Aircraft-Based Eddy Covariance Measurements for Estimating Landscape Scale Fluxes During BEAREX08.

 

The University of Alabama  Sky arrow 650 ERA flux aircraft flew several transects ~30 to 60 km in length in the region surrounding the USDA-ARS Conservation Production Research Laboratory (CPRL) in Bushland, TX during the Evapotranspiration and Agricultural Remote Sensing Experiment (BEAREX08).   This semi-arid irrigated agricultural region is known for significant advection with strong winds. It is unknown how conditions of strong advection with a patchwork of irrigated and non-irrigated fields will affect airborne eddy covariance (EC) measurements from an aircraft-based system. A discussion of the preliminary analysis of the eddy covariance data and comparison with ground-based flux towers will be presented.  This will include some insight into the turbulence characteristics between tower-based and ~20 m aircraft-based EC measurements.