Flux Attenuation due to Sensor Displacement over Sea

Abstract: In this study the flux attenuation due to sensor displacement has been investigated over sea using an extensive set of data from the "Ocean Horizontal Array Turbulence Study". All previous investigations of the flux attenuation have been performed over land. A function developed for correcting fluxes in the homogenous surface layer was compared to measured flux attenuation. This investigation revealed the possibility to find new functions describing the flux attenuation when measurements are carried out over sea. From the measured flux attenuation studied here a change in the form of correction functions was required to improve the estimated flux loss. The most significant difference found in this report compared to the previous landbased study Horst (2006) is for stable conditions, where significantly less flux loss is found over sea. Two new functions describing the attenuation due to sensor displacement over sea have been constructed. One of these expressions has a discontinuity at z/L = 0. This is supported by measured flux attenuation. A reasonable interpretation is; however, that this discontinuity is caused by two separate turbulence regimes near neutrality on the stable and unstable side respectively. The discontinuity is thus not believed to be an effect merely of stability. A second correction function which is continuous over all stabilities has therefore also been constructed. These two functions and the correction function from Horst (2006) have been compared to measured flux loss. Based on this comparison the continuous correction function is recommended for correcting scalar fluxes measured over sea. It should be noted, however, that this expression only describes the mean attenuation and has been constructed from measurements at 5 and 5.5 m above mean sea level. The theoretical basis used in the development of the function for flux attenuation over land allows for a direct link between a spectral shape and the attenuation expression. This link has been preserved for the new expressions presented in this report. The spectral shape corresponding to the continuous correction function has been compared to measured mean cospectra and also to the cospectra from Horst (2006) corresponding to crosswind displacements. At a height of 10 m and a sensor displacement of 0.2 m the mean flux attenuation is about 1.3-4% in the stability interval −1 < z/L < 1.5 when using the new correction functions presented in this report.