Abstract. Scintillometer measurements allow for estimations of the refractive index structure parameter Cn2 over large areas in the atmospheric surface layer. Turbulent fluxes of heat and momentum are inferred through coupled sets of equations derived from the Monin–Obukhov similarity hypothesis. One-dimensional sensitivity functions have been produced that relate the sensitivity of heat fluxes to uncertainties in single values of beam height over homogeneous and flat terrain. However, real field sites include variable topography and heterogeneous surfaces. We develop here the first analysis of the sensitivity of scintillometer derived sensible heat fluxes to uncertainties in spatially distributed topographic measurements. For large-aperture scintillometers and independent friction velocity u* measurements, sensitivity is shown to be concentrated in areas near the center of the beam path and where the underlying topography is closest to the beam height. Uncertainty may be greatly reduced by focusing precise topographic measurements in these areas. A new two-dimensional variable terrain sensitivity function is developed for quantitative error analysis. This function is compared with the previous one-dimensional sensitivity function for the same measurement strategy over flat and homogeneous terrain. Additionally, a new method of solution to the set of coupled equations is produced that eliminates computational error. The results are produced using a new methodology for error analysis involving distributed parameters that may be applied in other disciplines.
Sensitivity of large-aperture scintillometer measurements of area-average heat fluxes to uncertainties in topographic heights
