Influence of wind direction and a slanting beam angle on surface layer scintillometer estimates of sensible heat flux

摘要

Understanding the partitioning of net irradiance into its component energy balance flux including sensible heat and latent energy flux measurements can provide valuable information about the local weather patterns. Such information is useful for water resource management, agriculture and environmental studies. This work was carried out with the main aim of comparing sensible heat flux estimated by the surface layer scintillometer (SLS) method with that obtained by the eddy covariance (EC) method for wind direction approximately or nearly perpendicular to the SLS beam path, with measurements obtained when the wind direction is approximately parallel to the beam path. Also investigated was the comparison of sensible heat flux measured by the SLS at slanting beam angles with that obtained by the EC method, as well as determination of the SLS footprint and comparison with the EC footprint. The investigation design as well as results obtained are presented and discussed.