Shelter effects of vegetation belts — Results of field measurements

The results of full-scale measurements of the wind reduction behind four different types of shelterbelts are reported. Two of the shelterbelts in question were of the single-row type. The remaining two consisted of at least two rows of deciduous trees and in both cases some conifers.Wind measurements were made under various weather conditions, both in winter and in summer. The minimum relative wind speed on the lee side varied from ca 0.1 behind the most dense shelterbelt to 0.4 behind the most porous one when the wind was blowing at right angles in summer. In the winter, the shelter effect was much less than in the summer but the two most dense shelterbelts did reduce the wind speed considerably also then.When the wind was blowing at an angle to the shelterbelt, the lee maximum occurred closer to the belt and the wind speed recovered faster than when it blew at right angles. The wind reduction just behind a shelterbelt always tended to be greater in oblique than in perpendicular wind. The wind reduction behind a leafy vegetation belt decreased as the reference wind speed increased. The approach wind speed affected wind reduction much more at a porous shelterbelt than at a dense one.The difference between reference and local wind directions could be great just behind a shelterbelt but this difference disappeared within a few h downstream of the belt. With further increasing distance (up to 4–11h), the wind continued to veer so that the direction became more parallel with the shelterbelt than in the case of the undisturbed wind. Then the wind slowly veered back to the direction of the approaching wind again.The present data give a good idea of the amount of wind reduction which can be expected in the lee of some common types of shelterbelts.