User manual

Hukseflux Thermal Sensors
HFP01SC Manual v0811 page 18/33
2 Application in meteorology
In meteorological applications the primary purpose is to measure
the part of the energy balance that goes into the soil. This soil
heat flux in itself is in most cases of limited interest. However,
knowing this quantity, it is possible to “close the balance". In
other words, apply the law of conservation of energy to check
the quality of the other (convective and evaporative) flux
measurements. For more information on meteorological
measurement of heat flux, see the appendix.
The soil heat flux measurement with HFP01SC is the most
accurate solution available.
Figure 2.1 Typical meteorological energy balance measurement
system with HFP01SC (typically 2 pieces) installed under the soil.
In addition to the measurement errors mentioned in the
introduction, the heat flux measurement in meteorology suffers
from the fact that it is spatially variable.
In field experiments it is difficult to find one location that can be
considered to be representative of the whole region. Also
temporal effects of shading on the soil surface can give a false
impression of the heat flux. For this reason typically two sensors
are used for each station, usually at a distance of 5 meters.