Publications

Amatya, PM; Ma, YM; Han, CB; Wang, BB; Devkota, LP (2016). Mapping regional distribution of land surface heat fluxes on the southern side of the central Himalayas using TESEBS. THEORETICAL AND APPLIED CLIMATOLOGY, 124(4-Mar), 835-846.

Abstract
Recent scientific studies based on large-scale climate model have highlighted the importance of the heat release from the southern side of the Himalayas for the development of South Asian Summer Monsoon. However, studies related to land surface heat fluxes are nonexistent on the southern side. In this study, we test the feasibility of deriving land surface heat fluxes on the central Himalayan region using Topographically Enhanced Surface Energy Balance System (TESEBS), which is forced by MODIS land surface products and Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) meteorological data. The model results were validated using the first eddy covariance measurement system established in the southern side of the central Himalayas. The derived land surface heat fluxes were close to the field measurements with mean bias of 15.97, -19.89, 8.79, and -20.39 W m(-2) for net radiation flux, ground heat flux, sensible heat flux, and latent heat flux respectively. Land surface heat fluxes show strong contrast in pre monsoon, summer monsoon, post monsoon, and winter seasons and different land surface states among the different physiographic regions. In the central Himalayas, the latent heat flux is the dominant consumer of available energy for all physiographic regions except for the High Himalaya where the sensible heat flux is high.

DOI:
10.1007/s00704-015-1466-2

ISSN:
0177-798X