Spatial Variability of Turbulent Fluxes in the Roughness Sublayer of an Even-Aged Pine Forest

The spatial variability of turbulent flow statistics in the roughness sublayer (RSL) of a uniform even-aged 14 m (= h) tall loblolly pine forest was investigated experimentally. Using seven existing walkup towers at this stand, high frequency velocity, temperature, water vapour and carbon dioxide concentrations were measured at 15.5 m above the ground surface from October 6 to 10 in 1997. These seven towers were separated by at least 100m from each other. The objective of this study was to examine whether single tower turbulence statistics measurements represent the flow properties of RSL turbulence above a uniform even-aged managed loblolly pine forest as a best-case scenario for natural forested ecosystems. From the intensive space-time series measurements, it was demonstrated that standard deviations of longitudinal and vertical velocities (_u, _w) and temperature (_T) are more planar homogeneous than their vertical flux of momentum (u_* ²) and sensible heat (H) counterparts. Also, the measured H is more horizontally homogeneous when compared to fluxes of other scalar entities such as CO₂ and water vapour. While the spatial variability in fluxes was significant (>15 %), this unique data set confirmed that single tower measurements represent the canonical structure of single-point RSL turbulence statistics, especially flux-variance relationships. Implications to extending the moving-equilibrium hypothesis for RSL flows are discussed. The spatial variability in all RSL flow variables was not constant in time and varied strongly with spatially averaged friction velocity u_*, especially when u_* was small. It is shown that flow properties derived from two-point temporal statistics such as correlation functions are more sensitive to local variability in leaf area density when compared to single point flow statistics. Specifically, that the local relationship between the reciprocal of the vertical velocity integral time scale (I_w) and the arrival frequency of organized structures (/h) predicted from a mixing-layer theory exhibited dependence on the local leaf area index. The broader implications of these findings to the measurement and modelling of RSL flows are also discussed.     

Momentum Transfer By A Mountain Meadow Canopy: A Simulation Analysis Based On Massman's (1997) Model

Using a mountain meadow as a case study it is the objective of the present paper todevelop a simple parameterisation for the within-canopy variation of the phytoelementdrag (C_d) and sheltering (P_m) coefficients required for Massman's model of momentum transfer by vegetation. A constant ratio between C_d and P_m is found to overestimate wind speed in the upper canopy and underestimate it in the lower canopy.Two simple parameterisations of C_d/P_m as a function of the plant area density and the cumulative plant area index are developed, using values optimised by least-squares regression between measured and predicted within-canopy wind speeds. A validation with independently measured data indicates that both parameterisations work reliably for simulating wind speed in the investigated meadow. Model predictions of the normalised zero-plane displacement height and the momentum roughness length fall only partly within the range of values given in literature, which may be explained by the accumulation of plantmatter close to the soil surface specific for the investigated canopies. The seasonal course of the normalised zero-plane displacement height and the momentum roughness length are discussed in terms of the seasonal variation of the amount and density of plant matter.     

Storage of water on vegetation under simulated rainfall of varying intensity

Little is understood about how storage of water on forest canopies varies during rainfall, even though storage changes intensity of throughfall and thus affects a variety of hydrological processes. In this study, laboratory rainfall simulation experiments using varying intensities yielded a better understanding of dynamics of rainfall storage on woody vegetation. Branches of eight species generally retained more water at higher rainfall intensities than at lower intensities, but incremental storage gains decreased as rainfall intensity increased. Leaf area was the best predictor of storage, especially for broadleaved species. Stored water ranged from 0.05 to 1.1 mm effective depth on leaves, depending on species and rainfall intensity. Storage was generally about 0.2 mm greater at rainfall intensity 420 mm h⁻¹ than at 20 mm h⁻¹. Needle-leaved branches generally retained more water per leaf area than did branches from broadleaved species, but branches that stored most at lower rainfall intensities tended to accumulate less additional storage at higher intensities. A simple nonlinear model was capable of predicting both magnitude (good model performance) and temporal scale (fair model performance) of storage responses to varying rainfall intensities. We hypothesize a conceptual mechanical model of canopy storage during rainfall that includes the concepts of static and dynamic storage to account for intensity-driven changes in storage. Scaling up observations to the canopy scale using LAI resulted in an estimate of canopy storage that generally agrees with estimates by traditional methods.     

Mapping forest biomass from space – Fusion of hyperspectral EO1-hyperion data and Tandem-X and WorldView-2 canopy height models

Spaceborne sensors allow for wide-scale assessments of forest ecosystems. Combining the products of multiple sensors is hypothesized to improve the estimation of forest biomass. We applied interferometric (Tandem-X) and photogrammetric (WorldView-2) based predictors, e.g. canopy height models, in combination with hyperspectral predictors (EO1-Hyperion) by using 4 different machine learning algorithms for biomass estimation in temperate forest stands near Karlsruhe, Germany. An iterative model selection procedure was used to identify the optimal combination of predictors. The most accurate model (Random Forest) reached a r² of 0.73 with a RMSE of 14.9% (29.4 t/ha). Further results revealed that the predictive accuracy depended highly on the statistical model and the area size of the field samples. We conclude that a fusion of canopy height and spectral information allows for accurate estimations of forest biomass from space.     

北京夏季晴天边界层特征及城市下垫面对海风影响的数值模拟

对耦合了Noah陆面模式和单层城市冠层模式的WRF(Weather Research and Forecasting)模式系统进行了改进和优化,通过对2010年8月6－7日北京地区晴天个例的模拟试验,检验了优化前后模式系统的模拟能力,分析研究了该个例中城市边界层的特征及日变化.另外,使用优化后的模拟系统通过两组敏感性试验研究了京津城市下垫面对海风的影响.结果表明,优化方案能够显著提高模式系统对该个例的模拟性能,模式系统基本能够模拟出北京夏季边界层的日变化特征,精确的地表使用类型分类等地理信息数据对提高模式预报的准确度有着至关重要的作用,京津城市对海风的发展和推进过程有明显影响,能够阻碍海风的推进、加强风场的水平辐合和垂直上升气流,北京城市下垫面还能在海风到达前增加其强度和推进速度,并在海风经过后延缓其消亡、增加其推进距离.     

影响植被内部辐射状况的冠层结构特征研究

植被冠层结构特征是影响植被内部辐射状况的重要因子之一,对于植被群体的光合特性来说,冠层结构特性影响了光合有效辐射的截获、吸收和透射。本文着重分析了冠层结构的数量特征（如叶面积指数）和冠层几何结构特征,综合考虑叶倾角、叶方位角和Ｇ函数等群体几何特征,以便直接用于遥感光合植被生物量机理估测模型的建立。     

The spatial pattern of grasses in relation to tree effects in an arid savanna community: Inferring the relative importance of canopy and root effect

Both aboveground and belowground processes play important roles in tree-grass interactions in savannas. Little consideration has been given to within-site heterogeneity in the strengths of co-occurring canopy and root effects of trees on grasses in savanna communities. Here, we attempted to correlate the spatial pattern of grass morphological traits with the strengths of canopy and root effects. The results from a spatial analysis suggested that the grass traits had lower variability within the operating domain of the root effect than within that of the canopy effect in sub-canopy areas; in contrast, the operating domain of the root effect presented higher variability of grass traits than that of the canopy effect in inter-canopy areas. Combined with root investigations on vertical distribution patterns, these results suggested that the root effect appeared to outweigh the canopy effect in the sub-canopy areas, where apparent vertical root separation between trees and grasses was shown; while the canopy effect could outweigh the root effect in the inter-canopy areas, where root separation was not observed. This study could provide correlative information on the relative importance of canopy and root effects, and has some useful implications on within-site heterogeneity in terms of aboveground and belowground components in savannas.     

The Influence of Local Stability on Heat and Momentum Transfer within Open Canopies

Eddy-covariance data have been analyzed to investigate the influence of local stability on heat transfer within open canopies. The flux–gradient relationship for heat is derived from the temperature variance equation, and the stability dependence of the flux–gradient relationship is examined and discussed. The results indicate that the strong stability dependence of the nondimensional standard deviation of temperature, and the small contributions of turbulent transport to the temperature variance, lead to a strong stability dependence of the nondimensional temperature gradient within open canopies. Quadrant analysis and hole size analysis were performed for momentum and heat fluxes in the subcanopy, and the results indicate that the contribution of each quadrant to the total flux depends on both the local stability and canopy depth. The intermittency of the turbulent flux does not show a clear dependence on local stability. As the contribution of ejections to the heat flux increases, the vertical flux of the temperature variance changes sign from negative to positive, leading to small temperature variance transport in unstable conditions. Multi-resolution analysis indicates that heat and momentum are transported with different dominant time scales in very unstable conditions, suggesting a different role of local buoyancy in heat and momentum transfer.     

An Analytical Model for the Two-Scalar Covariance Budget Inside a Uniform Dense Canopy

The two-scalar covariance budget is significant within the canopy sublayer (CSL) given its role in modelling scalar flux budgets using higher-order closure principles and in estimating the segregation ratio for chemically reactive species. Despite its importance, an explicit expression describing how the two-scalar covariance is modified by inhomogeneity in the flow statistics and in the vertical variation in scalar emission or uptake rates within the canopy volume remains elusive even for passive scalars. To progress on a narrower version of this problem, an analytical solution to the two-scalar covariance budget in the CSL is proposed for the most idealized flow conditions: a stationary and planar homogeneous flow inside a uniform and dense canopy with a constant leaf area density distribution. The foliage emission (or uptake) source strengths are assumed to vary exponentially with depth while the forest floor emission is represented as a scalar flux. The analytical solution is a superposition of a homogeneous part that describes how the two-scalar covariance at the canopy top is transported and dissipated within the canopy volume, and an inhomogeneous part governed by local production mechanisms of the two-scalar covariance. The homogeneous part is primarily described by the canopy adjustment length scale, and the attenuation coefficients of the turbulent kinetic energy and the mean velocity. Conditions for which the vertical variation of the two-scalar covariance is controlled by the rapid attenuation in the mean velocity and turbulent kinetic energy profiles, vis-à-vis the vertical variation of the scalar source strength, are explicitly established. This model also demonstrates how dissimilarity in the emissions from the ground, even for the extreme binary case with one scalar turned ‘on’ and the other scalar turned ‘off’, modifies the vertical variation of the two-scalar covariance within the CSL. To assess its applicability to field conditions, the analytical model predictions were compared with observations made at two different forest types—a sparse pine forest at the Hyytiälä SMEAR II-station (in Finland) and a dense alpine hardwood forest at Lavarone (in Italy). While the model assumptions do not represent the precise canopy morphology, attenuation properties of the turbulent kinetic energy and the mean velocity, observed mixing length, and scalar source attenuation properties for these two forest types, good agreement was found between measured and modelled two scalar covariances for multiple scalars and for the triple moments at the Hyytiälä site.