Open AccessAn Application of the Variational Method to Computation of Sensible Heat Flux over a Deciduous Forest
Author(s) -
Zuohao Cao,
Jianmin Ma
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of applied meteorology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1520-0450
pISSN - 0894-8763
DOI - 10.1175/jam-2179.1
Subject(s) - sensible heat , eddy covariance , computation , deciduous , flux (metallurgy) , heat flux , atmospheric sciences , variance (accounting) , environmental science , canopy , meteorology , tree canopy , mathematics , heat transfer , mechanics , physics , geography , materials science , algorithm , ecology , botany , accounting , business , archaeology , ecosystem , metallurgy , biology
A variational method is employed to compute surface sensible heat fluxes over a deciduous forest using observed temperature, temperature variance, and wind. Because the variational approach is able to take into account comprehensive observational meteorological conditions over a heterogeneous surface, it is applicable to the computations of sensible heat flux over a forest canopy in which the conventional flux-variance method is difficult to use. Verifications using the direct eddy-correlation measurements over a deciduous forest during the fully leafed summer of 1988 and the leafless winter of 1990 show that the variational method yields very good agreements between the computed and the measured sensible heat fluxes. It is also shown that the variational method is much more accurate than the flux-variance method in computations of sensible heat flux over a forest canopy.