Latent and sensible heat fluxes from lake water surfaces
The latent heat flux and evaporation from lakes are predicted to increase in a warming climate. This model script (written in Matlab) estimates latent and sensible heat fluxes from lake water surfaces.
It uses air temperature, water surface temperature, air pressure, relative humidity, wind speed and sensor height for wind speed as input data. The model accounts for atmospheric stability of the surface boundary layer through the stability functions and includes the effects of changes in the roughness length of vapor and the roughness length of temperature. The roughness length of momentum accounts for smooth flow, and air density is adjusted for air temperature and air pressure. The model can be used to track changes in surface heat fluxes at any time scale.
The methods were published in full in Verburg, P., and J.P. Antenucci. 2010. J. Geophys. Res. 115, D11109, doi:10.1029/2009JD012839.
Contact Piet Verburg (p.verburg@niwa.co.nz) for more information.