On the energy balance closure and net radiation in complex terrain.

ABSTRACT: In complex, sloping terrain, horizontal measurements of net radiation are not reflective of the radiative energy available for the conductive and convective heat exchange of the underlying surface. Using data from a grassland site on a mountain slope characterised by spatial heterogeneity in inclination and aspect, we tested the hypothesis that a correction of the horizontal net radiation measurements which accounts for the individual footprint contributions of the various surfaces to the measured sensible and latent heat eddy covariance fluxes will yield more realistic slope-parallel net radiation estimates compared to a correction based on the average inclination and aspect of the footprint. Our main result is that both approaches led to clear, but very similar improvements in the phase

SUBMITTER: Wohlfahrt G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5218570 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature