A New Post‐Hoc Method to Reduce the Energy Imbalance in Eddy Covariance Measurements

Abstract Latent and sensible heat flux observations are essential for understanding land–atmosphere interactions. Measurements from the eddy covariance technique are widely used but suffer from systematic energy imbalance problems, partly due to missing large eddies from sub‐mesoscale transport. Bec...

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Main Authors: Weijie Zhang, Jacob A. Nelson, Diego G. Miralles, Matthias Mauder, Mirco Migliavacca, Rafael Poyatos, Markus Reichstein, Martin Jung
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2024-01-01
Series:Geophysical Research Letters
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL107084
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author Weijie Zhang
Jacob A. Nelson
Diego G. Miralles
Matthias Mauder
Mirco Migliavacca
Rafael Poyatos
Markus Reichstein
Martin Jung
author_facet Weijie Zhang
Jacob A. Nelson
Diego G. Miralles
Matthias Mauder
Mirco Migliavacca
Rafael Poyatos
Markus Reichstein
Martin Jung
author_sort Weijie Zhang
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Latent and sensible heat flux observations are essential for understanding land–atmosphere interactions. Measurements from the eddy covariance technique are widely used but suffer from systematic energy imbalance problems, partly due to missing large eddies from sub‐mesoscale transport. Because available energy drives the development of large eddies, we propose an available energy based correction method for turbulent flux measurements. We apply our method to 172 flux tower sites and show that we can reduce the energy imbalance from −14.99 to −0.65 W m−2 on average, together with improved consistency between turbulent fluxes and available energy and associated increases in r2 at individual sites and across networks. Our results suggest that our method is conceptually and empirically preferable over the method implemented in the ONEFlux processing. This can contribute to the efforts in understanding and addressing the energy imbalance issue, which is crucial for the evaluation and calibration of land surface models.
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spelling doaj-art-c2c0b630962448dbbd33740701a71ca52025-08-20T01:48:16ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072024-01-01512n/an/a10.1029/2023GL107084A New Post‐Hoc Method to Reduce the Energy Imbalance in Eddy Covariance MeasurementsWeijie Zhang0Jacob A. Nelson1Diego G. Miralles2Matthias Mauder3Mirco Migliavacca4Rafael Poyatos5Markus Reichstein6Martin Jung7Department of Biogeochemical Integration Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry Jena GermanyDepartment of Biogeochemical Integration Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry Jena GermanyHydro‐Climate Extremes Lab (H‐CEL) Faculty of Bioscience Engineering Ghent University Ghent BelgiumFaculty of Environmental Sciences Institute of Hydrology and Meteorology TU Dresden Dresden GermanyJoint Research Centre European Commission Ispra ItalyCREAF Barcelona SpainDepartment of Biogeochemical Integration Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry Jena GermanyDepartment of Biogeochemical Integration Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry Jena GermanyAbstract Latent and sensible heat flux observations are essential for understanding land–atmosphere interactions. Measurements from the eddy covariance technique are widely used but suffer from systematic energy imbalance problems, partly due to missing large eddies from sub‐mesoscale transport. Because available energy drives the development of large eddies, we propose an available energy based correction method for turbulent flux measurements. We apply our method to 172 flux tower sites and show that we can reduce the energy imbalance from −14.99 to −0.65 W m−2 on average, together with improved consistency between turbulent fluxes and available energy and associated increases in r2 at individual sites and across networks. Our results suggest that our method is conceptually and empirically preferable over the method implemented in the ONEFlux processing. This can contribute to the efforts in understanding and addressing the energy imbalance issue, which is crucial for the evaluation and calibration of land surface models.https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL107084eddy covarianceenergy balance closurelatent and sensible heat fluxavailable energy fluxsub‐mesoscale transportBowen‐ratio correction
spellingShingle Weijie Zhang
Jacob A. Nelson
Diego G. Miralles
Matthias Mauder
Mirco Migliavacca
Rafael Poyatos
Markus Reichstein
Martin Jung
A New Post‐Hoc Method to Reduce the Energy Imbalance in Eddy Covariance Measurements
Geophysical Research Letters
eddy covariance
energy balance closure
latent and sensible heat flux
available energy flux
sub‐mesoscale transport
Bowen‐ratio correction
title A New Post‐Hoc Method to Reduce the Energy Imbalance in Eddy Covariance Measurements
title_full A New Post‐Hoc Method to Reduce the Energy Imbalance in Eddy Covariance Measurements
title_fullStr A New Post‐Hoc Method to Reduce the Energy Imbalance in Eddy Covariance Measurements
title_full_unstemmed A New Post‐Hoc Method to Reduce the Energy Imbalance in Eddy Covariance Measurements
title_short A New Post‐Hoc Method to Reduce the Energy Imbalance in Eddy Covariance Measurements
title_sort new post hoc method to reduce the energy imbalance in eddy covariance measurements
topic eddy covariance
energy balance closure
latent and sensible heat flux
available energy flux
sub‐mesoscale transport
Bowen‐ratio correction
url https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL107084
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