‐winter snow water equivalents were determined from land‐cover classifications, topography, land‐cover‐based snow surveys, and distributed surface wind‐field simulations. Topographic influences on major snowmelt energy balance factors (solar radiation and turbulent fluxes of sensible and latent heat) were modelled on a small‐scale (40 m) basis. A spatially variable complete snowmelt energy balance was subsequently computed and applied to the distributed snow cover, allowing the simulation of the progress of melt throughout the basin. The emerging patterns compared very well visually to snow cover observations from satellite images and aerial photographs. Results show the relative importance of variable end‐of‐winter snow cover, spatially distributed melt energy fluxes, and local advection processes for the development of a patchy snow cover. This illustrates that the consideration of these processes is crucial for an accurate determination of snow‐covered areas, as well as the location, timing, and amount of meltwater release from arctic catchments, and should, therefore, be included in hydrological models. Furthermore, the study shows the need for a subgrid parameterization of these factors in the land surface schemes of larger scale climate models. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Energy balance above a boreal coniferous forest: a difference in turbulent fluxes between snow‐covered and snow‐free canopies

To evaluate the interactive effects of snow and forest on turbulent fluxes between the forest surface and the atmosphere, the surface energy balance above a forest was measured by the eddy correlation method during the winter of 1995–1996. The forest was a young coniferous plantation comprised of spruce and fir. The study site, in Sapporo, northern Japan, had heavy and frequent snowfalls and the canopy was frequently covered with snow during the study period. A comparison of the observed energy balance above the forest for periods with and without a snow‐covered canopy and an analysis using a single‐source model gave the following results: during daytime when the canopy was covered with snow, the upward latent heat flux was large, about 80% of the net radiation, and the sensible heat flux was positive but small. On the other hand, during daytime when the canopy was dry and free from snow, the sensible heat flux was dominant and the latent heat flux was minor, about 10% of the net radiation. To explain this difference of energy partition between snow‐covered and snow‐free conditions, not only differences in temperature but also differences in the bulk transfer coefficients for latent heat flux were necessary in the model. Therefore, the high evaporation rate from the snow‐covered canopy can be attributed largely to the high moisture availability of the canopy surface. Evaporation from the forest during a 60‐day period in midwinter was estimated on a daily basis as net radiation minus sensible heat flux. The overall average evaporation during the 60‐day period was 0·6 mm day⁻¹, which is larger than that from open snow fields. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Using a remote sensing field experiment to investigate flux-footprint relations and flux sampling distributions for tower and aircraft-based observations

During a remote sensing field experiment conducted in the Southern Great Plains in 1997 (SGP97), tower and aircraft-based flux observations were collected over one of the main study sites in central Oklahoma. This is an agricultural region and contains primarily grassland/pasture and winter wheat, which was recently harvested leaving a significant number of fields either as wheat stubble or plowed bare soil. Multi-spectral data obtained by aircraft provided high-resolution (30 m) spatially-distributed vegetation cover and surface temperature information over the study area. The spatial variations in these surface states strongly affect the partitioning of surface fluxes between sensible and latent heat. These data, together with coarser resolution (5 km) satellite data, are used in a remote sensing-based energy balance modeling system that disaggregates flux estimates from 5 km to 30-m resolution. The resulting high-resolution flux maps provide a means for evaluating whether tower and aircraft-based flux measurements sample a full range in flux conditions for this landscape. In addition, this remote sensing-based modeling system can be used to investigate the influence of variability in these key surface states on tower and aircraft measurements through flux-footprint modeling. Under the light wind and unstable conditions that existed during the observations, highest correlation between aircraft and modeled estimated heat and water vapor fluxes were obtained using different flux-footprint estimates. More specifically, the source area for heat was estimated to be much closer to the aircraft flight line than for water vapor.     

Modeling studies of the upper ocean response to a tropical cyclone

A coupled ocean and boundary layer flux numerical modeling system is used to study the upper ocean response to surface heat and momentum fluxes associated with a major hurricane, namely, Hurricane Dennis (July 2005) in the Gulf of Mexico. A suite of experiments is run using this modeling system, constructed by coupling a Navy Coastal Ocean Model simulation of the Gulf of Mexico to an atmospheric flux model. The modeling system is forced by wind fields produced from satellite scatterometer and atmospheric model wind data, and by numerical weather prediction air temperature data. The experiments are initialized from a data assimilative hindcast model run and then forced by surface fluxes with no assimilation for the time during which Hurricane Dennis impacted the region. Four experiments are run to aid in the analysis: one is forced by heat and momentum fluxes, one by only momentum fluxes, one by only heat fluxes, and one with no surface forcing. An equation describing the change in the upper ocean hurricane heat potential due to the storm is developed. Analysis of the model results show that surface heat fluxes are primarily responsible for widespread reduction (0.5°–1.5°C) of sea surface temperature over the inner West Florida Shelf 100–300 km away from the storm center. Momentum fluxes are responsible for stronger surface cooling (2°C) near the center of the storm. The upper ocean heat loss near the storm center of more than 200 MJ/m² is primarily due to the vertical flux of thermal energy between the surface layer and deep ocean. Heat loss to the atmosphere during the storm’s passage is approximately 100–150 MJ/m². The upper ocean cooling is enhanced where the preexisting mixed layer is shallow, e.g., within a cyclonic circulation feature, although the heat flux to the atmosphere in these locations is markedly reduced.     

Understanding of the Common Land Model performance for water and energy fluxes in a farmland during the growing season in Korea

The Common Land Model (CLM) is one of the most widely used land surface models (LSMs) due to the practicality of its simple parameterization scheme and its versatility in embracing a variety of field datasets. The improved assessment of land surface water and energy fluxes using CLM can be an alternative approach for understanding the complex land–atmosphere interactions in data‐limited regions. The understanding of water and energy cycles in a farmland is crucial because it is a dominant land feature in Korea and Asia. However, the applications of CLM to farmland in Korea are in paucity. The simulations of water and energy fluxes by CLM were conducted against those from the tower‐based measurements during the growing season of 2006 at the Haenam site (a farmland site) in Korea without optimization. According to the International Geosphere–Biosphere Programme (IGBP) land cover classification, a homogeneous cropland was selected initially for this study. Although the simulated soil moisture had a similar pattern to that of the observed, the former was relatively drier (at 0·1 m³ m^?3) than the latter. The simulated net radiation showed good agreement with the observed, with a root mean squared error (RMSE) of 41 W m^?2, whereas relatively large discrepancies between the simulation and observation were found in sensible (RMSE of 66 W m^?2) and latent (RMSE of 60 W m^?2) heat fluxes. On the basis of the sensitivity analysis, soil moisture was more receptive to land cover and soil texture parameterizations when compared to soil temperature and turbulent fluxes. Despite the uncertainty in the predictive capability of CLM employed without optimization, the initial performance of CLM suggests usefulness in a data‐limited heterogeneous farmland in Korea. Further studies are required to identify the controls on water and energy fluxes with an improved parameterization. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Combining the dissipation method and surface renewal analysis to estimate scalar fluxes from the time traces over rangeland grass near Ione (California)

The dissipation method, the method preferred for estimating scalar surface fluxes over open water has not traditionally been used by agronomists, whereas the surface renewal (SR) theory in conjunction with the analysis of the scalar time trace offers tremendous advantages for estimating fluxes over agronomic crops. For a steady and horizontally homogeneous flow, it is shown that the dissipation method and SR analysis are closely related. As a consequence, a new dissipation–SR analysis expression for estimating scalar surface fluxes was derived. The new equation requires no calibration, and the scalar time trace measured at a frequency capable of identifying canopy‐scale coherent structures (typically 4–10 Hz in agriculture) is the only input required. Sensible and latent heat flux estimates obtained from 10 Hz air temperature and water vapour concentration measurements in the inertial sub‐layer (2 m height) over short, homogeneous rangeland grass at a site where similarity does not hold gave similar results to those measured with the eddy covariance (EC) method. For unstable cases, the new equation provided a root mean square error of 57 W m^?2 for the surface energy‐balance closure. For stable cases, the performance was difficult to evaluate because the EC fluxes were similar in magnitude to the sensor error. It is concluded that the proposed method can contribute to a better understanding of hydrological processes and water requirements by providing an accurate, less costly, alternative method to indirectly estimate evapotranspiration as the residual of the energy balance equation. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

1998年4-5月地球同步轨道MeV电子通量增强事件

采用GOES9卫星观测的能量大于2MeV和大于4MeV电子通量和行星际飞船ACE太阳风参数的高时间分辨率资料,以及磁暴指数Dst资料,分析了1998年4-5月期间地球同步轨道电子通量增强事件的时间和能量响应特征及其与行星际太阳风参数、磁暴和亚暴等扰动条件的对应关系.结果表明,地球同步轨道相对论性（MeV）电子通量增强事件有明显的周日变化,中午极大和午夜极小.4月22日和5月5日开始的两次大事件中,能量大于2MeV电子通量中午极大值上升到最大值的时间尺度分别约为4天和1天,中午极大值高于背景水平的持续时间分别为13天（4月22日-5月4日）和16天（5月4日-20日）以上.每次MeV电子通量增强事件的能量范围不完全相同.两次大事件的上升段都对应于磁暴的恢复相,与太阳风动压脉冲、高速流脉冲和负Bz分量关系密切.     

From streambed temperature measurements to spatial‐temporal flux quantification: using the LPML method to study groundwater–surface water interaction

Knowledge on groundwater–surface water interaction and especially on exchange fluxes between streams and aquifers is an important prerequisite for the study of transport and fate of contaminants and nutrients in the hyporheic zone. One possibility to quantify groundwater–surface water exchange fluxes is by using heat as an environmlental tracer. Modern field equipment including multilevel temperature sticks and the novel open‐source analysis tool LPML make this technique ever more attractive. The recently developed LPML method solves the one‐dimensional fluid flow and heat transport equation by combining a local polynomial method with a maximum likelihood estimator. In this study, we apply the LPML method on field data to quantify the spatial and temporal variability of vertical fluxes and their uncertainties from temperature–time series measured in a Belgian lowland stream. Over several months, temperature data were collected with multilevel temperature sticks at the streambed top and at six depths for a small stream section. Long‐term estimates show a range from gaining fluxes of ?291 mm day^?1 to loosing fluxes of 12 mm day^?1; average seasonal fluxes ranged from ?138 mm day^?1 in winter to ?16 mm day^?1 in summer. With our analyses, we could determine a high spatial and temporal variability of vertical exchange fluxes for the investigated stream section. Such spatial and temporal variability should be taken into account in biogeochemical cycling of carbon, nutrients and metals and in fate analysis of contaminant plumes. In general, the stream section was gaining during most of the observation period. Two short‐term high stream stage events, seemingly caused by blockage of the stream outlet, led to a change in flow direction from gaining to losing conditions. We also found more discharge occurring at the outer stream bank than at the inner one indicating a local flow‐through system. With the conducted analyses, we were able to advance our understanding of the regional groundwater flow system. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the performance of surface renewal analysis to estimate sensible heat flux over two growing rice fields under the influence of regional advection

High-frequency temperature data were recorded at one height and they were used in Surface Renewal (SR) analysis to estimate sensible heat flux during the full growing season of two rice fields located north–northeast of Colusa, CA (in the Sacramento Valley). One of the fields was seeded into a flooded paddy and the other was drill seeded before flooding. To minimize fetch requirements, the measurement height was selected to be close to the maximum expected canopy height. The roughness sub-layer depth was estimated to discriminate if the temperature data came from the inertial or roughness sub-layer. The equation to estimate the roughness sub-layer depth was derived by combining simple mixing-length theory, mixing-layer analogy, equations to account for stable atmospheric surface layer conditions, and semi-empirical canopy–architecture relationships. The potential for SR analysis as a method that operates in the full surface boundary layer was tested using data collected over growing vegetation at a site influenced by regional advection of sensible heat flux. The inputs used to estimate the sensible heat fluxes included air temperature sampled at 10 Hz, the mean and variance of the horizontal wind speed, the canopy height, and the plant area index for a given intermediate height of the canopy. Regardless of the stability conditions and measurement height above the canopy, sensible heat flux estimates using SR analysis gave results that were similar to those measured with the eddy covariance method. Under unstable cases, it was shown that the performance was sensitive to estimation of the roughness sub-layer depth. However, an expression was provided to select the crucial scale required for its estimation.     

Quantitative evaluation of different hydrological modelling approaches in a partly glacierized Swiss watershed

Mountain water resources management often requires hydrological models that need to handle both snow and ice melt. In this study, we compared two different model types for a partly glacierized watershed in central Switzerland: (1) an energy‐balance model primarily designed for snow simulations; and (2) a temperature‐index model developed for glacier simulations. The models were forced with data extrapolated from long‐term measurement records to mimic the typical input data situation for climate change assessments. By using different methods to distribute precipitation, we also assessed how various snow cover patterns influenced the modelled runoff. The energy‐balance model provided accurate discharge estimations during periods dominated by snow melt, but dropped in performance during the glacier ablation season. The glacier melt rates were sensitive to the modelled snow cover patterns and to the parameterization of turbulent heat fluxes. In contrast, the temperature‐index model poorly reproduced snow melt runoff, but provided accurate discharge estimations during the periods dominated by glacier ablation, almost independently of the method used to distribute precipitation. Apparently, the calibration of this model compensated for the inaccurate precipitation input with biased parameters. Our results show that accurate estimates of snow cover patterns are needed either to correctly constrain the melt parameters of the temperature‐index model or to ensure appropriate glacier surface albedos required by the energy‐balance model. Thus, particularly when only distant meteorological stations are available, carefully selected input data and efficient extrapolation methods of meteorological variables improve the reliability of runoff simulations in high alpine watersheds. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Inversion and space-time-averaging algorithms for ScaRaB (Scanner for the Earth Radiation Budget). Comparison with ERBE

Establishment of a uniform long-term record of “top-of-the atmosphere” (TOA) Earth radiation budget (ERB) components, on a scale appropriate to the study of cloud radiation interactions, requires that the data obtained from different observation missions satisfy two basic conditions: (1) the broadband shortwave (SW:0.2-4 μm) and longwave (LW: 4–50 μm) radiances must be demonstrably made on the same absolute scale; and (2) the methods used first to convert the instantaneous (filtered) radiances into (unfiltered) SW and LW radiant fluxes, and then to perform the space-time integrations to yield regional monthly means, must be consistent. Here we consider mainly the second point, with regard to the ScaRaB/Meteor mission in orbit since 25 January 1994 and observing the Earth since 24 February 1994. The objective of this mission is to determine the TOA ERB components and so to provide a continuation of the NASA ERBE scanner mission (November 1984-February 1990). We show how results compatible with ERBE can be obtained by taking into account the instrumental characteristics and the satellite orbit parameters: spectral response of the broadband channels, Earth local time of observation. Considering the spectral response of the ScaRaB broadband channels, we show that no spectral correction is required in the longwave domain, whereas a correction of +4.5% must be applied in the shortwave domain for clear and partly cloudy ocean, in order to compensate for underestimation at the shortest wavelengths. Despite possible differences between ERBE and ScaRaB procedures in values assumed for certain parameters of the scene/cloud identifications, application of these procedures to the same set of ERBE data (spectrally corrected, i.e. “unfiltered” radiances) shows that scene identification agreement is close to 90% and that, where there is disagreement, resulting differences in LW fluxes are negligible, those in SW fluxes small. We show that regional and global mean quantities are in excellent agreement, considering that differences between (ERBS+NOAA-9) and (NOAA-9 only) results may be taken as illustrating time-sampling effects. We find that biases may occur from the undersampling, specifically for the night-time clear-sky estimation over land and desert. Preliminary results using ScaaB data of March 1994 show that clear-sky regional estimates may be less numerous than in ERBE scanner products, due to either the larger pixel size or the auxiliary parameters used in the scene identification, and that expected uncertainties in the global monthly mean values depend mainly on the instrument radiometric calibration.     

The effect of temperature‐humidity similarity on Bowen ratios,dimensionless standard deviations,and mass transfer coefficients over a lake

Similarity between heat and water vapor turbulent transport in the Atmospheric Surface Layer has been the basis of many engineering models to calculate surface fluxes, including the widely applied Bowen ratio equation, for a long time. Modernly, it is best understood within the context of Monin‐Obkhov Similarity Theory (MOST). In this work we study similarity between temperature and humidity, the Bowen ratio, and turbulent mass and heat transfer coefficients over a tropical lake in Brazil (Furnas Lake). The analysis was partly based on the concept of ‘Surface flux numbers’ recently proposed to diagnose scalar similarity, and considered wind directions and flux footprints. A period of 50 days of 30‐min. micrometeorological runs was used. Several cases of dissimilar temperature‐humidity behavior were found in the data. Both footprint extent and an aggregate temperature‐humidity Surface flux number turned out to be insufficient to diagnose these situations, but separate flux numbers for each scalar were able to diagnose their individual conformity to MOST. Overall, temperature displayed consistently larger relative variances and fluxes in comparison with humidity. The results highlight the need of careful analysis when measurements are made at sites close to land, when flux footprints may extend over there, indicating the possibility of advection effects. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Improvement of the Noah land surface model for warm season processes: evaluation of water and energy flux simulation

The Noah model is a land surface model of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction. It has been widely used in regional coupled weather and climate models (i.e. Weather Research and Forecasting Model, Eta Mesoscale Model) and global coupled weather and climate models (i.e. National Centers for Environmental Prediction Global Forecast System, Climate Forecast System). Therefore, its continued improvement and development are keys to enhancing our weather and climate forecast ability and water and energy flux simulation accuracy. North American Land Data Assimilation System phase 1 (NLDAS‐1) experiments indicated that the Noah model exhibited substantial bias in latent heat flux, total runoff and land skin temperature during the warm season, and such bias can significantly affect coupled weather and climate models. This paper presents a study to improve the Noah model by adding model parameterization processes such as including seasonal factor on leaf area index and root distribution and selecting optimal model parameters. We compared simulated latent heat flux, mean annual runoff and land skin temperature from the Noah control and test versions with measured latent heat flux, land surface skin temperature, mean annual runoff and satellite‐retrieved land surface skin temperature. The results show that the test version significantly reduces biases in latent heat, total runoff and land skin temperature simulation. The test version has been used for the NLDAS phase 2 (NLDAS‐2) to produce 30‐year water flux, energy flux and state variable products to support the US drought monitor of National Integrated Drought Information System. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.