The OASIS98 field project was designed to examine the accuracy of surface flux measurements made by the OASIS Project. This was accomplished during an eight-week field project that used the tower-based components of the NCAR ISFF. Fluxes measured using OASIS instrumentation were compared to the ISFF flux measurements; good agreement was found between the ISFF and OASIS eddy correlation measurements of sensible and latent heat flux. In addition, sensible heat flux estimated using the profile method agreed well with the eddy correlation measurements. Latent heat flux estimated as the residual from the energy balance equation agreed reasonably well with eddy correlation measurements of latent heat flux.

The results from OASIS98 indicate that the surface energy budget can be measured using the Oklahoma Mesonet provided additional instrumentation is added to the existing suite. OASIS98 acted to verify the accuracy of the proposed measurement methods; however, it was not designed to estimate the accuracy of flux measurements at individual Mesonet sites. The latter objective will be accomplished during the OASIS99 field project, planned for the spring of 1999. OASIS99 will again use the NCAR ISFF (Flux PAM) but this time individual Mesonet sites, equipped with OASIS instrumentation, will be tested. This will provide an estimate of the uncertainty associated with flux measurements at individual Mesonet/OASIS sites.