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. Heterogeneous land surfaces require multiple measurement units for spatially adequate sampling and representative fluxes. The complexity and cost of traditional eddy covariance (EC) set-ups typically limits the feasible number of sampling units. Therefore, new low-cost eddy covariance systems provide ideal opportunities for spatially replicated sampling. The aim of this study was to test the performance of a compact, low-cost pressure, temperature and relative humidity sensor for the application of evapotranspiration measurements by eddy covariance over agroforestry and conventional agriculture in Germany. We performed continuous low-cost eddy covariance measurements over agroforestry and conventional agriculture for reference at five sites across northern Germany over a period of 2 years from 2016 to 2017. We conducted side-by-side measurements using a roving enclosed-path eddy covariance set-up to assess the performance of the low-cost eddy covariance set-up. Evapotranspiration measured with low-cost eddy covariance compared well with fluxes from conventional eddy covariance. The slopes of linear regressions for evapotranspiration comparing low-cost and conventional eddy covariance set-ups ranged from 0.86 to 1.08 for 5 out of 10 sites, indicating a 14 % flux underestimation and a 8 % flux overestimation relative to the conventional eddy covariance set-up, respectively. Corresponding coefficients of determination, R2, ranged from 0.71 to 0.94 across sites. The root-mean-square error for differences between latent heat fluxes obtained by both set-ups were small compared to the overall flux magnitude, with a mean and standard deviation of 34.23±3.2 W m−2, respectively, across sites. The spectral response characteristics of the low-cost eddy covariance set-up were inferior to the eddy covariance set-up in the inertial sub-range of the turbulent spectrum. The water vapour flux co-spectrum of the low-cost eddy covariance set-up underestimated the theoretical slope of -4/3, stronger than the conventional eddy covariance set-up. This underestimation was mainly caused by the limited response time of the low-cost thermohygrometer being longer than 1 s. We conclude that low-cost eddy covariance sensors are an alternative to conventional eddy covariance sensors when, first, replicates are required and, second, the spatial variability of fluxes of the ecosystems of interest is larger than above-reported set-up-specific differences in fluxes.

Low-cost eddy covariance: a case study of evapotranspiration over agroforestry in Germany