A new parameterization scheme for estimating surface energy fluxes with continuous surface temperature, air temperature, and surface net radiation measurements

National Natural Science Foundation of China 41201366 41101332；China Postdoctoral Science Foundation 07Z7602MZ1；China Scholarship CouncilThis study develops a method for estimating surface energy fluxes (surface sensible heat flux (H), latent heat flux (LE), and soil heat flux (G)) simultaneously from continuous observations of surface temperature (T-s), air temperature (T-a), and net radiation (R-n) without calculating various resistances. First, H, LE, and G are parameterized by some constant parameters that remain fairly invariant during a given day and some known functions related to T-s and T-a. Second, these constant parameters are solved by a minimization technique based on surface energy balance. Data from ground-based measurements at the Yucheng station were used to evaluate the performance of the developed method. Results show that the simplified parameterization schemes well reproduce H, LE, and G with a root mean square error (RMSE) of approximate to 20 W/m(2) at the instantaneous time scale, and perform better at the daily scale. For the estimates of H, LE, and G using the known T-s, T-a, and R-n measured at the Yucheng station as inputs, the RMSE is approximate to 60 W/m(2) at the instantaneous time scale and approximate to 20 W/m(2) at the daily scale. The requirement of continuous observations throughout a day in the developed method could be met by remotely sensed data from geostationary meteorological satellites. Fewer input variables and the obviation of calculating various resistances give the method the potential to generate surface fluxes over a large area.