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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Jonesboro, Arkansas » Delta Water Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #363492
Research Project: Preserving Water Availability and Quality for Agriculture in the Lower Mississippi River Basin

Location: Delta Water Management Research

Title: The surface renewal measurements of turbulent sensible heat (H), latent heat (AE), and CO2 fluxes over two different agricultural systems

Author
item SUVOCAREV, K. - University Of Arkansas
item CASTELLVI, F. - University Of Arkansas
item Reba, Michele
item RUNKLE, B.R.K. - University Of Arkansas

Submitted to: Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/16/2019
Publication Date: 12/15/2019
Citation: Suvocarev, K., Castellvi, F., Reba, M.L., Runkle, B. 2019. The surface renewal measurements of turbulent sensible heat (H), latent heat (AE), and CO2 fluxes over two different agricultural systems. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2019.107763.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2019.107763

Interpretive Summary: Eddy covariance (EC) is a micro-meteorological method used to directly observe the exchange of gas, energy, and momentum between ecosystems and the atmosphere. It is currently the most defensible method of measuring field-scale fluxes (i.e. sensible heat, latent heat, and CO2 flux), but is expensive and requires a high level of post-processing expertise. Surface renewal (SR) is another micro-meteorological method based on analyzing the energy budget of air parcels and is a less expensive and simpler measurement of field-scale fluxes than EC. As such, SR would allow for higher resolution monitoring in more locations. SR was deployed alongside EC instrumentation to compare performance over two agricultural crops, cotton and rice. Regardless of the crop, SR flux methods agreed well with EC flux estimates with high coefficients of determination and slopes of linear regression analysis. It was concluded that when EC measurement are unavailable, SR may be used as an alternative. Individuals interested in expanding networks of field-scale fluxes and those with existing EC systems will benefit from the findings in this manuscript.

Technical Abstract: The importance of turbulent scalar exchange over agricultural landscapes motivated this study of the surface renewal (SR) method for deployment in place of or alongside eddy covariance (EC) instrumentation. High frequency (20 Hz) scalar data was used with turbulence and similarity parameters for SR measurements of turbulent sensible heat (H), latent heat ('E), and CO2 (Fc) flux. The eddy covariance method was used as a reference to compare the performance when the SR input requirements were determined with either (1) fast-response or (2) slow-response wind velocities. We test SR over two agricultural crops, cotton and rice, that are suitable for climate-smart management solutions and rely on decisions informed by extensive micrometeorological measurements. Regardless of the crop and scalar eddy flux, both SR flux methods agreed well with the EC flux estimates; coefficients of determination (R2) and slopes (s) of linear regression analysis ranged 0.88 = R2 = 0.98 and 1.01 = s = 1.22. It was concluded that when EC measurements are unavailable, SR may be used as an alternative for climate-smart agriculture research and this method may allow higher resolution monitoring in more locations.