Estimation of surface energy fluxes in the permafrost region of the Tibetan Plateau based on in situ measurements and the surface energy balance system model

The surface energy balance is a key issue in land surface process research and important for studies of climate and hydrology. In this paper, the surface energy fluxes (net radiation, ground heat flux, sensible heat flux and latent heat flux) at the Tanggula (TGL) and Xidatan (XDT) sites were measured and the distributions of the regional surface energy fluxes on the Tibetan Plateau were obtained using a revised surface energy balance system (SEBS) model. The results show that the surface energy fluxes have obvious seasonal variations. At both sites, the sensible heat flux is highest in spring and lowest in summer, and the latent heat flux is highest in summer and lowest in winter. The high elevation, snow cover, freeze-thaw process, precipitation, vegetation and soil texture are important influencing factors for land surface energy fluxes. The time-phase difference between the net radiation and ground heat flux for bare soils is estimated to be 2-3 hr. The ratio of ground heat flux and net radiation ranged from approximately 0.18 to 0.33, and a parameterization scheme for the remote sensing of ground heat flux over the Tibetan Plateau bare soil in summer is developed. The simulation results of the regional surface energy fluxes show that the distributions of surface parameters, such as vegetation, soil texture and soil moisture content, are important for understanding regional changes in the surface energy fluxes.