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WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH, VOL. 37, NO. 9, PAGES 2333–2343, 2001

Sensible Heat Flux Estimation by Flux Variance and Half-Order Time Derivative Methods

Karen H. Wesson

School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina


Gabriel Katul

School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina


Chun-Ta Lai

School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina


Abstract

This study is the first to contrast two similarity theory methods, the flux variance and the half-order time derivative, over a wide range of atmospheric stability and surface roughness conditions. These two methods were selected because they require only single-level temperature measurement to estimate sensible heat flux. The data used were collected over bare soil, a grass-covered forest clearing, and an even-aged pine forest. For all three sites the flux variance method estimated the sensible heat flux relatively well for unstable atmospheric conditions. The half-order time derivative method was found to be sensitive to the parameterization of the eddy diffusivity, especially for the grass and bare soil field sites. Overall, the flux variance method was able to reproduce the measured sensible heat flux with greater accuracy than the half-order time derivative methods for the three experiment sites.

Received 18 May 2000; accepted 12 January 2001.

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Citation: Wesson, K. H., G. Katul, and C.-T. Lai (2001), Sensible Heat Flux Estimation by Flux Variance and Half-Order Time Derivative Methods, Water Resour. Res., 37(9), 2333–2343.