Eddy-correlation system for long-term monitoring of fluxes of heat, water vapour and CO2

An eddy-correlation system is presented that was designed with special focus on longterm measurements of turbulent fluxes in the atmospheric boundary layer. It consists of a SOLENT sonic anemometer, a fast temperature sensor, and a LI-COR LI 6262 closed-path infrared gas analyser The use of a fast temperature sensor turned out to be necessary because of errors in the sound virtual temperature measured by the sonic anemometer at high wind speeds. The components are combined with special attention paid to protection against lightning and other environmental stresses. The data acquisition program SOLCOM runs on standalone systems or in a network environment and performs 'quasi on-line' data processing, on-line graphical display of single data and fluxes, and on-line correction of the raw data. Raw data can be stored continuously on DAT tapes. All data handling can be done by remote access, thus only a minimum amount of in situ maintenance is required. Power spectra of vertical and longitudinal wind speed, air temperature, air humidity and carbon dioxide concentration showed to follow the -2/3 law quite well. There was some noise in the high frequency range of the carbon dioxide spectrum. However, the corresponding cross spectra with the vertical wind component showed less deviation from a straight line in the high frequency range. The sum of convective heat fluxes and soil heat flux showed good agreement with the measured net radiation for several months and it was concluded that the system described here constitute a good platform for long-term flux measurements over forest.