A comparison of turbulence measurements by different instruments; Tsimlyansk field experiment 1970

In the summer of 1970 an international intercomparison of turbulence measurement sensors was carried out at the Tsimlyansk field station of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IFA) Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. Improved sonic anemometer sensors of the IFA were compared with the Kaijo sonic used by the Canadian group and with the fluxatron from CSIRO, Australia.Results from the experiment indicate that spectral and cospectral shapes are basically similar between the sonic anemometers. The spectra and cospectra of the fluxatron in the high-frequency region showed an attenuation which can be explained in terms of the response characteristics of the fluxatron. The maintenance of absolute calibration of the sensors in the field was found to be difficult, but when properly corrected for this variation, the measurements were found to agree within 13%, with a standard error of 0.2. A single point observation of turbulent fluxes at a few meters above the surface and averaged over a period of the order of one hour was shown to be representative of turbulent fluxes at the site.