Different aspects of the quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) of micrometeorological measurements were combined to create a comprehensive algorithm which was then applied to experimental data from LITFASS-2003 (Lindenberg Inhomogeneous Terrain-Fluxes between Atmosphere and Surface: a long term Study). Eddy-covariance measurements of the latent heat flux were the main focus of the QA/QC efforts. The results of a turbulence sensor intercomparison experiment showed deviations between the different eddy-covariance systems on the order of 15%, or less than 30 W m −2 , for the latent heat flux and 5%, or less than 10 W m −2 , for the sensible heat flux. In order to avoid uncertainties due to the post-processing of turbulence data, a comprehensive software package was used for the analysis of experimental data from LITFASS-2003, including all necessary procedures for corrections and quality control. An overview of the quality test results shows that for most of the days more than 80% of the available latent heat flux data are of high quality so long as there are no instrumental problems. The representativeness of a flux value for the target land-use type was analysed using a stochastic footprint model. Different methods to calculate soil heat fluxes at the surface are discussed and a sensitivity analysis is conducted to select the most robust method for LITFASS-2003. The lack of energy balance closure, which was found for LITFASS-2003, can probably be attributed to the presence of low-frequency flux contributions that cannot be resolved with an averaging time of 30 min. Though the QA/QC system has been developed for the requirements of LITFASS-2003, it can also be applied to other experiments dealing with similar objectives.

The modified ogive analysis and the block ensemble average were employed to investigate the impact of the averaging time extension on the energy balance closure over six land-use types. The modified ogive analysis, which requires a steady-state condition, can extend the averaging time up to a few hours and suggests that an averaging time of 30 min is still overall sufficient for eddy-covariance measurements over low vegetation. The block ensemble average, which does not require a steady-state condition, can extend the averaging time to several days. However, it can improve the energy balance closure for some sites during specific periods, when secondary circulations exist in the vicinity of the sensor. These nearsurface secondary circulations mainly transport sensible heat, and when near-ground warm air is transported upward, the sensible heat flux observed by the block ensemble average will increase at longer averaging times. These findings suggest an alternative energy balance correction for a ground-based eddy-covariance measurement, in which the attribution of the residual depends on the ratio of sensible heat flux to the buoyancy flux. The fraction of the

In the first part, this paper synthesises the main results from a series of previous studies on the closure of the local energy balance at low-vegetation sites during the LITFASS-2003 experiment. A residual of up to 25% of the available energy has been found which cannot be fully explained either by the measurement uncertainty of the single components of the surface energy balance or by the length of the flux-averaging period. In the second part, secondary circulations due to heterogeneities in the surface characteristics (roughness, thermal and moisture properties) are discussed as a possible cause for the observed energy balance non-closure. This hypothesis seems to be supported from the fluxes derived from area-averaging measurement techniques (scintillometers, aircraft).

Abstract. Micrometeorological measurements (including eddy-covariance measurements of the surface fluxes of sensible and latent heat) were performed during the LITFASS-2003 experiment at 13 field sites over different types of land use (forest, lake, grassland, various agricultural crops) in a 20 × 20 km 2 area around the Meteorological Observatory Lindenberg (MOL) of the German Meteorological Service (Deutscher Wetterdienst, DWD). Significant differences in the energy fluxes could be found between the major land surface types (forest, farmland, water), but also between the different agricultural crops (cereals, rape, maize). Flux ratios between the different surfaces changed during the course of the experiment as a result of increased water temperature of the lake, changing soil moisture, and of the vegetation development at the farmland sites. The measurements over grass performed at the boundary-layer field site Falkenberg of the MOL were shown to be quite representative for the farmland part of the area. Measurements from the 13 sites were composed into a time series of the area-averaged surface flux by taking into account the data quality of the single flux values from the different sites and the relative occurrence of each surface type in the area. Such composite fluxes could be determined for about 80% of the whole measurement time during the LITFASS-2003 experiment. Comparison of these aggregated surface fluxes with area-averaged fluxes from long-range scintillometer measurements and from airborne measurements showed good agreement.

No abstract