Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program facilities newsletter, October 2000.

Energy Balance Bowen Ratio System--Estimates of surface energy fluxes are a primary product of the data collection systems at the ARM SGP CART site. Surface fluxes tell researchers a great deal about the effects of interactions between the sun's energy and Earth. Surface fluxes of latent and sensible heat can be estimated by measuring temperature and relative humidity gradients across a vertical distance. Sensible heat is what we feel coming from a warm sidewalk or a metal car door; it can be measured with a thermometer. Latent heat, on the other hand, is released or absorbed during transformations such as the freezing of water into ice or the evaporation of morning dew from a lawn. Such a transformation is referred to as a ''phase change,'' the conversion of a substance among its solid, liquid, and vapor phases. Phase change is an important aspect of our climate. Earth's water cycle abounds with phase changes: rain falls and evaporates, changing from liquid to vapor; the water vapor in the air condenses to form clouds, changing from a gas into a liquid cloud droplet, and eventually falls to Earth's surface as rain or snow; snow falls and melts to liquid or sublimes directly to water vapor. This cyclic process has no end. Surface vegetation and land use play extremely important roles in surface energy fluxes. Plants absorb and reflect solar radiation and also take up water and expel water vapor. The type of plant material, its stage of growth, and its color determine whether and to what extent the surface and air can couple and exchange energy