Bowen ratio
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A Bowen ratio is the ratio of energy fluxes from one medium to another by sensible and latent heating respectively. It is calculated by the equation
, where Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): Q_h is sensible heating and Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): Q_e is latent heating. The quantity was named by Harald Sverdrup after Ira Sprague Bowen (1898–1973), an astrophysicist whose theoretical work on evaporation to air from water bodies made first use of it, and it is used most commonly in meteorology and hydrology. In this context, when the magnitude of Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): B is less than one, a greater proportion of the available energy at the surface is passed to the atmosphere as latent heat than as sensible heat, and the converse is true for values of Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): B greater than one. As Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): {Q_e \rightarrow 0} , however, Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): B becomes unbounded making the Bowen ratio a poor choice of variable for use in formulae, especially for arid surfaces. For this reason the evaporative fraction is sometimes a more appropriate choice of variable representing the relative contributions of the turbulent energy fluxes to the surface energy budget. The Bowen ratio is related to the evaporative fraction, Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): EF , through the equation,
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