Canopy structure and cloud water deposition in subalpine coniferous forests

Gary M. Lovett; William A. Reiners

doi:10.3402/tellusb.v38i5.15140

Canopy structure and cloud water deposition in subalpine coniferous forests

Tellus B: Chemical and Physical Meteorology

Volume 38 (1986): Issue 5

By: Gary M. Lovett and William A. Reiners

Open Access

|Jan 1986

Abstract

The relationship between canopy structure and cloud water deposition is explored using a modelling approach applied to subalpine conifer forests in the northeastern US. The zero plane displacement height was found to decrease monotonically with stand thinning, while the roughness length showed a unimodal pattern, peaking at a value of total surface area index (SAI) of about 5. The cloud water deposition velocity also was unimodal, increasing from 28 to 34 cm s^-1 as the simulated stand was thinned from SAI = 13 to SAI = 6, and then decreasing with further thinning. The calculated resistance to cloud water deposition was greater than the resistance to momentum transfer except at very low values of SAI. Evaporation rate also showed a unimodal pattern as a function of SAI, but the pattern was less pronounced than that of cloud water deposition. These results suggest that agents which moderately reduce the SAI of closed forest stands may increase the deposition of cloud water. If some aspect of cloud water deposition causes canopy deterioration in subalpine forests, a positive feedback could occur between the canopy thinning and the cloud water deposition. A calculation of potential deposition on the lee side of gaps in the forest indicates a maximum possible deposition velocity approaching 200 cm s^-1, illustrating the expected heterogeneity of deposition rates across the subalpine landscape.

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Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3402/tellusb.v38i5.15140 | Journal eISSN: 1600-0889

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Language: English

Page range: 319 - 327

Submitted on: Jan 9, 1986

Accepted on: Jun 17, 1986

Published on: Jan 1, 1986

Published by: Stockholm University Press

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

© 1986 Gary M. Lovett, William A. Reiners, published by Stockholm University Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 38 (1986): Issue 5