Coupled heat and vapor transport: The thermostat effect of a freely evaporating land surface

Authors

Jozsef Szilagyi, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Aaron Schepers, Cornerstone Mapping, Inc.

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2014

Citation

Szilagyi, J., and A. Schepers (2014), Coupled heat and vapor transport: The thermostat effect of a freely evaporating land surface, Geophys. Res. Lett., 41, 435–441, doi:10.1002/2013GL058979.

Comments

©2014. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

Analytical solutions of the 2-D heat and vapor transport equations for a surface moisture jump are often based on a constant streamwise temperature (T_ws) assumption over the wet vegetated surface. By analyzing 90 thermal infrared images taken over center-pivot irrigated areas in Nebraska, it has been demonstrated for the first time that such an assumption is realistic. Average temperature difference between the perimeter and core of the irrigated full or half circles stayed between -0.11 and 0.09°C (standard deviation of 0.25–0.41°C). It was further demonstrated that wet-bulb temperatures (a proxy of T_ws) remain near constant during drying of the environment when net radiation and wind conditions stay largely unchanged, enabling estimation of T_ws at any stage of drying, thus improving evaporation estimates of the Priestley-Taylor equation in arid and semiarid environments.