LAUSR

AbstractA unique and intensive flux observation matrix was established during May to September of 2012 in an oasis–desert area located in the middle reaches of the Heihe River basin, China. The flux observation matrix included 22 eddy covariance systems belonging to the first thematic experiment of the Heihe Watershed Allied Telemetry Experimental Research (HiWATER) project. The energy balance closure ratio (EBR) was assessed and possible mechanisms were investigated using remote sensing data. The results showed that 1) the EBR was in the range of 0.78–1.04 at all sites with an average EBR of 0.92, and 2) the calculated daily EBR exhibited better performance than the 30-min averages. 3) The heat storage cannot be ignored during the crop growing season. An improvement of approximately 6% in the total closure was found after considering the heat storage terms (canopy and photosynthesis storage) in the energy budget at the maize surface, and the canopy and photosynthesis showed approximately equal contributi...