A method for sensible heat flux model parameterization based on radiometric surface temperature and environmental factors without involving the parameter KB−1

• We propose a new parameterize method for sensible heat flux without KB−1 based on MODIS and meteorological data.
• We test it with data collected from maize and grassland at two locations in Heihe river basin.
• Its performance in estimating the sensible heat compares well to LAS measurements and KB−1 based estimations.

Sensible heat flux is a key component of land–atmosphere interaction. In most parameterizations it is calculated with surface-air temperature differences and total aerodynamic resistance to heat transfer (Rae) that is related to the KB−1 parameter. Suitable values are hard to obtain since KB−1 is related both to canopy characteristics and environmental conditions. In this paper, a parameterize method for sensible heat flux over vegetated surfaces (maize field and grass land in the Heihe river basin of northwest China) was proposed based on the radiometric surface temperature, surface resistance (Rs) and vapor pressures (saturated and actual) at the surface and the atmosphere above the canopy. A biophysics-based surface resistance model was revised to compute surface resistance with several environmental factors. The total aerodynamic resistance to heat transfer is directly calculated by combining the biophysics-based surface resistance and vapor pressures. One merit of this method is that the calculation of KB−1 can be avoided. The method provides a new way to estimate sensible heat flux over vegetated surfaces and its performance compares well to the LAS measured sensible heat and other empirical or semi-empirical KB−1 based estimations.