Experiments using fiber-optical set-ups for distributed temperature sensing (DTS) were conducted in the LIAISE (Land surface Interactions with the Atmosphere over the Iberian Semi-arid Environment) field campaign during 15-30 July 2021 in the north-east of Spain. Three DTS set-ups were installed to measure temperature profiles along varying vertical scales; 1.6 - 40 m in the atmosphere, 0 - 1 m into the rapidly-growing alfalfa canopy and -0.5 - 0 m in the soil. Measurements were conducted at 5 s and 25.4 cm resolutions using a 1.6 mm Kevlar-reinforced fiber. The preliminary data of these three set-ups are described in the first part of this thesis, which display the potential of using DTS in a land surface campaign to capture vertical temperature structure in great detail.
A fourth fiber-optic set-up was installed with a horizontal extent of 70 m, measuring at four heights between 0.40 m and 2.05 m height. A thinner 0.5 mm cable was used here in an effort to obtain the fastest possible time response in order to measure temperature turbulence parameters using DTS. Measurements were made at 1 Hz and 12.7 cm resolution, however the actual sampling frequency appeared to be 0.15 Hz in the temperature spectrum, likely because of the long response time of the cable.
Despite the limited 0.15 Hz sampling rate it was possible to obtain turbulence information through the use of the structure parameter of temperature, C2T
. This parameter indicates the intensity of temperature fluctuations and was calculated over time, as is conventional. In a novel approach, it was also calculated over space, using the spatio-temporal dataset as obtained by DTS. Both the definition of C2T and the inertial range of the temperature spectrum were used to determine C2T. The spatial C2T obtained through
the definition method was found to have the best correlation with a sonic anemometer reference, with an R2 of 0.88. The temporal C2T lack the structure that is shown in the spatial C2T, which is likely due to 30-min averaged data for horizontal wind speed from the sonic anemometer or to Taylor’s frozen turbulence hypothesis not being a suitable assumption within the dimensions of this research. Determining C2T through the turbulent spectrum was successful for limited data points for the time series, and is currently inconclusive for the spatial series.
Recommendations for further research for using DTS in turbulence analysis are to investigate the effect of instrument noise and the limited sampling rate. Also a critical look into the current DTS calibration routines for atmospheric is recommended. This work provides a first step towards using DTS in capturing
turbulent information along spatial temperature series.