Effect of temperature on surface energy balance

Abstract

The conventional energy balance equation at land surface representing the repartition of net radiation into latent, sensible, and ground heat fluxes was revised to acknowledge the fact that sensible heat flux is always measured at a certain height level within the atmosphere even though the other components are well defined at the surface. A correction factor defined as the ratio of surface (skin) temperature to air temperature associated with the measured sensible heat flux term should be included in the energy balance equation. A preliminary test using independent measurements of radiation and heat fluxes shows that the revision improves the energy balance at the surface.