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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Boise, Idaho » Northwest Watershed Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #170769
Title: A deterministic method to characterize canopy radiative transfer properties

Author
item LINK, TIMOTHY - UNIV OF IDAHO
item Marks, Daniel
item HARDY, JANET - US ARMY ERDC

Submitted to: Hydrological Processes
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/28/2004
Publication Date: 9/28/2004
Citation: Link, T., Marks, D., and Hardy, J. 2004. A deterministic method to characterize canopy radiative transfer properties (abstract). Hydrological Processes, Vol 18. pgs 3583-3594.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Investigations of snowcover dynamics beneath vegetation canopies require either measured or estimated solar and thermal radiation values at the snow surface. A deterministic method is presented which uses portable arrays of pyranometers and pyrgeometers to quantify the amount of incoming radiation at the snow surface. Example solar and thermal radiation datasets are presented from boreal deciduous, boreal coniferous and temperate coniferous forest stands. The data indicate that the canopies transmitted 33% (Mar 4-8), 15% (Feb. 6-10), and 3% (Sep. 22-24) of the above-canopy radiation, respectively. In the boreal deciduous and temperate conifer stands, thermal radiation is increased by 25% and 34%, respectively. Thermal gains partially offset solar reduction, such that incoming all-wave radiation is decreased by 22% and 25% for each of these stands, respectively. When recorded at a high temporal resolution, array data can estimate below-canopy diffuse solar radiation values for estimation techniques that treat direct and diffuse transmission independently. We provide examples of how radiometer array data are used to derive simple canopy radiation transmissivity parameters for global, beam and diffuse radiation. Radiometer arrays also provide data for detailed investigations to assess within-stand radiation variability, or to investigate radiation variations across land cover discontinuities, to advance our understanding of snowcover energetics in complex environments.