An error analysis of profile flux, stability, and roughness length measurements made in the marine atmospheric surface layer

Abstract

An analytical error analysis of profile-derived fluxes of heat, moisture, and momentum, along with stability and roughness length, is performed using the accuracies of the constituent temperature, humidity, and wind speed measurements. Five experiments, representing more than two thirds of the existing marine profile data presently contained in the literature, are compared. Much of the profile data examined was used to develop the transfer coefficients presently employed by a large number of competing bulk aerodynamic flux schemes. Depending upon the experiment, typical profile-method measurement errors were found to range from 15 to 35% for a sensible heat flux of ± 10 W m-2, from 15 to 105% for a latent heat flux of ± 100 W m-2, from 10 to 40% for a stress of 0.05 N m-2, from 15 to 60% for a Monin-Obukhov stability of ± 0.05, and from 25 to 100% for a roughness length of 2 × 10-4 m. Smaller magnitude flux values were found to contain typical errors as large as 100% for sensible heat flux, 300% for latent heat flux, and 60% for stress.