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Space - scale resolved surface fluxes across a heterogeneous, mid-latitude forested landscape
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  • Sreenath Paleri,
  • Ankur Rashmikant Desai,
  • Stefan Metzger,
  • David Durden,
  • Brian Butterworth,
  • Matthias R. Mauder,
  • Katrin Kohnert,
  • Andrei Serafimovich
Sreenath Paleri
University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Ankur Rashmikant Desai
University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Stefan Metzger
NEON Program, Battelle, NEON Program, Battelle
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David Durden
Battelle Ecology Inc., Battelle Ecology Inc.
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Brian Butterworth
University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Boulder
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Matthias R. Mauder
KIT, KIT
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Katrin Kohnert
German Council of Experts on Climate Change, Berlin, Germany, German Council of Experts on Climate Change, Berlin, Germany
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Andrei Serafimovich
GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, Potsdam, Germany, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, Potsdam, Germany
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Abstract

The Earth’s surface is heterogeneous at multiple scales owing to spatial variability in various properties. The atmospheric responses to these heterogeneities through fluxes of energy, water, carbon and other scalars are scale-dependent and non-linear. Although these exchanges can be measured using the eddy covariance technique, widely used tower-based measurement approaches suffer from spectral losses in lower frequencies when using typical averaging times. However, spatially resolved measurements such as airborne eddy covariance measurements can detect such larger scale (meso-{$\beta$}, $\gamma$) transport. To evaluate the prevalence and magnitude of these flux contributions we applied wavelet analysis to airborne flux measurements over a heterogeneous mid-latitude forested landscape, interspersed with open water bodies and wetlands. The measurements were made during the Chequamegon Heterogeneous Ecosystem Energy-balance Study Enabled by a High-density Extensive Array of Detectors (CHEESEHEAD19) intensive field campaign. We ask, how do spatial scales of surface-atmosphere fluxes vary over heterogeneous surfaces across the day and across seasons? Measured fluxes were separated into smaller-scale turbulent and larger-scale mesoscale contributions. We found significant mesoscale contributions to H and LE fluxes through summer to autumn which wouldn’t be resolved in single point tower measurements through traditional time-domain half-hourly Reynolds decomposition. We report scale-resolved flux transitions associated with seasonal and diurnal changes of the heterogeneous study domain. This study adds to our understanding of surface atmospheric interactions over unstructured heterogeneities and can help inform multi-scale model-data integration of weather and climate models at a sub-grid scale.