[1] Quantifying isotopic CO 2 exchange between the biosphere and atmosphere presents a significant measurement challenge, but has the potential to provide important constraints on local, regional, and global carbon cycling. Past approaches have indirectly estimated isotopic CO 2 exchange using relaxed eddy accumulation, the flask-based isoflux method, and flux-gradient techniques. Eddy covariance (EC) is an attractive method because it has the fewest theoretical assumptions and the potential to give a direct measure of isotopic CO 2 flux, but it requires a highly sensitive and relatively fast response instrument. To date, no such field measurements have been reported. Here we describe the use of a closed-path tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy and eddy covariance (EC-TDL) system for isotopic (C O transport showed that d N x was relatively independent of eddy scale for this ecosystem type. Flux loss, therefore, did not significantly bias d N x . There was excellent agreement between isofluxes (F d x ) measured using the flux-gradient and eddy covariance methods. Application of the EC-TDL technique over rougher surfaces or below canopy, where the flux-gradient approach is difficult to apply, appears promising for obtaining continuous long-term measurements of isotopic CO 2 exchange.

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Sonic anemometry is fundamental to all eddy-covariance studies of surface energy and ecosystem carbon and water balance. Recent studies have shown that some nonorthogonal anemometers underestimate vertical wind. Here it is hypothesized that this is due to a lack of transducer and structural shadowing correction. This is tested with a replicated intercomparison experiment between orthogonal (K-probe, Applied Technologies, Inc.) and nonorthogonal (A-probe, Applied Technologies, Inc.; and CSAT3 and CSAT3V, Campbell Scientific, Inc.) anemometer designs. For each of the 12 weeks, five randomly selected and located anemometers were mounted both vertically and horizontally. Bayesian analysis was used to test differences between half-hourly anemometer measurements of the standard deviation of wind (σu, συ, and σw) and temperature, turbulent kinetic energy (TKE), the ratio between vertical/horizontal TKE (VHTKE), and sensible heat flux (H). Datasets were analyzed with various applications of transducer shadow correction. Using the manufacturer’s current recommendations, orthogonal anemometers partitioned higher VHTKE and measured about 8%–9% higher σw and ~10% higher H. This difference can be mitigated by adding shadow correction to nonorthogonal anemometers. The horizontal manipulation challenged each anemometer to measure the three dimensions consistently, which allowed for testing two hypotheses explaining the underestimate in vertical wind. While measurements were essentially unchanged when the orthogonal anemometers were mounted sideways, the nonorthogonal anemometers changed substantially and confirmed the lack of shadow correction. Considering the ubiquity of nonorthogonal anemometers, these results are consequential across flux networks and could potentially explain half of the ~20% missing energy that is typical at most flux sites.

Remotely sensed data in the visible, near-infrared, and thermal-infrared wave bands were collected from a low-flying aircraft during the Monsoon '90 field experiment. Monsoon '90 was a multidisciplinary experiment conducted in a semiarid watershed. It had as one of its objectives the quantification of hydrometeorological fluxes during the "monsoon" or wet season. The remote sensing observations along with micromete0rological and atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) data were used to compute the surface energy balance over a range of spatial scales. The procedure involved averaging multiple pixels along transects flown over the meteorological and flux (METFLUX) stations. Average values of the spectral reflectance and thermalinfrared temperatures were computed for pixels of order 10 -1 to !01 km in length and were used with atmospheric data for evaluating net radiation (Rn), soil heat flux (G), and sensible (H) and latent (LE) heat fluxes at these same length scales. The model employs a single-layer resistance approach for estimating H that requires wind speed and air temperature in the ABL and a remotely sensed surface temperature. The values of R n and G are estimated from remote sensing information together with near-surface observations of air temperature, relative humidity, and solar radiation. Finally, LE is solved as the residual term in the surface energy balance equation. Model calculations were compared to measurements from the METFLUX network for three days having different environmental conditions. Average percent differences for the three days between model and the METFLUX estimates of the local fluxes were about 5% for . R n , 20% for G and H, and 15% for LE. Larger differences occurred during partly cloudy conditions because of errors in interpreting the remote sensing data and the higher spatial and temporal variation in the energy fluxes. Minor variations in modeled energy fluxes were observed when the pixel size representing the remote sensing inputs changed from 0.2 to 2 km. Regional scale estimates of the surface energy balance using bulk ABL properties for the model parameters and input variables and the 10-km pixel data differed from the METFLUX network averages by about 4% for R n, 10% for G and H, and 15% for LE. Model sensitivity in calculating the turbulent fluxe• H and LE to possible variations in key model parameters (i.e., the roughness lengths for heat and momentum) was found to be fairly significant. Therefore the reliability of the methods for estimating key model parameters and potential errors needs further testing over different ecosystems and environmental conditions. Paper number 93WR03038. 0043-! 397/94/93 WR-03038505.00 aircraft [e.g., Nieuwenhuis et al., 1985; Jackson et al., 1987; Kustas et al., 1990] and satellite [e.g., Carlson et al., 1981; Price, 1982; Klassen and van den Berg, 1985; Taconet-et al., 1986; Kerr et al., 1987; Morqn et al., 1989; Brutsaert and ß Sugita, 19.82] platforms has been used in concert with surface energy balance models for estimating ET from field to ...

Arid and semiarid rangelands comprise a significant portion of the earth's land surface. Yet little is known about the effects of temporal and spatial changes in surface soil moisture on the hydrologic cycle, energy balance, and the feedbacks to the atmosphere via thermal forcing over such environments. Understanding this interrelationship is crucial for evaluating the role of the hydrologic cycle in surface-atmosphere interactions. This study focuses on the utility of remote sensing to provide measurements of surface soil moisture, surface albedo, vegetation biomass, and temperature at different spatial and temporal scales. Remote-sensing measurements may provide the only practical means of estimating some of the more important factors controlling land surface processes over large areas. Consequently, the use of remotely sensed information in biophysical and geophysical models greatly enhances their ability to compute fluxes at catchment and regional scales on a routine basis. However, model calculations for different climates and ecosystems need verification. This requires that the remotely sensed data and model computations be evaluated with ground-truth data collected at the same areal scales. The present study (MONSOON 90) attempts to address this issue for semiarid rangelands. The experimental plan included remotely sensed data in the visible, near-infrared, thermal, and microwave wavelengths from ground and aircraft platforms and, when available, from satellites. Collected concurrently were ground measurements of soil moisture and temperature, energy and water fluxes, and profile data in the atmospheric boundary layer in a hydrologically instrumented semiarid rangeland watershed. Field experiments were conducted in 1990 during the dry and wet or "monsoon season" for the southwestern United States. A detailed description of the field campaigns, including measurements and some preliminary results are given.