Knowledge of the turbulent fluxes at the sea surface is important for understanding the interaction between atmosphere and ocean. With better knowledge, improvements in the estimation of the heat exchange coefficients can be made and hence models are able to predict the weather and future climate with higher accuracy. The exchange coefficients of latent and sensible heat during stable stratification vary in the literature. Therefore it is necessary to investigate the processes influencing the air-sea exchange of water vapour and heat in order to estimate these values. With measurements from a tower and a directional waverider buoy at the site Östergarnsholm in the Baltic Sea, data used in this study have been sampled from the years 2005-2007. This site represents open-ocean conditions during most situations when the wind comes from the south-east sector. The neutral exchange coefficients, CEN and CHN, have been calculated along with the non-dimensional profile functions for temperature and wind to study the dependence of stability and other parameters of relevance. It was found that CEN increased slightly with wind speed and reached a mean value of approximately 1.45×10-3. The highest values of CEN were observed during near neutral conditions and low wave ages. CHN attained a mean value of approximately 0.77×10-3 and did not show any relation to wind speed or to wave age. No significant dependence with wind or wave direction could be shown for either CEN or CHN in the sector 80-220°. The stability correction, performed to reduce the dependence on stratification for CEN and CHN, was well performed for stabilities higher than 0.15. The stability is represented by a relationship between the height and the Obukhov-length (z/L). Validity of the non-dimensional profile functions for temperature and wind showed that, for smaller stabilities, these functions gave higher values than the corresponding functions recommended by Högström (1996). The profile funtions for temperature was shown to have a larger scatter while the profile functions for wind was less scattered and deviated more from the functions given by Högström / Kunskap om turbulenta flöden i det marina gränsskiktet är viktigt för att förstå växelverkan mellan atmosfär och hav. Med bättre kunskap kan förbättringar i bestämningen av utbyteskoefficienterna för latent och sensibelt värme erhållas. Det medför att modeller kan prognostisera väder och framtida klimat med högre noggrannhet. Utbyteskoefficienterna för latent och sensibelt värme har för stabil skiktning olika värden i litteraturen. Detta gör det nödvändigt att undersöka de processer som påverkar utbytet av vattenånga och värme mellan luft och hav för att kunna bestämma dessa värden. Data som har använts i den här studien insamlades mellan år 2005 och 2007 från en boj och ett torn vid mätplatsen Östergarnsholm i Baltiska havet. För det flesta situationer, när vinden blåser från syd-ost, representerar mätplatsen ett förhållande likvärdigt det över öppet hav. De neutrala utbyteskoefficienterna, CEN och CHN, och de dimensionslösa profilfunktionera för temperatur och vind, och , har beräknats för att studera beroendet av stabilitet samt andra relevanta parametrar. Beräkningarna visade att CEN ökade något med vindhastighet och hamnade på ett medelvärde av ungefär 1.45×10-3. De högsta värdena på CEN observerades vid nära neutrala förhållanden och låga vågåldrar. CHN uppmättes till att ha ett medelvärde på ungefär 0.77×10-3 och uppvisade inget beroende med vindhastighet eller vågålder. Inget märkbart beroende med vind- eller vågriktning kunde visas för CEN eller CHN i sektorn 80-220°. Stabilitetskorrektionen, utförd för att reducera beroendet av atmosfärens skiktning för CEN och CHN, var bra för stabiliteter högre än 0.15. Stabiliteten representeras av förhållandet mellan höjden och Obukhov-längden (z/L). Utvärdering av de dimensionslösa funktionerna för temperatur och vind visade att dessa funktioner, för små stabiliteter, gav högre värden än motsvarande funktioner som rekommenderas av Högström (1996). Värdena på profilfunktionerna för temperatur hade större spridning än värdena på profilfunktionerna för vind och avvek mer från funktionerna givna av Högström.

Atmospheric convection is sensitive to the nature of the surface and its temperature. Both dry (without cloud) and moist (with cloud) convections depend on the surface temperature. Surface temperature is of critical importance in several practical applications like human comfort and crop cultivation. In the climate change scenario too, variations in the surface temperature take the center stage. Therefore, prediction of surface temperature is important. The evolution of the temperature is governed by the energy equation and the surface temperature by the surface energy balance. Important components of the surface energy balance are radiation (incoming solar radiation, reflected solar radiation, incoming and outgoing longwave radiation), sensible and latent heat fluxes and heat flux into the ground (called ground heat flux). A large number of individual and collective observations have been carried out in the past to understand the atmospheric boundary layer and the surface energy budgets. However a major share of the observations is from mid-latitudes. There have been few experiments carried out in India, for example, MONTBLEX, LASPEX, etc. One common drawback among these experiments is that the data time series is discontinuous and continuous measurements covering an entire season are lacking. Moreover these measurements were not comprehensive and hence did not allowed to calculate complete surface energy balance – in some cases radiation data is not available while in some humidity data. Therefore, continuous time series of sufficient duration and covering all variables needed to look at the seasonal energy balance based on measurements alone is missing in the Indian context. New programmes with the main objective of predicting convection are being planned in India. For example, PROWNAM (Prediction of Regional Weather with Observational Meso-Network and Atmospheric Modeling) is aimed at predicting the short term weather at SHAR and STORM (Severe Thunderstorms – Observations and Regional Modeling) aims to predict the occurrence of severe thunderstorms in the northeastern India. In both these programmes, measurement of all components of surface energy balance is one of the main objectives. However, the minimum configuration and data accuracy requirements for the flux towers, sensitivity of computed fluxes on data accuracy have not been carefully evaluated. This thesis is aimed at filling this gap. As a part of my work, a 10 m high micrometeorological tower was installed in an open area within the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Air Field. Temperature, relative humidity and wind speed and direction instruments were mounted at two levels, 2 m and 8 m. All components of radiation were measured. Data, sampled every 5 s and averaged for 2 minutes were continuously stored, starting May 2006 onwards. Soil temperature was measured at 4 depths, 5 cm, 10 cm, 15 cm and 20 cm. In addition, a sonic anemometer capable of measuring 3 components of velocity and air temperature was installed at 2 m height, and data was collected for more than a month to enable the calculation of momentum and buoyancy fluxes using the Eddy correlation method (ECM). The present work evaluated the sensitivity of the fluxes for small calibration errors and quantified the minimum data accuracies and configuration needed for flux measurement with the Profile method (PM). After applying corrections, the comparison of fluxes from PM and ECM are in good agreement. The complete long-term surface energy balances is calculated in terms of source and sink. One aspect that emerges from the observation is that the seasonal variation in the sink term is relatively small (150-170 Wm-2) whereas the source term shows much larger variation from 180-250 Wm-2. A method has been implemented by which the ground surface temperature can be estimated by using the subsurface temperature timeseries by the method of Fourier decomposition and using the Fourier heat conduction equation. In addition we can compute the thermal diffusivity of the soil by using the amplitude and phase information of the sub-surface soil time series. The estimated temperatures from this method and one that estimated from radiation method are in good agreement with the maximum difference being less than 0º C.

La circulation atmosphérique en Afrique de l'Ouest est caractérisée par des vents de sud-ouest (mousson) pendant la saison humide et par des vents de nord-est (harmattan) pendant la saison sèche. Cette alternance des saisons est due aux variations de pression liée à l'état des surfaces (rugosité, albédo, végétation) en réaction au forçage solaire. Ces mêmes états de surface génèrent une variabilité de flux turbulents de surface et des circulations secondaires qui rendent complexes les analyses des mesures effectuées sur place en vue de documenter les interactions surface-atmosphère. La modélisation fine échelle (LES) couramment utilisée dans l'étude de la couche limite atmosphérique est requise pour pouvoir palier à ces difficultés en raison de sa capacité à prendre en compte les flux turbulents en 3D et sur topographie complexe. Notre site d'étude est le bassin versant d'ARA située au Nord du Bénin dans un contexte Soudanien avec des propriétés de surface variables. Une analyse climatique est effectuée sur la base des observations de radiosondage, de radar UHF et de stations au sol afin d'extraire des données composites représentatives des saisons sèche et humide. Ces données composites ont servi par la suite à forcer le modèle Méso-NH dans sa version LES. Pour pouvoir caractériser les échelles de longueur des flux turbulents de surface relatives aux saisons sèche et humide, les données standard de forçage de surface de Méso-NH que sont le relief GTOPO30 (1km de résolution) et la végétation ECOCLIMAP (1km de résolution) ont été respectivement remplacer par le SRTM (90m de résolution) et les données de SPOT/HRV (20m de résolution) reéchantillonné à 90m de résolution. A l'aide d'outils statistiques comme la variographie 2D et le suivi Lagrangien, il ressort que la variabilité spatiale de la chaleur sensible H est gouvernée par le couple vent-relief tandis que celle de la chaleur latente E est difficile à mettre en lien sur végétation hétérogène (SPOT/HRV) en saison sèche. En saison humide, la variabilité spatiale du champ H dépend du vent tandis que celle du champ E dépend de la végétation. Cette étude révèle dans tous les cas que les échelles caractéristiques de ces deux champs diffèrent dans les mêmes conditions de forçage de surface et atmosphérique. / West Africa atmosphere circulation is characterized by south-westerly wind (monsoon regime) during the wet season and north-easterly wind (harmattan regime) during the dry season. This alternation of wind regime is due to surface pressure variability linked to surface heterogeneities. Surface heterogeneities generate surface flux variability, secondary circulation and make complex analysis when trying to document surface-atmosphere feedbacks. LES modelling usually used for boundary-layer studies due to its potential to take into account 3D turbulence over complex topography, is used here to overcome these difficulties. Our site of interest is located in north of Benin characterized by Soudanian climate and heterogeneous surface properties. Climate analysis are first performed with radiosoundings, UHF radar, and EC station data in order to extract composite profile representing dry and wet season.. These composite profiles are then used to force atmosphere part of the Méso-NH LES model. To characterize turbulent fluxes length scales relative to dry and wet season, standard surface forcing data with Méso-NH like GTOPO30 orography (1km ) and ECOCLIMAP vegetation (1km) are respectively replaced by SRTM (90m) and SPOT/HRV vegetation data (20m) resampled to 90m. Along with statistical tools like 2D variography and Lagrangian, we notice that during dry season on heterogeneous vegetation, sensible heat flux H is more driven by wind and orography while we not able to discuss the latent heat flux E case. During wet season with the same surface forcing, it appears that H is driven by wind while E is more dependent to vegetation variability. Our study concludes in all case that H and E are not characterized by the same length scale.

The major aim of this work is to develop a framework for the estimation of Evapotranspiration (ET) over the Indian landmass using remote sensing (RS) datasets in a repeated and consistent manner with improved spatial resolution. Different RS based ET models exist in the literature, out of which, the triangle, the S-SEBI and the Sim-ReSET models were compared for the estimation of daytime integrated latent heat flux (λEday). These three models were chosen as they can be driven only with RS based inputs without the need for any ground measurements. The results showed that the application of simpler contextual models may yield better results than physically based models when ground data is limited or not available. To improve the spatial resolution of one of the key surface variable, Land Surface Temperature (LST), the performance of five different vegetation indices Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Fraction Vegetation Cover (FVC), Normalised Difference Water Index (NDWI), Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI) and Modified SAVI (MSAVI) were tested in the existing DisTrad disaggregation model. Results suggested that the most commonly used vegetation indices NDVI and FVC yielded better results only under wet conditions. Under drier surface conditions, using NDWI for disaggregation resulted in relatively higher accurate LST. A model for spatial disaggregation of Evaporative Fraction (EF) called DEFrac (Disaggregation of Evaporative Fraction) was developed based on the relationship between EF and NDVI to obtain finer spatial resolution EF from coarser resolution estimates. The experimental results suggested that the DEFrac model developed in this study, yielded more accurate disaggregated EF. The disaggregated EF was further used to get disaggregated λEday. Finally, The issue of lack of proper ET dataset over India was addressed by developing two data products one over entire India at 0.05° spatial resolution and the second product over the Kabini basin at 1 km spatial resolution. Both the products were developed with a temporal resolution of 8-day and for the period 2001–2014. The developed ET products were validated against ground observed data at seven sites across India and against ET simulated by a hydrological model over a forested watershed. Further the developed ET products were compared with some other global ET products such as MOD16, LandFlux Eval synthesis ET and GLEAM ET. Analyses revealed that only in regions where ET is predominantly driven by rainfall and where irrigation is not applied at very large scales, the global ET products tend to capture the ET patterns satisfactorily. On the other hand, the ET products developed in this work captured the spatial and temporal patterns of ET quite realistically all across India.

The energy exchange in the soil-snow-vegetation-atmospheresystem was studied to improve the quantitative knowledge of thegoverning processes. The lack of such knowledge contributes tothe uncertainty in the applicability of many existing modelsindependent of the temporal or spatial scale. The theoreticalbackground and available methods for measurements and numericalsimulations were reviewed. Numerical simulation models andavailable data sets representing open land and boreal forestwere evaluated in both diurnal and seasonal time-scales.Surface heat fluxes, snow depth, soil temperatures andmeteorological conditions were measured at an agriculturalfield in central Sweden over two winters, 1997-1999. Twoone-dimensional simulation models of different complexity wereused to simulate the heat and water transfer in thesoil-snow-atmosphere system and compared with the measurements.Comparison of simulated and observed heat fluxes showed thatparameter values governing the upper boundary condition weremore important than the formulation of the internal mass andheat balance of the snow cover. The models were useful toevaluate the lack of energy balance closure in the observedsurface heat fluxes, which underlined the importance ofimproved accuracy in eddy correlation measurements of latentflow during winter conditions. The representation of boreal forest in the land surfacescheme used within a weather forecast model was tested with athree-year data set from the NOPEX forest site in centralSweden. The formulation with separate energy balances forvegetation and the soil/snow beneath tree cover improvedsimulation of the seasonal and diurnal variations of latent andsensible heat flux compared with an older model version.Further improvements of simulated surface heat fluxes could beexpected if the variation of vegetation properties within andbetween years and a new formulation of the boundary conditionsfor heat flux into the soil is included. Keywords: Surface energy balance, Snow, Boreal forest,SVAT models, Eddy-correlation Measurements, Latent heat flux,Sensible heat flux, Net radiation, Soil temperature,Aerodynamic roughness, Surface resistance / QC 20100614

The main goal of this research is to quantitatively assess the resilience and vulnerability of geotechnical infrastructure to extreme events under a changing climate. In the first part, pertinent facts and statistics regarding California’s extreme drought and current status of its levees are presented. Weakening processes such as soil strength reduction, soil desiccation cracking, land subsidence and surface erosion, and oxidation of soil organic carbon are comprehensively evaluated to illustrate the devastating impacts that the California drought can have on earthen structures. In the second part, rainfall-triggered slope instabilities are analyzed using extreme precipitation estimates, derived using the historical stationary and a proposed future nonstationary approach. The extremes are integrated into a series of fully coupled 2D finite element simulations. The final part of this study investigates the impact of simultaneous variations in soil moisture and temperature changes in the California region on soil strength through a proposed thermo-hydro-mechanical framework.

<p>The energy exchange in the soil-snow-vegetation-atmospheresystem was studied to improve the quantitative knowledge of thegoverning processes. The lack of such knowledge contributes tothe uncertainty in the applicability of many existing modelsindependent of the temporal or spatial scale. The theoreticalbackground and available methods for measurements and numericalsimulations were reviewed. Numerical simulation models andavailable data sets representing open land and boreal forestwere evaluated in both diurnal and seasonal time-scales.Surface heat fluxes, snow depth, soil temperatures andmeteorological conditions were measured at an agriculturalfield in central Sweden over two winters, 1997-1999. Twoone-dimensional simulation models of different complexity wereused to simulate the heat and water transfer in thesoil-snow-atmosphere system and compared with the measurements.Comparison of simulated and observed heat fluxes showed thatparameter values governing the upper boundary condition weremore important than the formulation of the internal mass andheat balance of the snow cover. The models were useful toevaluate the lack of energy balance closure in the observedsurface heat fluxes, which underlined the importance ofimproved accuracy in eddy correlation measurements of latentflow during winter conditions.</p><p>The representation of boreal forest in the land surfacescheme used within a weather forecast model was tested with athree-year data set from the NOPEX forest site in centralSweden. The formulation with separate energy balances forvegetation and the soil/snow beneath tree cover improvedsimulation of the seasonal and diurnal variations of latent andsensible heat flux compared with an older model version.Further improvements of simulated surface heat fluxes could beexpected if the variation of vegetation properties within andbetween years and a new formulation of the boundary conditionsfor heat flux into the soil is included.</p><p><strong>Keywords</strong>: Surface energy balance, Snow, Boreal forest,SVAT models, Eddy-correlation Measurements, Latent heat flux,Sensible heat flux, Net radiation, Soil temperature,Aerodynamic roughness, Surface resistance</p> / QC 20100614

To understand and to predict the weather and climate, numerical models are important tools and it is crucial that the controlling processes are described correctly. Since 70% of the global surface is covered with water the description how the ocean and atmosphere communicates has a considerable impact. The ocean–atmosphere exchange occurs through transport of momentum (friction) and heat, governed by turbulent eddies. The sea surface is also an important source of turbulence in both directions. The scales of the turbulent eddies cannot be resolved in ocean and climate models. Therefore, the turbulent exchanges have to be related to mean variables, such as wind speed and temperature differences. By using measurements, new methods to describe the air–sea exchange during two specific processes were developed. These processes are the so-called UVCN-regime (Unstable Very Close to Neutral stratification) and swell, i.e. waves which are not produced by the local wind. These processes were included in an ocean model and in a regional atmospheric climate model and the impact was investigated. The UVCN-regime enhances the heat transport significantly during the autumn and winter months in the ocean model. This results in a shallower well-mixed surface layer in the ocean. Wind-following swell reduces the surface friction, which is very important for the atmosphere. Some secondary effects in the climate model are reduced low-level cloud cover and reduced precipitation by more than 10% over sea areas. Locally and for short periods the impact is large. It is important to include the UVCN-regime and the swell impact in models, to make simulations more reliable.

The present work was written as a cumulative dissertation based on peer-reviewed papers and is completed by yet unpublished results. The overall objective was to get a deeper insight into the role of the advective fluxes of sensible heat and latent heat in relation to the energy balance and its imbalance at the earth’s surface (typically the sum of the turbulent fluxes sensible and latent heat does not match the available energy). Data from two advection experiments at four coniferous sites across Europe served as the basis for the analysis. One was the advection experiment MORE II which took place in Tharandt (Germany) and the other advection experiment ADVEX was conducted at three different sites (Ritten/Renon, Italy; Wetzstein, Germany; Norunda, Sweden). An inspection of the available energy (AE) that is redistributed to the atmosphere by the sensible heat flux (H) and latent heat flux (LE) showed that the uncertainty of the available energy itself cannot explain the lack of energy balance closure for these four sites. The mean absolute uncertainty of the available energy was largest during midday and ranged from 41 W m-2 to 52 W m-2 (approx. 12 % of AE). During nighttime, the mean absolute uncertainty was smaller (20 W m-2 – 30 W m-2) but the relative uncertainty was much larger as AE itself is small. Among the investigated storage terms the heat storage change of the biomass was most important. The energy balance closure was improved for all investigated sites when storage terms were included. In principle, storage terms should not be neglected in energy balance studies. An investigation of the budget of sensible heat, not only including the vertical advection and the horizontal advection but also the horizontal turbulent flux divergence, was undertaken for the coniferous site at Tharandt. Inclusion of these fluxes resulted in an enlarged mean daily amplitude and suggests an improvement of the energy balance closure, at least during nighttime. The commonly determined budget (vertical turbulent flux plus storage change) was reduced by about 30 % when advective fluxes were included. Results suggest that the horizontal turbulent flux divergence is of minor importance but further studies are needed for an overall evaluation. First results for the inclusion of the advective fluxes of both sensible heat and latent heat indicate that the lack of energy balance closure is partly reduced but the imbalance still exists. Advective fluxes of sensible heat were also compared to advective fluxes of CO2. It became apparent that the advective fluxes of sensible heat and CO2 are, on average, of opposite sign during nighttime and both share large scatter. Both budgets (sensible heat and CO2) were considerably changed (although differently for different sites) when advective fluxes were included. Results further suggest that advective fluxes of H can be taken as an indicator concerning the presence and sign of advection of CO2. This points towards a coincident non-turbulent transport of heat and CO2. However, all investigated advective fluxes are site-specific. They are characterised by a large uncertainty due to uncertainties in the mean vertical velocity (vertical advection) and in the horizontal differences in scalar magnitude (horizontal advection). Obviously, they are influenced by the limitations of the experimental set-up (spatial resolution) and the local characteristics of the individual measurements. An overall evaluation of advective fluxes with respect to their representativeness and magnitude requires further studies / Die vorliegende Arbeit wurde als kumulative Dissertation verfasst, die auf begutachteten Publikationen beruht. Sie wird um bisher nicht veröffentlichte Daten zur Advektion latenter Wärme ergänzt. Ziel war es, vor allem die Rolle der advektiven Flüsse von sensibler und latenter Wärme in Bezug auf die Energiebilanz und das Problem der Energiebilanzschließung an der Erdoberfläche näher zu untersuchen. Unter der Energiebilanzschließungslücke wird im Allgemeinen das Phänomen verstanden, dass die Summe der gemessenen turbulenten Flüsse von sensibler und latenter Wärme zumeist nicht der gemessenen verfügbaren Energie entspricht. Als Datengrundlage für die Arbeiten dienten hierzu die Datensätze von zwei Advektionsexperimenten, die an vier verschiedenen Nadelwaldstandorten in Europa stattfanden. Das erste dieser Advektionsexperimente MORE II fand an der Ankerstation Tharandt (Deutschland) statt und das zweite (ADVEX) wurde an drei verschiedenen Standorten durchgeführt (Ritten/Renon, Italien; Wetzstein, Deutschland; Norunda, Schweden). Eine Untersuchung der verfügbaren Energie (AE), die über den sensiblen Wärmestrom (H) und den latenten Wärmestrom (LE) wieder an die Atmosphäre abgegeben wird, zeigte, dass die in der Bestimmung der verfügbaren Energie liegende Unsicherheit das Problem der Energiebilanzschließungslücke nicht ausreichend erklärt. Die mittlere absolute Unsicherheit der verfügbaren Energie war dabei mittags am größten (41 W m-2 – 52 W m-2; ca. 12 % der verfügbaren Energie). Nachts war diese kleiner (20 W m-2 – 30 W m-2). Jedoch waren dann die relativen Unsicherheiten deutlich größer, da die verfügbare Energie nachts klein ist. Von den betrachteten Speichertermen der Energiebilanz erwies sich die Speicheränderung von Wärme in der Biomasse als am wichtigsten. Für die vier untersuchten Standorte verbesserte sich die Energiebilanzschließung, wenn die Speicherterme mit einbezogen wurden. Grundsätzlich sollten alle Speicherterme bei der Bestimmung der Energiebilanz mit beachtet werden. Für den Nadelwaldstandort Tharandt wurde die Bilanz der sensiblen Wärme unter Beachtung der advektiven Flüsse und der horizontalen turbulenten Flussdivergenz erstellt. Die Einbeziehung der advektiven Flüsse und der horizontalen turbulenten Flussdivergenz führte zu einer Vergrößerung der Amplitude im mittleren Tagesgang und deutet auf eine Verbesserung der Energiebilanzschließung zumindest nachts hin. Im herkömmlichen Sinne wird die Bilanz für Energie oder Massenflüsse als Summe aus vertikalem turbulenten Fluss und Speicheränderung bestimmt. Die Gesamtsumme dieser Bilanz wurde um 30 % reduziert, wenn die advektiven Flüsse mit einbezogen wurden. Hinsichtlich der horizontalen turbulenten Flussdivergenz kann man noch keine abschließende Einschätzung geben. Die vorliegenden Ergebnisse deuten einen vernachlässigbaren Anteil an der Gesamtbilanz für diesen Term an. Erste Ergebnisse für die Bestimmung der Energiebilanz von Nadelwäldern unter Beachtung der advektiven Flüsse von sensibler und latenter Wärme zeigen eine teilweise Reduzierung der Energiebilanzschließungslücke, jedoch keine vollständige Schließung der Energiebilanz. Weiterhin wurden die advektiven Flüsse sensibler Wärme mit denen von CO2 verglichen. Die Bilanzen für den CO2-Fluss als auch für den Fluss sensibler Wärme änderten sich deutlich unter Einbeziehung der advektiven Flüsse, wenn auch unterschiedlich für verschiedene Standorte. Besonders nachts sind die advektiven Flüsse von sensibler Wärme und CO2 im Mittel durch gegensätzliche Vorzeichen gekennzeichnet. Diese Beziehung eröffnet die Möglichkeit, advektive Flüsse von CO2 auf der Basis von advektiven Flüssen sensibler Wärme hinsichtlich ihres Vorhandenseins und ihrer Richtung abzuschätzen. Dies deutet auf einen gleichzeitigen nicht-turbulenten Transport von Wärme und CO2 hin. Generell ist festzustellen, dass alle untersuchten advektiven Flüsse spezifisch für den jeweiligen Standort und durch eine große Unsicherheit gekennzeichnet sind. Diese ergibt sich zum einen aus der mittleren vertikalen Geschwindigkeit (vertikale Advektion) und zum anderen aus den horizontalen Differenzen (horizontale Advektion) der jeweiligen skalaren Größen. Die betrachteten advektiven Flüsse werden offensichtlich durch Einschränkungen, die sich aus dem experimentellen Aufbau ergeben (z.B. begrenzte räumliche Auflösung), in ähnlicher Weise beeinflusst. Eine abschließende Beurteilung der advektiven Flüsse hinsichtlich ihres Anteils an der Gesamtbilanz und ihrer Repräsentativität erfordert weitere Studien.

Modification of land use/land cover in South Florida has posed a major challenge in the region’s eco-hydrology by shifting the surface-atmosphere water and energy balance. Although drainage and development in South Florida took place extensively between the mid- and late- 20th century, converting half of the original Everglades into agricultural and urban areas, urban expansion still accounts for a dominant mode of surface cover change in South Florida. Changes in surface cover directly affect the radiative, thermophysical and aerodynamic parameters which determine the absorption and partitioning of radiation into different components at the Earth surface. The alteration is responsible for changing the thermal structure of the surface and surface layer atmosphere, eventually modifying surface-induced convection. This dissertation is aimed at analyzing the extent and pattern of land cover change in South Florida and delineating the associated development of urban heat island (UHI), energy flux alteration, and convective rainfall modification using observed data, remotely sensed estimates, and modeled results. Urban land covers in South Florida are found to have increased by 10% from 1974 to 2011. Higher Landsat-derived land surface temperatures (LST) are observed in urban areas (LSTu-r =2.8°C) with satisfactory validation statistics for eastern stations (Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient =0.70 and R2 =0.79). Time series trends, significantly negative for diurnal temperature range (DTR= -1°C, p=0.005) and positive for lifting condensation level (LCL > 20m) reveal temporal and conspicuous urban-rural differences in nocturnal temperature (ΔTu-r = 4°C) shows spatial signatures of UHI. Spatially higher (urban: 3, forest: 0.14) and temporally increasing (urban: 1.67 to 3) Bowen’s ratios, and sensible heat fluxes exceeding net radiation in medium and high-intensity developed areas in 2010 reflect the effect of urbanization on surface energy balance. Radar reflectivity-derived surface-induced convective rainfall reveals significantly positive mean differences (thunderstorm cell density: 6/1000 km2and rain rate: 0.24 mm/hr/summer, p < 0.005) between urban and entire South Florida indicating convective enhancement by urban covers. The research fulfils its two-fold purposes: advancing the understanding of post-development hydrometeorology in South Florida and investigating the spatial and temporal impacts of land cover change on the microclimate of a subtropical city.