Bulk Transfer Coefficients Estimated From Eddy-Covariance Measurements Over Lakes and Reservoirs

S. Guseva*, F. Armani, A. R. Desai, N. L. Dias, T. Friborg, H. Iwata, J. Jansen, G. Lükő, I. Mammarella, I. Repina, A. Rutgersson, T. Sachs, K. Scholz, U. Spank, V. Stepanenko, P. Torma, T. Vesala, A. Lorke

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)
16 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The drag coefficient, Stanton number and Dalton number are of particular importance for estimating the surface turbulent fluxes of momentum, heat and water vapor using bulk parameterization. Although these bulk transfer coefficients have been extensively studied over the past several decades in marine and large-lake environments, there are no studies analyzing their variability for smaller lakes. Here, we evaluated these coefficients through directly measured surface fluxes using the eddy-covariance technique over more than 30 lakes and reservoirs of different sizes and depths. Our analysis showed that the transfer coefficients (adjusted to neutral atmospheric stability) were generally within the range reported in previous studies for large lakes and oceans. All transfer coefficients exhibit a substantial increase at low wind speeds (<3 m s−1), which was found to be associated with the presence of gusts and capillary waves (except Dalton number). Stanton number was found to be on average a factor of 1.3 higher than Dalton number, likely affecting the Bowen ratio method. At high wind speeds, the transfer coefficients remained relatively constant at values of 1.6·10−3, 1.4·10−3, 1.0·10−3, respectively. We found that the variability of the transfer coefficients among the lakes could be associated with lake surface area. In flux parameterizations at lake surfaces, it is recommended to consider variations in the drag coefficient and Stanton number due to wind gustiness and capillary wave roughness while Dalton number could be considered as constant at all wind speeds.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere2022JD037219
JournalJournal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
Volume128
Issue number2
Number of pages20
ISSN2169-897X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 27 Jan 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023. The Authors.

Keywords

  • bulk transfer coefficients
  • eddy-covariance
  • lakes
  • reservoirs

Cite this