Impact of large-scale advection on regional heat flux estimation over patchy agricultural land

This paper attempted to constrain regional heat fluxes simulated by an atmospheric mesoscale model using the convective boundary layer (CBL) budget method and flux tower data over a mosaic of farmland. In tower footprint scales, the mesoscale model reproduced heat fluxes comparable to the tower measurement. In regional scales, the modeled heat fluxes were consistent with those from the CBL budget method only when the advection inside the CBLwas considered. Our analysis showed that the advection in the CBL, in conjunction with sea-land breeze and heat transport from the inland, played a critical role in estimating regional scale fluxes since the net change of temperature in the CBL was balanced with entrainment in the CBL budget method. However, inconsistent magnitudes and pattern of advection between the model and the CBL budget method hindered us from inferring reliable regional heat fluxes around the site.