The eddy-covariance method applied in a tethered-balloon

Turbulent processes of Atmospheric Boundary Layer contributes the most to transferts between the surface and the atmosphere. Typically turbulent boundary layer parameters are measured by sonic anemometer on the mast and by research aircraft. To describe the evolution of the convective boundary layer between the surface and the top these two methods have several disadvantages, as for exemple, the elevation of the mast which is the greater part of the time less than 100 meters or the cost of deploying a research aircraft for a few hours of observation. This is to measure in-situ turbulent parameters in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer at altitudes above 50 meters that our team have developed a system under tethered balloon since 2010. This system composed of a sonic anemometer and an inertial motion sensor has been validated during three campaigns, one dedicated and two of oportunity with different convective boundary layer conditions. Here we present (1) the system (2) the validation of the sensible heat flux, the momentum flux and the turbulent kinetic energy with the set of data from three field campaigns, and (3) the estimate of the dissipation rate every 10 minutes with this embarked system with the inertial-dissipation method.