Urban and rural dewfall,surface moisture,and associated canopy-level air temperature and humidity measurements for vancouver,canada

Canopy-level humidity is often less at night during fine weather in a mid-latitude city, compared to its rural surroundings. This feature has been attributed, in part, to reduced urban dew, but links are largely unproven, because urban dew data are rare. In this study, surface moisture (i.e., dew + guttation by blotting) and dewfall (by mini-lysimeter) were measured at rural and urban residential sites in Vancouver, Canada, during the summer of 1996. Air temperature and humidity were measured at both sites, and on rural-to-urban vehicle traverses. Weather and location effects were evident. Humidity data suggested the small (< 1 g m^–3) urban moisture excess observed on fine nights was linked to reduced urban dew. For grass, the frequency of moisture events, and surface moisture amounts, were similar for both sites. However, on grass, rural dewfall (mean=0.10 mm per night) was more than urban dewfall (mean=0.07 mm per night). On the other hand, data for a roof lysimeter (mean dewfall=0.12 mm per night) showed that an urban roof could rival rural grass as a favoured location for dewfall in Vancouver.     

On the Measurement of Dewfall and Fog-Droplet Deposition

An observational study has been conducted concerning atmospheric dewfall and fog-droplet deposition with application to the formation and maintenance of fog layers. The relationship between dew and fog is discussed together with the challenges and requirements to measure representative values of their deposition to the surface. A practical instrument developed at the UK Met Office Research Unit, Cardington, is described. The instrument is a small portable device that uses a load cell to measure the weight of a pan upon which various types of natural and artificial canopies can be placed, and can measure dewfall and fog-droplet deposition to an accuracy of 0.0005 mm. Dewfall results from this device are shown for a selection of nights under varying conditions. On a given night the overriding factor determining the amount of dew deposition appears to be location. Several dewmeter devices were placed at different locations around the 18 ha Cardington field site for various clear nights and it was found that dew amounts varied significantly, depending on location: canopies with a more open aspect experienced more deposition by up to a factor of two. The results also suggest that the hygroscopic effect of a canopy, whereby water is absorbed into the canopy and topsoil layer before dew formation begins, is also important for the removal of atmospheric water vapour. Results indicate this effect can be of a similar magnitude to dew deposition. Measurements of fog-droplet deposition showed total water deposition rates did not change when thin radiation fog formed. When optically thick adiabatic fog formed, deposition rates were seen to decrease with time or be generally lower than for thinner radiation fog. Further observations are required to establish if the behaviours found are typical for all fogs.     

Mulching as a means of exploiting dew for arid agriculture?

A traditional mulching technique used in Lanzarote, Canary Islands, allows dry farming as well as pronounced water savings in irrigation. It is known to reduce evaporational losses, but is also supposed to enhance the nocturnal condensation of water vapour from the atmosphere. The mulch layer consists of porous volcanic rock fragments abundantly available on the island. The mulched surface is believed to cool rapidly and to be more hygroscopic than a bare soil surface. This was investigated during a field experiment conducted over 68 nights during different seasons in 2001 and 2002, as well as some simple laboratory measurements. It was found that nocturnal condensation on the mulch surface (max 0.33 mm) was lower than on the bare soil surface (max 0.57 mm) or any one of three alternative mulch substrates. However, a slightly stronger nocturnal cooling of the mulched as compared to the bare surface was present. It is shown that these contrary findings can be explained by the higher hygroscopicity of the dry loam soil, resulting in condensation gains beyond the strict definition of dew. Differences in plant-availability of non-hygroscopic dew water and hygroscopic water uptakes are discussed, and conditions under which mulching would show positive condensation effects are defined. This includes a theoretical section demonstrating that non-hygroscopic mulch layers of a proper thickness can provide small amounts of dew to plant roots at the mulch–soil interface. This condensation could also happen during the day and would be favoured by a high amplitude of the diurnal atmospheric moisture cycle.     

Design of land-air parameterization scheme (LAPS) for modelling boundary layer surface processes

Summary A land-air parametrization scheme (LAPS) describes mass, energy and momentum transfer between the land surface and the atmosphere. The scheme is designed as a software package which can be run as part of an atmospheric model or a stand-alone scheme. A single layer approach is chosen for the physical and biophysical scheme background. The scheme has six prognostic variables: two temperatures (one for the canopy vegetation and one for soil surface), one interception storage, and three soil moisture storage variables. The scheme's upper boundary conditions are: air temperature, water vapour pressure, wind speed, radiation and precipitation at some reference level within the atmospheric boundary layer. The sensible and latent heat are calculated using resistance representation. The evaporation from the bare soil is parametrized using the scheme. The soil part is designed as a three-layer model which is used to describe the vertical transfer of water in the soil.The performances of the LAPS scheme were tested using the results of meteorological measurements over a maize field at the experimental site De Sinderhoeve (The Netherlands). The predicted partitioning of the absorbed radiation into sensible and latent heat fluxes is in good agreement with observations. Also, the predicted leaf temperature agrees quite well with the observed values.With 9 Figures     

Model-based estimates of water loss from “patches” of the understory mosaic of the Hartheim Scots pine plantation

Summary During the Hartheim Experiment (HartX) 1992 conducted in the Upper Rhine Valley, Germany, we estimated water vapor flux from the understory and the forest floor by several methods. At the vegetation patch level, direct estimates were made with small weighing lysimeters, and water loss was scaled-up to the stand level based on vegetation patchtype distribution. At the leaf level, transpiration flux was determined with a CO₂/H₂O porometer for the dominant understory plant species,Brachypodium pinnatum, Carex alba, andCarex flacca. Measured leaf transpiration was scaled-up to patch level with a canopy light interception and leaf gas exchange model, and then to stand level as in the case of lysimeter data, but with further consideration of patchtype leaf area index (LAI). On two days, total understory latent heat flux was estimated by eddy correlation methods below the tree canopy.The understory vegetation was subdivided into five major patch-types which covered 62% of the ground area and resulted in a cumulative LAI of approx. 1.54 when averaged over total stand ground area and compared to the average tree canopy LAI of 2.8. The remaining 38% of ground area was unvegetated bare soil and/or covered by moss (mainly byScleropodium purum) or litter. The evapotranspiration from the understory and unvegetated areas equaled approx. 20% of total forest stand transpiration during the HartX period. The understory vegetation transpired about 0.4 mm d^–1 (13%) estimated over the period of May 13 to 21, whereas evaporation from moss and soil patches amounted 0.23 mm d^–1 (7.0%). On dry, sunny days, total water vapor flux below the tree canopy exceeded 0.66 mm d^–1. Using the transpiration rates derived from the GAS-FLUX model together with estimates of evaporation from moss and soil areas and a modified application of the Penman-Monteith equation, the average daily maximum conductance of the understory and the forest floor was 1.7 mm s^–1 as compared to 5.5 mm s^–1 for the tree canopy.With 6 Figures     

Emission of nitrous oxide from temperate forest soils into the atmosphere

N₂O emission rates were measured during a 13-month period from July 1981 till August 1982 with a frequency of once every two weeks at six different forest sites in the vicinity of Mainz, Germany. The sites were selected on the basis of soil types typical for many of the Central European forest ecosystems. The individual N₂O emission rates showed a high degree of temporal and spatial variabilities which, however, were not significantly correlated to variabilities in soil moisture content or soil temperatures. However, the N₂O emission rates followed a general seasonal trend with relatively high values during spring and fall. These maxima coincided with relatively high soil moisture contents, but may also have been influenced by the leaf fall in autumn. In addition, there was a brief episode of relatively high N₂O emission rates immediately after thawing of the winter snow. The individual N₂O emission rates measured during the whole season ranged between 1 and 92 g N₂O-N m^–2 h^–1. The average values were in the range of 3–11 g N₂O-N m^–2 h^–1 and those with a 50% probability were in the range of 2–8 g N₂O-N m^–2 h^–1. The total source strength of temperate forest soils for atmospheric N₂O may be in the range of 0.7–1.5 Tg N yr^–1.     

黄土高原陆面水分的凝结现象及收支特征试验研究

中国黄土高原是全球独特的地理区域,其陆面水分过程比较特殊。利用黄土高原陆面过程试验研究(LOPEX)的陇中黄土高原定西陆面过程综合观测站的资料,分析了陆面水分凝结现象及其出现频率与局地微气象条件的关系,研究了露水(霜)量及其出现频率的季节分布特征以及受降水和天气阴、晴的影响规律。同时,对比分析了降水、露水、雾水和土壤吸附水对陆面水分的贡献率,讨论了涡动相关法、蒸渗计和蒸发皿观测的陆面蒸发量的差别及其与陆面水分来源的年平衡关系,给出了半干旱区陆面水分平衡的日循环特征。发现露水对风速、大气湿度、近地层温度梯度的依赖很强,一般在风速为1.5 m/s、相对湿度大于80%和逆温强度为0.25℃的情况下露水(霜)量最大;刚降水后的晴天露水量比较大;实际蒸散量与蒸发力的差距十分明显,陆面水分平衡特征表现为一个"呼吸"过程。     

An empirical relationship between temperature,vapour pressure deficit and wind speed and evaporation during a winter chinook

Summary Evaporation rates determined by energy balance and bulk transfer equations and confirmed with soil moisture sampling was regressed against average daytime temperature, vapour pressure deficit and wind speed over several chinook events between 1986 and 1988. The equationE = 0.45 exp (0.35 + 0.025 — 0.133 [e ^* —e]) yielded reasonable estimates of evaporation with surface soil moisture between saturation and near wilting point.E is evaporation in mmd ^–1,T, u ande ^* ande are temperature (°C), wind speed (ms^–1), saturation vapour pressure and vapour pressure (mb) respectively. The overbar denotes daytime average.With 8 Figures     

The conductance of a maize crop and the underlying soil to ozone under various environmental conditions

Flux measurements of ozone and water vapour employing the eddy correlation technique were used to determine the surface conductance and canopy conductance to ozone. In the surface conductance to ozone, all surfaces at which ozone is destroyed and the transport process to these surfaces are included. The canopy conductance to ozone represents the ozone uptake of transpiring plant parts. The surface conductance to ozone of the maize crop and the underlying soil was generally larger than the canopy conductance to ozone. This means that beside the uptake by stomata, there was another important ozone sink. Under wet soil surface conditions, the surface conductance and the canopy conductance to ozone coincided. This indicates that the resistance of wet soil and the remaining plant parts (cuticle) to ozone was much larger than the stomatal or soil resistance. On the other hand, under dry soil conditions the conductances differ, largely caused by a variation in the transport process to the soil. The transport of ozone to soil increased with increasing friction velocity (u _*) and decreased with increasing atmospheric stability, leaf area index (LAI) or crop height (h). These effects for midday (unstable) conditions were parameterized with an in-crop aerodynamic resistance,r _inc in a very straightforward way;r _inc=13.9 LAIh/u _*+67 (cc.=0.77). If the ozone flux in air pollution models is described with a simple resistance model (Big Leaf model), the extra destruction at the soil should be modelled using an in-crop aerodynamic resistance. For these measurements the ozone flux to the soil was 0–65% of the total ozone flux measured above the crop. Under wet soil conditions, this was less than 20%; under dry soil conditions, this was 30–65%.     

The Influence of Advection on the Short Term CO 2 -Budget in and Above a Forest Canopy

An experimental micrometeorological set-up was established at the CARBOEURO-FLUX site in Tharandt, Germany, to measure all relevant variables for the calculation of the vertical and horizontal advective fluxes of carbon dioxide. The set-up includes two auxiliary towers to measure horizontal and vertical CO₂ and H₂O gradients through the canopy, and to make ultrasonic wind measurements in the trunk space. In combination with the long-term flux tower an approximately even-sided prism with a typical side-length of 50 m was established. It is shown that under stable (nighttime) conditions the mean advective fluxes have magnitudes on the same order as the daily eddy covariance (EC) flux, which implies that they play a significant, but not yet fully understood, role in the carbon budget equation. The two advective fluxes are opposite and seem to cancel each other at night (at least for these measurements). During the day, vertical advection tends to zero, while horizontal advection is still present implying a flow of CO₂ out of the control volume. From our measurements, a mean daily gain of 2.2 gC m^–2 d^–1 for the horizontal advection and a mean daily loss of 2.5 gC m^–2d^–1 for the vertical advection is calculated for a period of 20 days. However the large scatter of the advective fluxes has to be further investigated. It is not clear yet whether the large variability is natural or due to measurement errors and conceptual deficiencies of the experiment. Similar results are found in the few comparable studies.     

Deep convective cloud scales and direct adjustment of upper troposphere moisture in TWP environment

Summary A conceptually simple model based on cloud geometry is proposed to explain direct adjustment of moisture by convective clouds. The model is tested using deep convective cloud geometry and changes in upper tropospheric humidity in the Tropical Western Pacific (TWP) during TOGACOARE. The model and the data emphasize the importance of clouds larger than a General Circulation Model (GCM) grid box in drying the upper topospheric environment and in sub grid scale clouds in moistening the upper topospheric environment. The convective cloud sizes and changes in moisture are shown to be linked to precipitation rates. The change from clouds that moisten to clouds that dry the environment occurs when the average cloud size in 6.8×10⁴ km² or rain rate of 2.1 mm hr^–1. In a study of moisture change in the sub cloud layer due to convection, Barnes and Garstang (1982) demonstrated that precipitation rates greater than 2 mm hr^–1 resulted in drying. The critical rain rates above which environmental drying occurs is similar for both upper tropospheric regions and the sub cloud. The similarity of the rain rates indicates that the model concepts maybe used to explain direct adjustment of moisture under a variety of conditions.With 12 Figures     

The structure of the stably stratified internal boundary layer in offshore flow over the sea

Observations obtained mainly from a research aircraft are presented of the mean and turbulent structure of the stably stratified internal boundary layer (IBL) over the sea formed by warm air advection from land to sea. The potential temperature and humidity fields reveal the vertical extent of the IBL, for fetches out to several hundred of kilometres, geostrophic winds of 20–25 m s^–1, and potential temperature differences between undisturbed continental air and the sea surface of 7 to 17 K. The dependence of IBL depth on these external parameters is discussed in the context of the numerical results of Garratt (1987), and some discrepancies are noted.Wind observations show the development of a low-level wind maximum (wind component normal to the coast) and rotation of the wind to smaller cross-isobar flow angles. Potential temperature () profiles within the IBL reveal quite a different structure to that found in the nocturnal boundary layer (NBL) over land. Over the sea, profiles have large positive curvature with vertical gradients increasing monotonically with height; this reflects the dominance of turbulent cooling within the layer. The behaviour is consistent with known behaviour in the NBL over land where curvature becomes negative (vertical gradients of decreasing with height) as radiative cooling becomes dominant.Turbulent properties are discussed in terms of non-dimensional quantities, normalised by the surface friction velocity, as functions of normalised height using the IBL depth. Vertical profiles of these and the normalised wavelength of the spectral maximum agree well with known results for the stable boundary layer over land (Caughey et al., 1979).     

Meteorological results of MONSOON-88 expedition (pre-monsoon period)

Mean atmospheric circulation, moisture budget and net heat exchange were studied during a pre-monsoon period (18th March to 3rd May, 1988), making use of the data collected on board Akademik Korolev in the central equatorial and southern Arabian Sea region. The net heat exchange (R _n ) is found to be about 20 W m^–2 for a small area (0–4° N; 55–60° E), 50% less than the dimatological value. The mean value of net radiation (140 W m^–2) is less than the climatological value, which was due to higher cloud amount. The higher SST enhanced both the latent and sensible heat fluxes.The mean atmospheric circulation obtained from the upper air data is quite convincing. The mean exchange coefficient (C _e ) estimated from the moisture budget is about 1.0 × 10^–3 for a wind speed of 4 m s^–1. This value is slightly lower than that obtained by the usual methods.National Institute of Oceanography, RC, 52-Kirlampudi layout, Visakhapatnam — 530 023.India Meteorological Department, Gauhati.     

Energy balance and transpiration from tussock grassland in New Zealand

The energy balance was measured for the dry canopy of narrow-leaved snow tussock (Chionochloa rigida), and measurements of transpiration were obtained from a large weighing lysimeter.Typical maximum summer transpiration rates of 0.21–0.43 mmhr^-1 (140–290 W m^-2) were recorded. The latent heat flux accounted for less than 40% of net radiation. The estimated value of the bulk stomatal resistance (r _ST) for 29 days was 158 s m^-1, and the decoupling parameter () was 0.17. Transpiration rates were not driven directly by net radiation, but were closely linked to the size of the regional saturation deficit imposed at the level of the canopy by efficient overhead mixing, and were constrained by a large bulk stomatal resistance. A linear relationship between r _ST and the saturation deficit is proposed as a realistic method for estimating transpiration for water yield studies of tussock catchments.     

On the impact of atmospheric thermal stability on the characteristics of nocturnal downslope flows

The impacts of background (or ambient) and local atmospheric thermal stabilities, and slope steepness, on nighttime thermally induced downslope flow in meso- domains (i.e., 20–200 km horizontal extent) have been investigated using analytical and numerical model approaches. Good agreement between the analytical and numerical evaluations was found. It was concluded that: (i) as anticipated, the intensity of the downslope flow increases with increased slope steepness, although the depth of the downslope flow was found to be insensitive to slope steepness in the studied situations; (ii) the intensity of the downslope flow is generally independent of background atmospheric thermal stability; (iii) for given integrated nighttime cooling across the nocturnal boundary layer (NBL), Q _s the local atmospheric thermal stability exerts a strong influence on downslope flow behavior: the downslope flow intensity increases when local atmospheric thermal stability increases; and (iv) the downslope flow intensity is proportional to Q _s ^1/2.     

Characterization of Organic Acids in Dew Collected on Surrogate Surfaces

Levels of formate and acetate in dew were measured at Dayalbagh, India, usingsurrogate surfaces. The dew formed per night ranged between 0.06 lm^–2 and 1.38 l m^–2, with an average of 0.59l m^–2. pH ranged between 6.7 and 7.4. Mean concentrations offormate and acetate in dew were 10.2 ± 10.2 eql^–1 and 7.5 ± 4.5 eq l^–1,respectively. The correlation coefficient between the two ions was 0.80 (p =0.001), which suggested that concentrations of these species in dew are linkedtogether. They have either common or different sources with fairly constantstrengths or products of same reaction. Good correlation of formate andacetate with Ca (r = 0.82 and r = 0.70, respectively) and Mg (r = 0.74 and r= 0.71, respectively) suggested that these ions may be associated with Ca andMg after the neutralization process. Deposition rates for formate and acetatein dew per night were 10.2 ± 7.22 mol m^–2 pernight and 4.6 ± 2.2 mol m^–2 per night,respectively. The theoretical Henry's law constant (K^* _H)and the field-observed Henry's law coefficient (K^* _H) ascalculated from concurrent measurements of gas phase and dew for both acidsshowed large discrepancies of three orders of magnitude.     

Application of the Priestley-Taylor evaporation model to assess the influence of soil moisture on the evaporation from a large weighing lysimeter and class a pan

The influence of soil moisture on evaporation from a 6-m grass-covered lysimeter and from Class A pans was assessed for one summer using the -parameter of the Priestley-Taylor evaporation model appropriate for the individual surfaces computed on a daily basis. Net radiation over the pan was estimated from above-grass measurements using a correlation established between the two, using measurements made in the previous two summers. Changes in heat storage of the water were considered in the derivation of for the pan. A unique relationship for the particular conditions of the site was determined between the for the lysimeter and soil moisture, approaching 1.29 at soil moisture near field capacity, but decreasing to as low as 0.5 for dry soil. The corresponding relationship for the pan showed more scatter, but this was improved by using 5-day running means of evaporation and stratifying the data in terms of wind speed to yield a family of curves. Values for at wet soil conditions varied from 1.07 for 100 km day^–1 wind run to 1.17 for 250 km day^–1 wind run. For each curve, values of increased by about 20%; as the soil dried. The relationships may be used to reduce observed Class A pan evaporation to equivalent values for wet-soil conditions and to estimate near-surface soil moisture and actual evapotranspiration for this particular site. Extension of the technique to other areas requires derivation of similar relationships appropriate for those other locations     

Calibration of a land-surface model using data from primary forest sites in Amazonia

Summary A land-surface model (MOSES) was tested against observed fluxes of heat, water vapour and carbon dioxide for two primary forest sites near Manaus, Brazil. Flux data from one site (called C14) were used to calibrate the model, and data from the other site (called K34) were used to validate the calibrated model. Long-term fluxes of water vapour at C14 and K34 simulated by the uncalibrated model were good, whereas modelled net ecosystem exchange (NEE) was poor. The uncalibrated model persistently underpredicted canopy conductance (g _c ) from mid-morning to mid-afternoon due to saturation of the response to solar radiation at low light levels. This in turn caused a poor simulation of the diurnal cycles of water vapour and carbon fluxes. Calibration of the stomatal conductance/photosynthesis sub-model of MOSES improved the simulated diurnal cycle of g _c and increased the diurnal maximum NEE, but at the expense of degrading long-term water vapour fluxes. Seasonality in observed canopy conductance due to soil moisture change was not captured by the model. Introducing realistic depth-dependent soil parameters decreased the amount of moisture available for transpiration at each depth and led to the model experiencing soil moisture limitation on canopy conductance during the dry season. However, this limitation had only a limited effect on the seasonality in modelled NEE.     

Net carbon dioxide exchange in canopies of burned and unburned tallgrass prairie

Summary Net carbon dioxide exchange (NCE) rates were measured in a tallgrass prairie, a grassland with high productivity, to determine photosynthetic rates of the canopy. Canopy measurements were made in large, plexiglass chambers (1.21 m long; 0.91 m wide; 1.40 m tall) placed on burned and unburned areas of the prairie. The NCE rates of the canopy were compared with those of individual leaves ofAndropogon gerardii Vitman (big bluestem). In addition, CO₂ flux from the soil was quantified and compared with net photosynthetic flux. The canopy NCE rates were generally lower than those made on individual leaves. In mid-summer (11 July 1987), the maximum canopy NCE rates were 55% and 64% of those measured on individual leaves in burned and unburned treatments, respectively. Canopy NCE rates were lower than individual-leaf NCE rates for two reasons. First, the individualleaf measurements were made on young, unshaded, healthy leaves, while the canopy measurements were made on all types of leaves including senescing, shaded, and damaged leaves. Second, soil CO₂ flux into the chambers lowered NCE values. The CO₂ flux from the soil ranged from 7.2% to 28.4% of the total NCE. One needs to add soil CO₂ flux rates to the measured canopy NCE rates to obtain canopy NCE rates closer to individual-leaf NCE rates. Soil CO₂ flux decreased when conditions became dry, reaching a low of 0.06 mg CO₂m^–2s^–1, but increased after rain to 0.16 mg CO₂m^–2s^–1. Also, after rain, when plants were well watered, they were not light saturated at 1 900 µEm^–2s^–1. The NCE rates on the burned treatment were either higher or similar to those on the unburned treatment. For example, on 11 July 1987, NCE rates were higher on the burned treatment (0.66 mg CO₂m^–2s^–1) compared to the unburned treatment (0.47 mg CO₂m^–2s^–1). During the rest of July and August, the rates of the two treatments were not significantly different. But in September and October, the NCE rates were again higher on the burned treatment compared to the unburned treatment. The results indicated that canopy NCE rates may be more indicative of the productivity of the prairie than individual-leaf measurements made only on young, highly productive leaves.Contribution No. 89-82-J from the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station. This research was supported, in part, by Grant No. DE-FG02-84ER60253.A000.With 4 Figures     

Factors affecting the canopy resistance of a Douglas-fir forest

The physiological nature of canopy resistance was studied by comparing the stomatal and canopy resistance of a 10-m high Douglas-fir forest. Stomatal resistance of the needles was measured using porometry, while the canopy resistance was calculated using energy balance/Bowen ratio measurements of evapotranspiration. A typical steady increase in the forest canopy resistance during daytime hours, even at high soil water potentials, was observed. A similar trend in the stomatal resistance indicated that increasing canopy resistance during the daytime was caused by gradually closing stomata. During a dry period when soil water potentials declined from 0 to –10.5 bars, the mean daytime value of canopy resistance increased in proportion to the mean daytime value of the stomatal resistance. Values of canopy resistance calculated from stomatal resistance and leaf area index measurements agreed well with those calculated from energy balance measurements. The dependences of stomatal resistance on light, vapour pressure deficit, twig and soil water potentials art summarized.