Two energy balance closure approaches： applications and comparisons over an oasis-desert ecotone

Studies of energy balance that rely on eddy covariance（EC） are always challenged by energy balance closure, which is mainly caused by the underestimations of latent heat flux（LE） and sensible heat flux（Hs）. The Bowen ratio（BR） and energy balance residual（ER） approaches are two widely-used methods to correct the LE. A comprehensive comparison of those two approaches in different land-use types is essential to accurately correcting the LE and thus improving the EC experiments. In this study, two energy balance approaches（i.e., BR and ER） were compared to correct the LE measured at six EC sites（i.e., three vegetated, one mixed and two non-vegetated sites） in an oasis-desert ecotone of the Heihe River Basin, China. The influences of meteorological factors on those two approaches were also quantitatively assessed. Our results demonstrated that the average energy closure ratio（（LE＋Hs）/（Rn–Gs）; where Rn is the surface net radiation and Gs is the surface soil heat flux） was approximately close to 1.0 at wetland, maize and village sites, but far from 1.0 at orchard, Gobi and desert sites, indicating a significant energy imbalance at those three latter sites. After the corrections of BR and ER approaches that took into account of soil heat storage, the corrected LE was considerably larger than the EC-measured LE at five of six EC sites with an exception at Gobi site. The BR and ER approaches yielded approximately similar corrected LE at vegetated and mixed sites, but they generated dissimilar results at non-vegetated sites, especially at non-vegetated sites with low relative humidity, strong wind, and large surface-air temperature difference. Our findings provide insight into the applicability of BR and ER approaches to correcting EC-based LE measurements in different land-use types. We recommend that the BR-corrected and ER-corrected LE could be seriously reconsidered as validation references in dry and windy areas.

An Assessment of Storage Terms in the Surface Energy Balance of a Subalpine Meadow in Northwest China

The heat storage terms in the soil-vegetation-atmosphere system may play an important role in the surface energy budget.In this paper,we evaluate the heat storage terms of a subalpine meadow based on a ficld experiment conducted in the complex terrain of the eastern Qilian Mountains of Northwest China and their impact on the closure of the surface energy balance under such non-ideal conditions.During the night, the average sum of the storage terms was -5.5 W m,which corresponded to 10.4%of net radiation.The sum of the terms became positive at 0730 LST and negative again at about 1500 LST,with a maximum value of 19 W mobserved at approximately 0830 LST.During the day,the average of the sum of the storage terms was 6.5 W m,which corresponded to 4.0%of net radiation.According to the slopes obtained when linear regression of the net radiation and partitioned fluxes was forced through the origin,there is an imbalance of 14.0%in the subalpine meadow when the storage terms are not considered in the surface energy balance.This imbalance was improved by 3.4%by calculating the sum of the storage terms.The soil heat storage flux gave the highest contribution(1.59%),while the vegetation enthalpy change and the rest of the storage terms were responsible for improvements of 1.04%and 0.77%,respectively.

The Impact of Soil Freezing/Thawing Processes on Water and Energy Balances

A frozen soil parameterization coupling of thermal and hydrological processes is used to investigate how frozen soil processes affect water and energy balances in seasonal frozen soil. Simulation results of soil liquid water content and temperature using soil model with and without the inclusion of freezing and thawing processes are evaluated against observations at the Rosemount field station. By comparing the simulated water and heat fluxes of the two cases, the role of phase change processes in the water and energy balances is analyzed. Soil freezing induces upward water flow towards the freezing front and increases soil water content in the upper soil layer. In particular, soil ice obviously prevents and delays the infiltration during rain at Rosemount. In addition, soil freezingthawing processes alter the partitioning of surface energy fluxes and lead the soil to release more sensible heat into the atmosphere during freezing periods.

Contrasting Characteristics of the Surface Energy Balance between the Urban and Rural Areas of Beijing

A direct comparison of urban and rural surface energy balances, as well as a variety of other variables including incoming shortwave/longwave radiation and aerosol optical depth, is conducted for the Beijing metropolitan area. The results indicate that, overall, the urban area receives a smaller amount of incoming shortwave radiation but a larger amount of incoming longwave radiation. However, comparisons in the aerosol optical depth and cloud fraction at the two locations suggest that neither aerosol optical depth nor cloud fraction alone can explain the difference in the incoming shortwave radiation. The urban–rural differences in the incoming longwave radiation are unlikely to be caused by the presence of more abundant greenhouse gases over the urban area, as suggested by some previous studies, given that water vapor is the most dominant greenhouse gas and precipitable water is found to be less in urban areas. The higher incoming longwave radiation observed over the urban area is mostly likely due to the higher temperatures of the ambient air. The urban area is also found to always produce higher sensible heat fluxes and lower latent heat fluxes in the growing season. Furthermore, the urban area is associated with a larger amount of available energy（the sum of sensible and latent heat fluxes） than the rural area, except in May and October when evapotranspiration in the rural area significantly exceeds that in the urban area. This study provides observational evidence of urban–rural contrasts in relevant energy-balance components that plausibly arise from urban–rural differences in atmospheric and land-surface conditions.

Effect of reduced energy density of close-up diets on dry matter intake,lactation performance and energy balance in multiparous Holstein cows

Energy intake prepartum is critically important to health, milk performance, and profitability of dairy cows. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of reduced energy density of dose-up diets on dry matter intake （DMI）, lactation performance and energy balance （EB） in multiparous Holstein cows which were housed in a free-stall barn and fed for ad libitum intake. Thirty-nine dry cows were blocked and assigned randomly to three groups fed a high energy density diet [HD, n = 13; 6.8 MJ of net energy for lactation （NEL）/kg; 14.0% crude protein （CP） ], or a middle energy density diet （MD, n = 13; 6.2 MJ NEh/kg; 14.0% CP）, or a low energy density diet （LD, n = 13; 5.4 MJ NEh/kg; 14.0% CP） from d 21 before expected day of calving. After parturition, all cows were fed the same lactation diet to d 70 in milk （DIM）. The DMI and NEE intake prepartum were decreased by the reduced energy density diets （P 〈 0.05）. The LD group consumed 1.3 last 24 h before calving. The milk yield and the postpartum kg/d （DM） more diet compared with HD group in the DMI were increased by the reduced energy density diet prepartum （P 〈 0.05）. The changes in BCS and BW prepartum and postpartum were not affected by prepartum diets HD group had higher milk fat content and lower lactose content compared with LD group during the first 3 wk of lactation （P 〈 0.05）. The energy consumption for HD, MD and LD groups were 149.8%, 126.2% and 101.1 % of their calculated energy requirements prepartum （P 〈 0.05）, and 72.7%, 73.1% and 7.5.2% during the first 4 wk postpartum, respectively. In conclusion, the low energy density prepartum diet was effective in controlling NF_L intake prepartum, and was beneficial in increasing DMI and milk yield, and alleviating negative EB postpartum.

Radiation and energy balance on a hillslope forest: horizontal versus slope-parallel installation of radiometer

Radiation is a major driver to the carbon,water, and energy exchanges of an ecosystem. For local radiation balance measurements, one essential question is whether the measurement systems should be installed horizontally or parallel to inclined slope surface. With a case study over a temperate deciduous forest on a moderate inclined(9°) northwest-facing slope, we quantified the slope effect on net radiation(Rn) and its components and the energy balance closure measured by an eddy covariance(EC) system.Compared with the slope-parallel radiometer, the horizontal sensor overestimated the incident solar radiation(SR) by 7%, the incoming photosynthetically active radiation(PAR) by 1.5%, and the incoming near-infrared radiation(NIR) by 10%;while underestimated the reflected shortwave radiation(SR)by 4% and NIR by 5%. The influence of radiometerorientation on incoming longwave radiation(LR) was about 3%, while that on outgoing LR was negligible.Summing all these components, horizontal sensor overestimated the Rn by 9%. Converting the horizontally-measured incident radiation to slopesurface reduced a half of the biases on incoming SR and Rn. Measuring the Rn with slope-parallel radiometer and correcting the slope-effect on horizontally-measured incident SR improved the energy balance ratio(EBR) by 8% and 5%,respectively. A mini-review indicated that, the horizontal sensor underestimated(overestimated) the EBR on north-facing(south-facing) slopes in temperate zone in the Northern Hemisphere, with an inclination angular sensitivity of EBR as high as 1.17%per degree of inclination angle. We recommend measuring radiations on inclined terrains with slopeparallel radiometers, or correcting at least for the incident SR in energy balance studies.

Energy Balance in DC Arc Plasma Melting Furnace

In order to treat hazardous municipal solid waste incinerator＇s （MSWI） fly ash, a new DC arc plasma furnace was developed. Taking an arc of 100 V/1000 A DC as an example, the heat transfer characteristics of the DC arc plasma, ablation of electrodes, heat properties of the fly ash during melting, heat transfer characteristics of the flue gas, and heat loss of the furnace were analyzed based on the energy conservation law, so as to achieve the total heat information and energy balance during plasma processing, and to provide a theoretical basis for an optimized design of the structure and to improve energy efficiency.

Analysis of hohlraum energetics of the SG series and the NIF experiments with energy balance model

The basic energy balance model is applied to analyze the hohlraum energetics data from the Shenguang(SG)series laser facilities and the National Ignition Facility(NIF)experiments published in the past few years.The analysis shows that the overall hohlraum energetics data are in agreement with the energy balance model within 20%deviation.The 20%deviation might be caused by the diversity in hohlraum parameters,such as material,laser pulse,gas filling density,etc.In addition,the NIF's ignition target designs and our ignition target designs given by simulations are also in accordance with the energy balance model.This work confirms the value of the energy balance model for ignition target design and experimental data assessment,and demonstrates that the NIF energy is enough to achieve ignition if a 1D spherical radiation drive could be created,meanwhile both the laser plasma instabilities and hydrodynamic instabilities could be suppressed.

A Diagnostic Approach towards the Causes of Energy Balance Closure Problem

Hydrometeorological models are often evaluated and optimized on the basis of micrometeorological measurements. However, it has been known for more than three decades that surface measurements of sensible and latent heat energy (LE) are systematically underestimated. We studied this problem using six years of eddy-correlation measurements for four fields (corn, soybean, and prairie) in central Iowa, USA. We recorded major components of the energy equation (i.e. net radiation, sensible heat flux, LE, and soil heat flux, photosynthesis), and indirectly estimated most of the minor components of energy balance (namely storage in the soil, canopy and air). Storage in the canopy was related to leaf area index (LAI) acquired from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS). In this paper, a diagnostic approach is investigated where systematic error is identified first. Three dimensional (3D) plots of the residual of energy equation vs. potential variables indicated the imbalance was largest mainly during the cold non-growing season when the soil was dry. Correlations between energy balance residual (EBR) and energy components showed that soil storage was not precisely estimated. Finally, an a-posteriori analysis (constrained linear multiple regression (CMLR)) was conducted to quantify the contribution of major/minor components of the energy equation towards EBR. The result highlights that the contribution of pertinent components of energy to EBR is mainly controlled by prevailing monthly hydrometeorological conditions;however, precise quantification of causes of imbalance is site-specific. A comparison between the a-posteriori analysis technique and the Bowen-ratio method demonstrates that the Bowen-ratio basically presumes a higher level of underestimation in LE. The results obtained in this study suggest that a-posteriori analysis may offer a superior methodology to correct measured eddy-correlation measurements. Furthermore, the overall trends in the correction of LE measurements suggest that there is a potential for rough monthly corrections of LE, irrespective of the type of crop.

An analysis approach of mass and energy balance in a dual-reactor circulating fluidized bed system

An analysis approach considering gas-solids hydrodynamics,reaction kinetics and reacting species nonuniformity together in a dual-reactor system is presented for better understanding its mass and energy balance.It was achieved by a 3-dimensional comprehensive hydrodynamics and reaction model for the dual-reactor system,which was developed from the successfully verified 3-dimensional comprehensive combustion model for one circulating fluidized bed(CFB)system(Xu and Cheng,2019).The developed model and analysis approach was successfully used on a 1 MW circulating fluidized bed–bubbling fluidized bed(CFB-BFB)dual-reactor system.Results showed the sensible and chemical energy between two reactors as well as the energy distributions in each reactor were balanced and they agreed well with the experimental measurements.The analysis approach indicated energy balance had a close relationship with the mass transfer in the CFB-BFB dual-reactor system.It may be applied in a design and operation optimization for a dual-reactor system.

Impacts of Systematic Precipitation Bias on Simulations of Water and Energy Balances in Northwest America

At high latitudes and in mountainous areas, evaluation and validation of water and energy flux simu-lations are greatly affected by systematic precipitation errors. These errors mainly come from topographic effects and undercatch of precipitation gauges. In this study, the Land Dynamics （LAD） land surface model is used to investigate impacts of systematic precipitation bias from topography and wind-blowing on water and energy flux simulation in Northwest America. The results show that topographic and wind adjustment reduced bias of streamflow simulations when compared with observed streamflow at 14 basins. These systematic biases resulted in a -50%-100% bias for runoff simulations, a -20%-20% bias for evapotranspiration, and a -40%-40% bias for sensible heat flux, subject to different locations and adjustments, when compared with the control run. Uncertain gauge adjustment leads to a 25% uncertainty for precipitation, a 20% 100% uncertainty for runoff simulation, a less-than-10% uncertainty for evapotranspiration, and a less-than-20% uncertainty for sensible heat flux.

A two-dimensional energy balance climate model on Mars

A two-dimensional energy balance climate model has been built to investigate the climate on Mars.The model takes into account the balance among solar radiation,longwave radiation,and energy transmission and can be solved analytically by Legendre polynomials.With the parameters for thermal diffusion and radiation processes being properly specified,the model can simulate a reasonable surface atmospheric temperature distribution but not a very perfect vertical atmospheric temperature distribution compared with numerical results,such as those from the Mars Climate Database.With varying solar radiation in a Martian year,the model can simulate the seasonal variation of the air temperature on Mars.With increasing dust content,the Martian atmosphere gradually warms.However,the warming is insignificant in the cold and warm scenarios,in which the dust mixing ratio varies moderately,whereas the warming is significant in the storm scenario,in which the dust mixing ratio increases dramatically.With an increasing albedo value of either the polar cap or the non-ice region,Mars gradually cools.The mean surface atmospheric temperature decreases moderately with an increasing polar ice albedo,whereas it increases dramatically with an increasing non-ice albedo.This increase occurs because the planetary albedo of the ice regions is smaller than that of the non-ice region.

Productivity and energy balance of forest plantation harvesting in Uganda

The study evaluated the productivity and energy balance of the harvesting and the extraction of wood in plantation of exotic tree species, i.e., Pinus patula （Schiede ex Schlectendahl et Chamisso） and Cupressus lusitanica （Mill.）. The harvesting and extraction operations concerned clear-cut felling on two different types of terrain （gentle and steep terrain） and two levels of prun- ing. The results show that cutting is not affected by the terrain gradient whereas the pruning condition shows a significant effect on the delimbing operation. The productivity of cutting is evaluated at 28.1 m3.d-1 for unpruned trees and at 30.2 m3.d t for pruned trees. For the extraction phase, rolling was significantly affected by terrain conditions. On steep terrain, the gross productivity can be evaluated at 22.5 m3.d 1 for an extraction distance of 40 m, while for the same distance on gentle terrain the productivity decreases to 14.1 m3.d~. As a result, the steep terrain condition showed higher energy efficiency, suggesting that it is the more efficient system of extraction. The productivity model and the energy balance resulting from the study provide a better understanding of the variables af- fecting motor-manual cutting and rolling extraction in exotic plantations in Uganda.

The Energy Balance of Plasma in a Coaxial Plasma Opening Switch

The two-dimensional energy balance in a coaxial plasma opening switch （POS） is studied based on the single-fluid magnetohydrodynarnic （MHD） equations coupled with the generalized Ohm＇s law. The energy transfers between the plasma and the magnetic field are considered during the penetration of the magnetic field as the Ohmic heating is included in the energy-balance equation. The focus is on the energy partition between the magnetic-field energy and the dissipated magnetic-field energy in a high-density POS with different rise-in-time electric currents at the generator boundary. The simulation code is tested in two cases： the constant-in-time current case and the linear rise-in-time current case. For the sinusoidally rise-in-time current similar to that of the experiments, it is shown that at the end of the conduction phase the dissipated magnetic-field energy is 36.5% of the input electromagnetic energy, which is consistent with the experimental results.

Surface energy balance of Keqicar Glacier, Tianshan Mountains, China, during ablation period

The meteorological data of ablation season in 2005 were recorded by two automatic weather stations on Keqicar Glacier, in the southwest Tianshan Mountains of China. One is operated on the glacier near the equilibrium line with an altitude of 4,265 m （Site A） and another is operated on the glacier ablation area with an altitude of 3,700 m （Site B）. These data were used to analyze the meteorological conditions and the surface energy balance （SEB） of Keqicar Glacier. Net radiation was directly measured, and turbulent heat fluxes were calculated using the bulk aerodynamic approach, including stability correction. The ablation value of 0.68 m w.e. derived from four ablation stakes is in close correspondence to the modeled value of 0.71 m w.e. During the observation period, net radiation accounts for 81.4% of the total energy with its value of 63.3 W/m2. The rest energy source is provided by the sensible heat flux with a value of 14.4 W/m2. Energy is consumed mainly by melting and evaporation, accotmting for 69.5% and 29.7% of the total energy with their values of 54.0 and 23.0 W/m2, respectively. Radiative energy dominates energy exchanges at the glacier-atmosphere interface, governed by the variation in net shortwave radiation. Net short-wave radiation varies significantly due to the effects of cloudiness and the high albedo caused by solid precipitation. Wind speed influences the turbulent heat fluxes distinctively and sensible heat flux and latent heat flux are much larger in July with high wind speed.

Diagnosis of Kinetic Energy Balance of a Decaying Onland Typhoon

Diagnostic analysis of the balance of kinetic energy (KE) is made for a decaying onland typoon, its external torrential rain area and environment. Results show that, besides low-level frictional dissipation as an energy sink, upper-level horizontal export of KE is another important one for the typhoon. In its decaying KE grows in the external torrential rain area, and the KE production term Gk represents the chief energy source for the torrential rain. The growth of Gk is attributed to the development of the heavy rain and to the heating effect of released latent heat, and the external torrential rain owes its evolution to the exported KE from the strong windbelt in the east of the typhoon and the conversion of synoptic KE into mesoscale perturbation KE. The development of the torrential rain results in the KE feedback to its environment. The KE transfer from the typhoon to the external torrential rain area and then to the environmental region as a mechanism constitutes one of the causes for the rapid disintegration of the tempest.

Absence of the Impact of the Flux of Cosmic Rays and the Cloud Cover on the Energy Balance of the Earth

The energy of solar radiation absorbed by the Earth,as well as the thermal radiation of the Earth’s surface,which is released to the space through the atmospheric transparency window,depends on variations of the area of the cloud cover.Svensmark et al.suggest that the increase in the area of the cloud cover in the lower atmosphere,presumably caused by an increase in the flux of galactic cosmic rays during the quasi-bicentennial minimum of solar activity,results only in an increase in the fraction of the solar radiation reflected back to the space and weakens the flux of the solar radiation that reached the Earth surface.It is suggested,without any corresponding calculations of the variations of the average annual energy balance of the EarthЕ,that the consequences will include only a deficit of the solar energy absorbed by the Earth and a cooling of the climate up to the onset of the Little Ice Age.These suggestions ignore simultaneous impact of the opposite aspects of the increase in the area of the cloud cover on the climate warming.The latter will result from a decrease in the power of thermal radiation of the Earth’s surface released to the space,and also in the power of the solar radiation reflected from the Earth’s surface,due to the increase in their absorption and reflection back to the surface.A substantial strengthening in the greenhouse effect and the narrowing of the atmospheric transparency window will also occur.Here,we estimate the impact of all aspects of possible long-term 2%growth of the cloud cover area in the lower atmosphere byЕ.We found that an increase in the cloud cover area in the lower atmosphere will result simultaneously both in the decrease and in the increase in the temperature,which will virtually compensate each other,while the energy balance of the Earth E before and after the increase in the cloud cover area by 2%will stay essentially the same:E1-E0≈0.

An Energy Balance Simulation of the Universe

We have developed an energy balance equation for the universe. The two system parameters involved in the equation could be “fine-tuned” so that the predicted temperature histories all lead to what is observed in the present cosmic microwave background. We have shown that various combinations of these two parameters are possible;in particular, the present background temperature needs not be the remnant of a very hot temperature in the far distance past. We also solved for the propagation of vortex solitons in optical fibres as contrasting examples to show how electromagnetic wave could be transmitted in a particular waveform under strictly controlled conditions. To avoid singularity, all vortexes have a black centre. We conclude that while numerical techniques can be used to account for an infinite quantity, it is unlikely that such a quantity could exist in reality.

Unveiling evapotranspiration patterns and energy balance in a subalpine forest of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau:observations and analysis from an eddy covariance system

Evapotranspiration is an important parameter used to characterize the water cycle of ecosystems.To under-stand the properties of the evapotranspiration and energy balance of a subalpine forest in the southeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,an open-path eddy covariance system was set up to monitor the forest from November 2020 to October 2021 in a core area of the Three Parallel Rivers in the Qing-hai-Tibet Plateau.The results show that the evapotranspira-tion peaked daily,the maximum occurring between 11:00 and 15:00.Environmental factors had significant effects on evapotranspiration,among them,net radiation the greatest(R^(2)=0.487),and relative humidity the least(R^(2)=0.001).The energy flux varied considerably in different seasons and sensible heat flux accounted for the main part of turbulent energy.The energy balance ratio in the dormant season was less than that in the growing season,and there is an energy imbalance at the site on an annual time scale.

Comparison of mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic digestions of thermal hydrolysis pretreated swine manure: Process performance,microbial communities and energy balance

Anaerobic digestion (AD) of swine manure (SM) commonly shows low biogas output and unsatisfactory economic performance. In this study, thermophilic AD (TAD, 50±1℃) was combined with thermal hydrolysis pretreatment (THP, 170℃/10 bar), to investigate its potential for maximizing biogas yield, securing successful digestion and microbial diversity, as well as improving energy balance. Four lab-scale continuously stirred tank reactors were operated for 300 days and compared with each other, i.e., reactor 1 (raw SM fed in mesophilic AD:RSM-MAD), reactor 2 (THP-treated SM fed in MAD:TSM-MAD), reactor 3 (RSM-TAD),and reactor 4 (TSM-TAD). The results showed that THP was efficient to increase methane production of SM, TSM-TAD mode led to the highest methane yield (129.8±40.5 mL-CH_(4)/gVS/day) among the tests (p <0.05). Although TAD was more likely to induce free ammonia (> 700 mg/L) or volatile fatty acids (> 6000 mg/L) accumulation compared with MAD in start-up phase, TSM-TAD treatment mode behaved a sustainable digestion process in a long-term operation. For TSM-TAD scenario, higher Shannon–Weaver (3.873) and lower Simpson index (0.061) indicated this mode ensured and enlarged the diversity of bacteria communities. Phylum Bathyarchaeota was dominant (59.3%-90.0%) in archaea community,followed by Euryarchaeota in the four reactors. RSM-MAD treatment mode achieved the highest energy output (4.65 GJ/day), TSM-TAD was less effective (-17.38 GJ/day) due to increased energy demands. Thus improving the energetic efficiency of THP units is recommended for the development of TSM-TAD treatment mode.