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Turbulent fluxes of sensible and latent heat were measured with the helicopter-borne turbulence probe Helipod over a heterogeneous landscape around the Meteorological Observatory Lindenberg during the STINHO-2 and LITFASS-2003 field experiments. Besides the determination of area-averaged heat fluxes, the analysis focused on different aspects of the response of the turbulent structure of the convective boundary layer (CBL) on the surface heterogeneity. A special flight pattern was designed to study flux profiles both over quasi-homogeneous sub-areas of the study region (representing the major land use types-forest, farmland, water) and over a typical mixture of the different surfaces. Significant differences were found between the heat fluxes over the individual surfaces along flight legs at about 80 m above ground level, in agreement with large-aperture scintillometer measurements. This flux separation was still present during some flights at levels near the middle of the CBL. Different scales for the blending height and horizontal heterogeneity were calculated, but none of them could be identified as a reliable indicator of the mixing state of the lower CBL. With the exception of the flights over water, the latent heat flux measurements generally showed a larger statistical error when compared with the sensible heat flux. Correlation coefficients and integral length scales were used to characterise the interplay between the vertical transport of sensible and latent heat, J. Bange (B) · T. Spieß

Water vapour flux profiles in the atmospheric boundary layer have been derived from measurements of water vapour density fluctuations by a ground-based Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) and of vertical wind fluctuations by a ground-based Doppler lidar. The data were collected during the field experiment LITFASS-2003 in May/June 2003 in the area of Lindenberg, Germany. The eddy-correlation method was applied, and error estimates of ±50 W/m2 for latent heat flux were found. Since the sampling error dominates the overall measurement accuracy, time intervals between 60 and 120 min were required for a reliable flux calculation, depending on wind speed. Rather large errors may occur with low wind speed because the diurnal cycle restricts the useful interval length. In the lower height range, these measurements are compared with DIAL/radar-RASS fluxes. The agreement is good when comparing covariance and error values. The lidar flux profiles are well complemented by tower measurements at 50 and 90 m above ground and by area-averaged near surface fluxes from a network of micrometeorological stations. Water vapour flux profiles in the convective boundary layer exhibit different structures mainly depending on the magnitude of the entrainment flux. In situations with dry air above the boundary layer a positive entrainment flux is observed which can even exceed the surface flux. Flux profiles which linearly increase from the surface to the top of the boundary layer are observed as well as profiles which decrease in the lower part and increase in the upper part of the boundary layer. In situations with humid air above the boundary layer the entrainment flux is about zero in the upper part of the boundary layer and the profiles in most cases show a linear decreas