Heat flux on mixtures of different land-use surface: Test of a new parameterization scheme

Abstract

A simple parameterization scheme, which can estimate heat flux over a complex land-use surface, is presented. In this method, the ground surface in a grid area is classified into several categories. Surface temperature and sensible/latent heat fluxes are estimated on each land-use category. The total heat fluxes on the grid point is given by the average of heat fluxes on each land-use surface weighted by its area. The results of the one-dimensional model with this parameterization is compared with a two-dimensional fine grid model, which estimates heat fluxes on the periodic land-use surface. The heat fluxes estimated by the parameterization method agree well with those given by the two-dimensional model. This parameterization allows one to estimate not only accurate heat fluxes over a complex land-use surface, but also the surface temperature on each land-use category in a grid area.