Date of Award
Summer 2026
Language
English
Embargo Period
7-30-2027
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
College/School/Department
Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences
Program
Atmospheric Science
First Advisor
Scott MIller
Second Advisor
Sarah Lu
Keywords
Eddy covariance, Surface energy balance, New York State Mesonet, Energy balance closure, Land cover
Subject Categories
Atmospheric Sciences
Abstract
The New York State Mesonet (NYSM) Flux Network is composed of 18 eddy covariance sites providing continuous 30-minute flux data since 2018 across New York landscapes. This study develops a quality control framework for the network, evaluates surface energy budget closure and the influence of land cover heterogeneity, and examines how anthropogenic activity shapes surface-atmosphere exchange. To date, the network has been registered with AmeriFlux to share these observations with the broader flux community, and its QC and storage pipelines have been automated to support real-time applications such as model performance comparisons and ecosystem monitoring.
Using over 120 site-years of observations, the analysis evaluates surface energy budget closure, the influence of land cover heterogeneity on turbulent fluxes, and anthropogenic controls on surface-atmosphere exchange. Following multiple iterations of quality control, the network achieved a mean bulk closure of 0.82±0.11, consistent with other eddy covariance networks. Including ground heat storage and QC procedures improved daytime closure by 5.0% relative to raw data, with the largest gains in winter (roughly 10%); closure was highest in summer (74.3%) and lowest in winter (48.5%).
Flux footprints, calculated for every 30-minute period using the Flux Footprint Prediction (FFP) model (Kljun et al. 2015) and combined with National Land Cover Database (NLCD) land cover classifications, were used to compute a normalized Shannon entropy heterogeneity score. Median daytime closure decreased with increasing footprint heterogeneity across the 15 non-urban sites, with homogeneous agricultural sectors showing the largest fluxes and highest closure and developed sectors showing lower fluxes and reduced closure. Several case studies examine how anthropogenic activity shapes surface-atmosphere exchange in addition to flux footprint and land cover controls.
License
This work is licensed under the University at Albany Standard Author Agreement.
Recommended Citation
Glodzik, Anna, "State of the Flux: Surface-Atmosphere Exchange Across the New York State Mesonet Flux Network" (2026). Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present). 524.
https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/etd/524