Articles | Volume 15, issue 17
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-5473-2018
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-5473-2018
Research article
 | 
14 Sep 2018
Research article |  | 14 Sep 2018

Eddy covariance flux errors due to random and systematic timing errors during data acquisition

Gerardo Fratini, Simone Sabbatini, Kevin Ediger, Brad Riensche, George Burba, Giacomo Nicolini, Domenico Vitale, and Dario Papale

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Cited articles

Aubinet, M., Vesala, T., and Papale, D.: Eddy Covariance: A Practical Guide to Measurement and Data Analysis, Springer, Dordrecht, the Netherlands, Heidelberg, Germany, London, UK, New York, USA, 460 pp., 2012. 
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Barnes, J. R.: Electronic System Design: Interference and Noise Control Techniques, Prentice-Hall Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, USA, 1987. 
Cheng, Y., Sayde, C., Li, Q., Basara, J., Selker, J., Tanner, E., and Gentine, P.: Failure of Taylor's hypothesis in the atmospheric surface layer and its correction for eddy-covariance measurements, Geophys. Res. Lett., 44, 4287–4295, 2017. 
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Using a simulation study and field data, we quantify the biases that can be introduced in fluxes measured by eddy covariance (EC) if the raw high-frequency data are affected by random and systematic timing misalignments. Our study was motivated by the increasingly widespread adoption of fully digital EC systems potentially subject to such timing errors. We found biases as large as 10 %. We further propose a test to evaluate EC data logging systems for their time synchronization capabilities.
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