Experimental evaluation of analytical and Lagrangian surface-layer flux footprint models

Three surface-layer flux footprint models have been evaluated with the results of an SF6 tracer release experiment specifically designed to test such models. They are a Lagrangian stochastic model, an analytical model, and a simplified derivative of the analytical model. Vertical SF6 fluxes were measured by eddy correlation at four distances downwind of a near-surface crosswind line source in an area of homogeneous sagebrush. The mean flutes were calculated for 136 half-hour test periods and compared to the fluxes predicted by the footprint models. All three models gave similar predictions and good characterizations of the footprint over the stability range -0.01 < z(0)/L < 0.005. The predictions of the three models were within the limits of the uncertainty of the experimental measurements in all but a few cases within this stability range. All three models are unconditionally recommended for determining the area defined by the footprint over short vegetative canopies in this range. They are also generally appropriate for estimating flux magnitudes within the limits of experimental uncertainties. Most of the mean differences observed between the measured and predicted flutes at each of the four towers reflect a tendency for the measured fluxes to be greater than those predicted by the three models. Rigorous verification of the models in strongly stable conditions was complicated by the need to obtain very accurate measurements of small fluxes in only marginally stationary conditions. Verification in strongly unstable conditions was hampered by the limited number of appropriate data.