EVALUATION OF SPATIALLY DISTRIBUTED GROUND-BASED AND REMOTELY-SENSED DATA TO ESTIMATE SPATIALLY DISTRIBUTED SENSIBLE HEAT FLUXES

The First International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project (IS LSCP) Field Experiment (FIFE) was initiated partly to improve our abil ity to model spatial distributions of surface-atmospheric fluxes over hilly prairie. Monin-Obukhov similarity was used to calculate sensible heat fluxes (H-c) at an array of ten FIFE flux measurement sites for comparison with measured sensible heat fluxes (H-m). Data were collect ed within the dynamic sublayer on a clear morning when there was stron g solar heating of the surface, winds in excess of 5 m s(-1), and unif ormly wet soil conditions. The sensitivity of correlations between H-c and H-m to spatial variability of air (T-a) and aircraft-based (therm al infrared multispectral scanner (TIMS)) remotely sensed surface (T-r ) temperatures, wind speed (u), and an atmospheric stability parameter ization (psi(h)) was examined. H-c was found to depend on the spatial variability of T-r and u but not on T-a and psi(h). Furthermore, appro ximately half the discrepancy between H-c and H-m may be attributed to uncertainty in H-m.