How Well Can We Measure the Vertical Wind Speed? Implications for Fluxes of Energy and Mass

Abstract

Sonic anemometers are capable of measuring the wind speed in all three dimen- sions at high frequencies (10-50 Hz), and are relied upon to estimate eddy-covariance-based fluxes of mass and energy over a wide variety of surfaces and ecosystems. In this study, wind-velocity measurement errors from a three-dimensional sonic anemometer with a non- orthogonal transducer orientation were estimated for over 100 combinations of angle-of- attack and wind direction using a novel technique to measure the true angle-of-attack and wind speed within the turbulent atmospheric surface layer. Corrections to the vertical wind speed varied from −5 to 37% for all angles-of-attack and wind directions examined. When applied to eddy-covariance data from three NOAA flux sites, the wind-velocity corrections increased the magnitude of CO2 fluxes, sensible heat fluxes, and latent heat fluxes by ≈11%, with the actual magnitude of flux corrections dependent upon sonic anemometer, surface type, and scalar. A sonic anemometer that uses vertically aligned transducers to measure the vertical wind speed was also tested at four angles-of-attack, and corrections to the ver- tical wind speed measured using this anemometer were within ±1% of zero. Sensible heat fluxes over a forest canopy measured using this anemometer were 15% greater than sensible heat fluxes measured using a sonic anemometer with a non-orthogonal transducer orienta- tion. These results indicate that sensors with a non-orthogonal transducer orientation, which includes the majority of the research-grade three-dimensional sonic anemometers currently in use, should be redesigned to minimize sine errors by measuring the vertical wind speed using one pair of vertically aligned transducers.