The potential of surface renewal for determining sensible heat flux for indigenous vegetation for a first-order montane catchment

Abstract

ABSTRACT Eddy covariance (EC) systems are expensive and not financially viable in a budget-restricted hydrological monitoring network. The surface renewal (SR) method is a cheaper alternative that requires a reduced fetch, but is currently dependent on EC for calibration. SR methods not requiring calibration (surface renewal 2 (SR2) and surface renewal dissipation theory (SRDT)) have been used but are not widely tested over indigenous vegetation. The aim of this research was to test the SR approach as a viable alternative to EC for the estimation of sensible heat flux (H) over indigenous vegetation (Leucosidea sericea) in a montane catchment for unstable periods. For both summer (7 d) and winter (9 d) campaigns, the three SR methods showed a good relationship with the EC method for the estimation of H. Overall, the SRDT method was the most viable alternative to EC and produced acceptable estimates of H over an indigenous vegetation canopy in a montane catchment.