Methods of determining approximately the latent and sensible heat flux from free water surfaces

The determination of heat transfer processes on water surfaces, especially due to evaporation - as always a problem in meteorology and oceanography - has gained special importance in recent times because of the large demand at present for cooling water and the thermal pollution plans which have consequently become necessary for open bodies of water. As a result, therefore, an attempt is made to describe the 2 parts of the total heat flux, namely the flow of heat due to evaporation (latent heat flux) and heat conduction (sensible heat flux), which are not easily amenable to direct measurement. These are described in suitable, formally analogous transport equations, from which measuring processes are derived which require only moderate expenditure. (orig.)