An analysis of the surface moisture fluxes in the Argentinian Cordoba region using the 2018-2019 RELAMPAGO field campaign data

Straus, Katie

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/124417 Copy

Description

Title

An analysis of the surface moisture fluxes in the Argentinian Cordoba region using the 2018-2019 RELAMPAGO field campaign data

Author(s)

Straus, Katie

Issue Date

2024-05-02

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Dominguez, Francina

Department of Study

Climate Meteorology & Atm Sci

Discipline

Atmospheric Sciences

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• Evapotranspiration
• FAO Penman-Montieth
• Eddy Covariance ET
• Moisture flux
• Cordoba
• Argentina
• RELAMPAGO

Abstract

Northern Argentina is a region of substantial agricultural activity, however, data on land-atmosphere interactions has remained sparse leaving gaps in estimation and modeling of the water-energy balance. Near surface land-atmosphere interactions can be difficult to capture accurately using popular remote sensing techniques, and moreover, obtaining ground measurements is time, labor, and economically intensive. Issues with representing the fluxes is further compounded by data being both spatially and temporally sparse. The RELAMPAGO field campaign of 2018 in Argentina collected nearly a year of surface meteorological data using 15 stations, seven of which have Eddy Covariance flux measurements, to measure moisture-energy and momentum fluxes. Given the type of measurements and the high spatial density of the towers in a single agricultural region, the data offers an unprecedented opportunity to investigate the water-energy flux balance for the region. Here we used this spatially dense data to calculate daily evapotranspiration (ET) with a direct and indirect method and investigate the level of agreement between these two methods. The methods we used and compared were the Eddy Covariance method (EC) which is treated as direct observations and the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization’s (FAO) adjusted Penman-Monteith method (FAO Method herein). The FAO Method estimates ET using simple energy balance principles and more readily available meteorological variables which we applied to 15 different stations. We apply the EC method to seven of the 15 stations since only seven had the instrumentation required for this method. We found that at six of the seven stations where both methods could be applied, more than 80% of the FAO Method estimates were within 20% of the EC values. The mean, median, and standard deviations we calculated for the FAO Method were always greater than the EC methods, for these seven stations. The range of R-squared values to a theoretical 1:1 relationship between these methods was 0.07 to 0.49, with one station producing a value of -0.69 indicating very significant errors. 

Graduation Semester

2024-05

Type of Resource

Thesis

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2024 Katie Straus

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