Application of NIFTI Method for Field Measurement of Turbulent Fluxes

Abstract

Evaluation of turbulent fluxes at the air-sea interface is an essential problem in the study of air-sea interation. For the measurement of turbulent fluxes, the eddy correlation method is the most accurate practical method. However, its application is often technically limited, because it requires intricate instrumentation, stable platform and large amount of computation in data processing. Therefore, simple but satiscaftory accurate means of turbulent flux estimation have been required to detect flux distributions over a wide area. NIFTI (Near Isotropic Flux Turbulence Instrumentation) proposed by Hicks and Dyer is instrumentation along this line. However, only its basic theory has been published and no practical examples have been shown. Therefore, the present author has developed a practical method to apply this new method by the use of nomographs. This method has proved to have satisfactory accuracy to estimate turbulent fluxes through a field experiment by the present author over Lake Biwa.