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www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci-discuss.net/6/1939/2009/
doi:10.5194/hessd-6-1939-2009
© Author(s) 2009. This work is distributed
under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Seasonal and diurnal variations in moisture, heat and CO2 fluxes over a typical steppe prairie in Inner Mongolia, China
1State Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Boundary Layer Physics and Atmospheric Chemistry, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, CAS, Beijing, China
2State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Science, CMA, Beijing, China
3National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder CO, USA
4Institute of Atmospheric Sciences, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, China
5Key Laboratory for Polar Science, Polar Research Institute of China, Shanghai, China
6Xilinhaote Meteorological Station, Inner Mongolia, China
Abstract. In order to examine energy partitioning and CO2 exchange over a steppe prairie in Inner Mongolia, China, fluxes of moisture, heat and CO2 in the surface layer from June 2007 through June 2008 were calculated using the eddy covariance method. The study site was homogenous and approximately 1500 m×1500 m in size. Seasonal and diurnal variations in radiation components, energy components and CO2 fluxes are examined. Results show that all four radiation components changed seasonally, resulting in a seasonal variation in net radiation. The radiation components also changed diurnally. Winter surface albedo was higher than summer surface albedo because during winter the snow-covered surface increased the surface albedo. The seasonal variations in both sensible heat and CO2 fluxes were stronger than those of latent heat and soil heat fluxes. This implies that both sensible heat and CO2 fluxes may be more significant climate signals than latent heat and soil fluxes. Sensible heat flux was the main consumer of available energy for the entire experimental period. The energy imbalance problem was encountered and the causes are analyzed.
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Citation: Gao, Z., Lenschow, D. H., He, Z., Zhou, M., Wang, L., Wang, Y., He, J., and Shi, J.: Seasonal and diurnal variations in moisture, heat and CO2 fluxes over a typical steppe prairie in Inner Mongolia, China, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., 6, 1939-1972, doi:10.5194/hessd-6-1939-2009, 2009. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager XML
