Notes: Strategies to assess long-term atmosphere-ecosystem exchange of CO2 and H2O must deal not only with time trends but also with spatial variability. Flux towers efficiently measure time trends, but only at discrete sites, always limited in number. Representativeness of these sites and the causes of spatial variation between sites are difficult to investigate from tower data alone. Such issues are better addressed with flux measurements from moving vehicles, particularly aircraft. Recent technological advancements in aircraft and instrumentation now allow mobile flux measurement with enhanced precision, greater ease, and lower cost. Results are presented which illustrate the importance of spatial variability, and some suggestions are given for assessment of flux-tower representativeness. Unfortunately, airborne observations of the kind presented here are practical only during a part of the daylight hours in brief intensive field campaigns. Extrapolation of spatial-structure information derived from these measurements to night-time or to long-term averages thus remains problematic. For the foreseeable future this extrapolation will require models that faithfully simulate both space and time characteristics of H2O and CO2 exchange. The development and validation of such models will be greatly enhanced by the increased availability of measurements from moving vehicles, which record spatial as well as temporal structure.

Notes: Abstract The half-century history of the experimental evaluation of the von Karman “constant” in the atmospheric surface layer is reviewed, an evidence indicating that this well-known scaling factor,k, is actually a weak variable that decreases with increasing Reynolds number is discussed. A combined average ofk=0.390 with a standard error of ±0.010 is found from two field studies, a result which indicates that there is only one chance in 40 that the true value of the scaling factor in the population from which the experimental sample was drawn could have been as large as the laboratory value of 0.40. Based on experimental and theoretical results given by others, it is suggested thatk varies from a maximum of 0.41 in light winds over open water and smooth land surfaces, to a minimum near 0.37 in stronger winds over forests and cities. This range is shown to imply that a working value ofk=0.39±1% is appropriate for flows over surfaces characterized by 0.7〈z 0〈8.7 cm, a roughness subrange which corresponds to a wide variety of terrain types from sparsely vegetated level plains to mixed croplands with occasional hedges and trees.

Notes: Abstract The one-dimensional equation for the turbulent kinetic energy budget in steady, horizontally-homogeneous flow near the ground is reviewed, and some of the many experimental evaluations of its stability-dependent terms obtained during the last twenty years are compared. Uncertainties attributable to instrument error and inadequate sites are discussed, and it is demonstrated that improved equipment makes it possible to evaluate contributions to the budget with comparatively simple experiments. A preliminary field study finds a von Karman constant of k=0.387±0.016 and a wind shear function for the unstable surface layer% MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq-Jc9% vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0-yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr-x% fr-xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaGaeqOXdy2aaS% baaSqaaiaad2gaaeqaaOGaeyypa0JaaiikaiaaigdacqGHsislcaaI% YaGaaGOmaiaac6cacaaI2aGaamOEaiaac+cacaWGmbGaaiykamaaCa% aaleqabaGaeyOeI0IaaGymaiaac+cacaaI0aaaaaaa!4587!\[\phi _m = (1 - 22.6z/L)^{ - 1/4} \]: the form % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq-Jc9% vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0-yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr-x% fr-xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaGaaiikaiaaig% dacqGHsislcaaIXaGaaGynaiaac6cacaaIXaGaamOEaiaac+cacaWG% mbGaaiykamaaCaaaleqabaGaeyOeI0IaaGymaiaac+cacaaIZaaaaa% aa!419C!\[(1 - 15.1z/L)^{ - 1/3} \] fits equally well over the limited range of instability observed. Turbulence dissipation is found to be 15 to 20% too small to balance the production of energy by wind shear in the neutral surface layer, and this deficit appears to remain approximately constant relative to the total rate of energy production as instability increases to% MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq-Jc9% vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0-yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr-x% fr-xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaGaamOEaiaac+% cacaWGmbGaeyypa0JaeyOeI0IaaGimaiaac6cacaaIXaGaaGOmaaaa% !3D45!\[z/L = - 0.12\]. Renormalized dissipation rates originally measured by others are shown to exhibit similar behavior beyond this narrow range. Combining these results with those of the present study suggests a dissipation function of the form % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq-Jc9% vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0-yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr-x% fr-xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaGaeqOXdy2aaS% baaSqaaiabew7aLbqabaGccqGH9aqpcqaHgpGzdaWgaaWcbaGaamyB% aaqabaGccqGHsislcaWG6bGaai4laiaadYeacqGHRaWkcaWGJbaaaa!42A3!\[\phi _\varepsilon = \phi _m - z/L + c\] in which c = -0.16 represents a near constant, net negative contribution made by the sum of the divergent transport terms.