Processing and quality control of flux data during LITFASS-2003

Different aspects of the quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) of micrometeorological measurements were combined to create a comprehensive algorithm which was then applied to experimental data from LITFASS-2003 (Lindenberg Inhomogeneous Terrain—Fluxes between Atmosphere and Surface: a long term Study). Eddy-covariance measurements of the latent heat flux were the main focus of the QA/QC efforts. The results of a turbulence sensor intercomparison experiment showed deviations between the different eddy-covariance systems on the order of 15%, or less than 30 W m⁻², for the latent heat flux and 5%, or less than 10 W m⁻², for the sensible heat flux. In order to avoid uncertainties due to the post-processing of turbulence data, a comprehensive software package was used for the analysis of experimental data from LITFASS-2003, including all necessary procedures for corrections and quality control. An overview of the quality test results shows that for most of the days more than 80% of the available latent heat flux data are of high quality so long as there are no instrumental problems. The representativeness of a flux value for the target land-use type was analysed using a stochastic footprint model. Different methods to calculate soil heat fluxes at the surface are discussed and a sensitivity analysis is conducted to select the most robust method for LITFASS-2003. The lack of energy balance closure, which was found for LITFASS-2003, can probably be attributed to the presence of low-frequency flux contributions that cannot be resolved with an averaging time of 30 min. Though the QA/QC system has been developed for the requirements of LITFASS-2003, it can also be applied to other experiments dealing with similar objectives.     

Soil organic carbon storage and soil CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> flux in the alpine meadow ecosystem

High-resolution sampling, measurements of organic carbon contents and ¹⁴C signatures of selected four soil profiles in the Haibei Station situated on the northeast Tibetan Plateau, and application of ¹⁴C tracing technology were conducted in an attempt to investigate the turnover times of soil organic carbon and the soil-CO₂ flux in the alpine meadow ecosystem. The results show that the organic carbon stored in the soils varies from 22.12×10⁴ kg C hm⁻² to 30.75×10⁴ kg C hm⁻² in the alpine meadow ecosystems, with an average of 26.86×10⁴ kg C hm⁻². Turnover times of organic carbon pools increase with depth from 45 a to 73 a in the surface soil horizon to hundreds of years or millennia or even longer at the deep soil horizons in the alpine meadow ecosystems. The soil-CO₂ flux ranges from 103.24 g C m⁻² a⁻¹ to 254.93 gC m⁻² a⁻¹, with an average of 191.23 g C m⁻² a⁻¹. The CO₂ efflux produced from microbial decomposition of organic matter varies from 73.3 g C m⁻² a⁻¹ to 181 g C m⁻² a⁻¹. More than 30% of total soil organic carbon resides in the active carbon pool and 72.8%281.23% of total CO₂ emitted from organic matter decomposition results from the topsoil horizon (from 0 cm to 10 cm) for the Kobresia meadow. Responding to global warming, the storage, volume of flow and fate of the soil organic carbon in the alpine meadow ecosystem of the Tibetan Plateau will be changed, which needs further research. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 40231015, 40471120 and 40473002) and the Guangdong Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 06300102)     

成都经济区农业生态系统土壤镉通量研究

以四川成都经济区农业生态系统中的重金属Cd为对象,对其在土壤中的输入输出通量进行初步探索。综合各方面的因素,确定以大气干湿沉降、灌溉水、化肥为输入途径和农作物为输出途径进行研究。经过计算,经济区大气干湿沉降通量平均值为17.76g/hm2·a,灌溉水和化肥通量明显较低,三者对土壤Cd污染的贡献率分别为86%、10%和4%。对于6个不同的地区,三者比例略有差别,大气干湿沉降所占比例最高达94%,最低也达到了77%。Cd通过农作物收割输出的量相对较小。土壤Cd年净增量主要受大气干湿沉降的制约,因此大气环境质量应是重点监控的对象。以耕作土体为研究介质,经估算,当前的Cd年平均通量可引起土壤Cd的质量分数升高0.006mg/kg。     

洞庭湖镉迁移转化的马尔可夫模型评价

讨论了在现时泥沙、水体、鱼类、藻类的含镉状态下洞庭湖的输入输出通量；并以其为例，在简要介绍马尔可夫链数学方法的基础上，建立了湖泊生态系统中镉迁移转化的马尔可夫链数学模型，初步评价了当洞庭湖不断有镉加入、系统到达状态稳定时各种介质中的镉总量及镉的迁移转化趋势。     

Interpretation of a two-point flux stencil for skew parallelogram grids

Control-volume formulations for elliptic equations often use two-point flux stencils, even for skew grids. Any two-point flux stencil may be interpreted as a multipoint flux stencil. This yields a definition of the permeability (or conductivity) tensor. Formulas for calculating the permeability tensor, based on the user-specified quantities in the two-point flux stencil, are given. Numerical test examples demonstrate the validity of the derivation.      

内蒙古夏季干旱的水汽输送特征分析

对于大气中水汽的定性、定量测量是提高内蒙古干旱研究与预测的有效手段。利用NCEP再分析资料和内蒙古地区实测降水资料（1961-2000年），定性、定量地分析东亚水汽分布、水汽输送与内蒙古夏季干旱的关系。得出内蒙古地区上空低层大气的含水量偏少是内蒙古夏季干旱的一个重要因素。由于青藏高原大地形作用，孟加拉湾和南海的水汽北上受阻，不能达到内蒙古高原是形成内蒙古干旱的又一原因。受大气环流影响，内蒙古高原水汽辐合偏弱是内蒙古夏季干旱的重要原因。青藏高原的水汽通量与内蒙古东西部降水都存在明显负相关；孟加拉湾至内蒙古西部是内蒙古西部地区降水的水汽通道，南海至中国东北地区为内蒙古东部降水的水汽通道。     

Relationship between global seismicity and solar activities

The relations between sunspot numbers and earthquakes (M≧6), solar 10.7 cm radio flux and earthquakes, solar proton events and earthquakes have been analyzed in this paper. It has been found that: (1) Earthquakes occur frequently around the minimum years of solar activity. Generally, the earthquake activities are relatively less during the peak value years of solar activity, some say, around the period when magnetic polarity in the solar polar regions is reversed. (2) the earthquake frequency in the minimum period of solar activity is closely related to the maximum annual means of sunspot numbers, the maximum annual means of solar 10.7 cm radio flux and solar proton events of a whole solar cycle, and the relation between earthquake and solar proton events is closer than others. (3) As judged by above interrelationship, the period from 1995 to 1997 will be the years while earthquake activities are frequent. In the paper, the simple physical discussion has been carried out. These results supported the exploration and studies of some researchers to a certain extent. This work is supported by Foundation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (major item).     

Estimation of Sensible Heat Flux from Surface Temperature Wave and One-Time-of-Day Air Temperature Observation

By means of the algorithm presented here, the temporal course H(t) and the daily mean H¯ of the sensible heat flux H can be estimated from measurements of the thermodynamic surface temperature (as a function of time) and from a one-time-of-day air temperature observation. In addition to these temperatures, one needs estimates for daily mean wind speed, for the roughness lengths of momentum and heat transfer, and for the displacement height. First, a quite general solution of the equation for heat conductance (equation for the vertical profile of potential temperature (z,t)) in the dynamic sublayer will be presented. The undetermined parameters in this solution will be defined with the aid of the above mentioned measurements. The influence of horizontal advection will be taken into account. After that, the sensible heat flux can be evaluated from the temperature difference between surface and air with the well known resistance formulae. In this paper the algorithm is derived for areas with homogeneous surfaces, i.e., with uniform surface temperatures. Finally, the method will be verified by measurements taken during the field campaigns HIBE 89 (Hildesheimer Börde in Germany) and EFEDA 91 (Spain). The root mean square errors (RMSE) for the comparison between measurement and model with regard to the temperature difference of surface and air amount to one or two degrees Kelvin, and the error of H¯ reaches 10 to 25 per cent. The method can be used to determine the sensible heat flux from measurements of surface temperatures by satellites (e.g., METEOSAT), but can also be applied to ground based measurements. For instance, horizontal temperature advection can be estimated from measurements at a single location, especially if more than one near-surface air temperature is available. The procedure can be generalized for larger areas, which consist of various surface types with different surface temperatures. This generalization of the algorithm is in progress and will be addressed in a subsequent paper. It will allow us to improve the estimates for H(t) by means of temperature measurements from, e.g., NOAA/AVHRR or LANDSAT/TM, taking into account the heterogeneity of the area that is contained in one METEOSAT pixel.     

Analysis of Astex-Stratocumulus Observational Data Using a Mass-Flux Approach

A mass-flux approach is applied to observational data obtained in a convective boundary layer topped with stratocumulus clouds. The observational data were obtained from aircraft measurements during the Atlantic Stratocumulus Transition Experiment (ASTEX). A conditional sampling method is used to calculate average updraft and downdraft values. The vertical fluxes calculated with the mass-flux approach are found to be proportional to the real (measured) fluxes, with a proportionality factor being about 0.6. This value is predicted by theory for two variables having a joint Gaussian distribution function; proportionality factor = 2^-1 0.637. The horizontal fractional entrainment and detrainment rates calculated from the data ( 1–2 × 10^-2 m^-1) are an order of magnitude higher than the rates obtained by large eddy simulations for cumulus convection ( 2–3 × 10^-3 m^-1) and two orders of magnitude higher than those used in modelling cumulus convection with a mass-flux scheme in an operational weather forecast model ( 3 × 10^-4 m^-1). A numerical mass-flux model for the thermodynamics was developed and showed that results are in good agreement when compared with measured profiles of the liquid water content.     

Rainfall on the Sea: Surface Renewals and Wave Damping

Rainfall on the sea surface causes a variety of effects on the molecular boundary layers. Two such effects are the reduction of the surface renewal time period and the damping of short gravity waves being responsible for wave breaking at higher wave frequencies. The effects described recently by Schlüssel et al. are revaluated in order to fully include the varying raindrop velocity. New parameterizations are derived, which differ from the previous ones, and a substantially higher kinetic energy flux due to rain is found. The general conclusions about the impact on the thermal molecular boundary do not change, although we point to several minor errors in the calculations of Schlüssel et al. (1997).