Estimation of surface heat and moisture fluxes over a prairie grassland using a hybrid biosphere/remote sensing model

This dissertation describes a procedure for estimating surface heat and moisture fluxes based on the use of remotely sensed satellite measurements and a biosphere model. Data collection and processing procedures are presented along with the measurement analysis for the entire 1987 FIFE (First ISLSCP) Field Experiment). Two FSU stations measured surface layer gradients of temperature and moisture. These data were used in the determination of evapotranspiration based on the Bowen ratio method.;A procedure is developed for filtering the flux time series. The filter, based on a two-dimensional Fourier transform, preserves the basic diurnal features and longer time scales while removing high frequency noise which cannot be attributed to site-induced variation. A filtering procedure is desirable before the measurements are utilized as input with a biosphere model both to prevent numerical instabilities and to insure that model-based intercomparisons at multiple sites are uncontaminated by input variance not related to true site behaviour.;The design and formulation of an experimental biosphere model (Ex-BATS) is described. Ex-BATS has been designed to incorporate in situ measurements and satellite parameterizations of certain canopy variables (surface albedo, leaf area index and stomatal resistance). Model validation inter-comparison shows that Ex-BATS produces realistic diurnal behavior of surface fluxes. The results of a series of numerical experiments using Ex-BATS are presented. These simulations have been performed in order to assess how the model performs when remotely sensed data are used to estimate the canopy variables. Results indicate that Ex-BATS is not sensitive to small variations of surface albedo or leaf area index within the range of estimation uncertainty. Simulations using remotely retrieved stomatal resistance produced significantly reduced RMS differences for latent and sensible heat fluxes over the model using a hypothetical formulation.