Identification

Title

Quantifying the spatial variability of surface fluxes using data from the 2002 International H2O Project

Abstract

Spatial variability in the exchange of energy and moisture is a key control on numerous atmospheric, hydrologic, and environmental processes. Using observations made on fair weather days during the 2002 International H2O Project, four methods for quantifying the spatial variability of surface fluxes are investigated. The first two methods utilize applied statistical techniques to describe the spatial variability of the surface fluxes, while the third method is a geostatistical technique rooted in variography. Typically, the methods yield similar results, with median values of horizontal variability consistent to within 5%. The geostatistical technique, however, provides much more information than the other statistical methods; it not only provides an estimate of the spatial variability, but also provides estimates of the total variability, the non-spatial variability due to measurement error, and the range of spatial correlation among the data points. The fourth method is based on the relationship between the components of the surface energy budget. This method describes the variability in the fluxes in terms of the slope of the best-fit line relating the time-averaged latent and sensible heat fluxes from different locations along the flight path. The meaning of the slopes can also be interpreted in terms of the spatial variability in the available energy. For four of the five days analyzed, the key control on the spatial variability in the turbulent heat fluxes was horizontal variability in the soil heat flux. In turn, the soil heat flux varied as a function of surface properties including surface temperature, soil moisture content, and leaf area index. On the remaining day, 25 May, the primary control was the variability in net radiation.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7pk0hf7

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2009-07-21T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact