The Kipp & Zonen LAS MkII near-infrared optical scintillometer can be easily combined with the RPG MWSC-160 microwave scintillometer to provide direct measurements of both sensible heat flux and latent heat flux (evapotranspiration) averaged over a large area, including over predominantly open water. The MWSC-160 transmitter projects a beam of 160.8 GHz radiation over path lengths from 500 m to 10 km to a receiver with an aperture of 300 mm.
The LAS MkII transmitter and receiver can each be mounted on a RPG double base plate with the MWSC transmitter and receiver. The system operates from 12 VDC.
The LAS transmitter takes power from the MWSC transmitter. The LAS receiver takes power from the MWSC receiver and provides the analog optical signal to it. An all-in-one weather station is mounted on the MWSC receiver to provide the real-time environmental information required for latent heat flux calculations, and there is a GPS receiver for time and location. The MWSC receiver software synchronously digitizes the optical and microwave signals. The receiver can calculate the structure parameters Cn² and the sensible and latent heat fluxes H,LVE and log the measurement data.
The MWSC receiver can be connected by Ethernet to a PC running the RPG software to configure the system and to download data files or to acquire data in real time. This software has comprehensive data processing, visualization and archiving functions.