Spatial Distribution of Surface Fluxes Estimated from Remotely Sensed Variables

Abstract

This study relates surface fluxes to remotely sensed variables over well-defined variations of surface wetness and vegetation. The surface fluxes are estimated from repeated Twin Otter aircraft flights at 33 m above the surface after correcting for advection and local storage between the aircraft level and the surface. An extensive analysis of flux errors due to finite sample size over heterogeneous terrain is performed. The resulting surface energy budget seems to balance only if mesoscale fluxes are included. The spatial variation of the surface fluxes and atmospheric temperature and moisture are well predicted for these specific surface conditions by a model based on the normalized difference of vegetation index and brightness temperatures of channels 4 and 5 from the NOAA-11 Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer.