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Limitations of an eddy-correlation technique for the determination of the carbon dioxide and sensible heat fluxes

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Abstract

A modified infrared CO2 gas analyzer, a small thermocouple assembly, a heated-thermocouple anemometer for horizontal wind, and a propeller-type vertical wind sensor were used to measure the eddy fluxes of heat and CO2 above a corn crop. Experimental results of these fluxes are discussed. The main sources of errors of the eddy fluxes using these instruments were estimated:

  1. (1)

    Sensors with a time constant of 0.5 s appear to be fast enough to detect most of the vertical CO2 transfer as long as the sensors are located at least one meter above the crop surface.

  2. (2)

    The deviation from steady-state conditions for 10-min periods was found to have a significant effect on the eddy flux estimates.

  3. (3)

    Temperature fluctuations of the air sample passing through the CO2 infrared gas analyzer were found to be non-negligible but could be easily corrected.

  4. (4)

    A 1° misalignment of the vertical anemometer affected these eddy fluxes by less than 10% under all circumstances studied.

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Contribution from Northeast Region, Soil, Water and Air Sciences, ARS, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture in cooperation with New York State Agricultural Experimental Station at Cornell University, Agronomy Series Paper 1012; P.R.I. Contribution 956.

Agrometeorology Section, Plant Research Institute, Canada Dept. of Agriculture, Ottawa, Ontario KIA OC6 and Agronomy Department, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., 14850, U.S.A.

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Desjardins, R.L., Lemon, E.R. Limitations of an eddy-correlation technique for the determination of the carbon dioxide and sensible heat fluxes. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 5, 475–488 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00123493

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