Seeing the Fields and Forests: Application of Surface-Layer Theory and Flux-Tower Data to Calculating Vegetation Canopy Height
2016
Pennypacker, Samuel | Baldocchi, Dennis
Canopy height is an important and dynamic site variable that affects the mass and energy exchanges between vegetation and the atmosphere. We develop a method to estimate canopy height routinely, using surface-layer theory and turbulence measurements made from a collection of flux towers. This tool is based on connecting the logarithmic wind profile generally expected in a neutral surface layer with direct measurements of friction velocity and assumptions about canopy height’s relationships with zero-plane displacement and aerodynamic roughness length. Tests over a broad range of canopy types and heights find that calculated values are in good agreement with direct measurements of canopy height, including in a heterogeneous landscape. Based on the various uncertainties associated with our starting assumptions about canopy micrometeorology, we present a blueprint for future work that is necessary for expanding and improving these initial calculations.
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