Lidar Measurement of Boundary Layer Evolution to Determine Sensible Heat Fluxes

Abstract

Abstract The Soil Moisture–Atmosphere Coupling Experiment (SMACEX) was conducted in the Walnut Creek watershed near Ames, Iowa, over the period from 15 June to 11 July 2002. A main focus of SMACEX is the investigation of the interactions between the atmospheric boundary layer, surface moisture, and canopy. A vertically staring elastic lidar was used to provide a high-time-resolution continuous record of the boundary layer height at the edge between a soybean and cornfield. The height and thickness of the entrainment zone are used to estimate the surface sensible heat flux using the Batchvarova–Gryning boundary layer model. Flux estimates made over 6 days are compared to conventional eddy correlation measurements. The calculated values of the sensible heat flux were found to be well correlated (R2 = 0.79, with a slope of 0.95) when compared to eddy correlation measurements in the area. The standard error of the flux estimates was 21.4 W m−2 (31% rms difference between this method and surface measurements), which is somewhat higher than a predicted uncertainty of 16%. The major sources of error were from the estimates of the vertical potential temperature gradient and an assumption that the entrainment parameter A was equal to the ratio of the entrainment flux and the surface heat flux.