A field study on the representativeness of turbulent fluxes of heat and water vapour at various sites in southern England

Abstract

AbstractExtensive measurements were made of surface flux densities of sensible and latent heat from short grass in unstable conditions using the combined Bowen ratio and surface energy balance method. Simultaneous measurements were taken during anticyclonic periods at sites in southern England, and these were examined for differences due to different environments. Differences were not evident within the accuracy of measurement, although one of the sites (Harlington), being noticeably drier, gave anomalous fluxes during the summer of 1975. Sites with separation on the 10km scale, and later, on approximately the 100km scale, revealed no evidence that mesoscale organization of the convection affects the fluxes of heat and water vapour from the surface. Finally, this paper presents a comparison between energy fluxes determined by the Bowen ratio method at one site and the average flux estimated from a boundary‐layer heat budget study for a large area which included the site.