506 Theory and Measurement of Turbulent Fluxes

Class hours: MON/WED 3:10-2:25pm meetings: Sloan 32 Instructor: Heping Liu
This course seeks to train graduate students in the theory and measurements of heat, water vapor, and carbon dioxide fluxes between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere. Students will be introduced to the micrometeorological theory of atmospheric turbulence and land-surface fluxes and the working principles of state-of-the-art eddy covariance systems and sensors for flux measurements. Through detailed, hands-on practice, students will learn how to design and build a micrometeorological flux tower and gain skills in datalogger programming, sensor wiring, data acquisition, and post-field processing and statistical analysis of eddy covariance flux data. Quality assurance and quality controls of flux data will also be discussed. Special topics will be covered, including the surface energy balance over different ecosystems, terrestrial ecosystem carbon budgets, uncertainties in flux measurements, and fluxes over complex terrain. Students will learn how to utilize flux data from the FLUXNET or Ameriflux networks to study the surface energy budget, evaporation, and/or carbon budget over a variety of terrestrial ecosystems across different time scales.