ECV Products and Requirements for Evaporation from Land
These products and requirements reflect the Implementation Plan 2016 (GCOS-200). GCOS is reviewing and will update the requirements until 2022. More information on: gcos.wmo.int.
| PRODUCT | DEFINITION | FREQUENCY | RESOLUTION | REQUIRED MEASUREMENT UNCERTAINTY | STABILITY | STANDARDS/ REFERENCES |
| Latent heat flux | The terrestrial surface latent heat flux refers to the transfer of heat from land to atmosphere that is associated with evaporation, i.e. with the vaporisation of liquid water (transpiration, soil evaporation, or interception loss), and sublimation of ice and snow. | Sub-daily, latency of less than 1 month | Threshold 25km, goal 1km | <10% | Better than 1% | |
| Sensible heat flux1 | The terrestrial surface sensible heat flux refers to the transfer of heat that is caused by the difference in temperature between land and atmosphere. | Sub-daily, latency of less than 1 month | Threshold 25km, goal 1km | <10% | Better than 1% |
1Sensible heat fluxes are not evaporation but have been included for consistency with the way ocean fluxes have been treated and for completing the energy cycle.
