Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Turbulent Statistics of Neutrally Stratified Flow Within and Above a Sparse Forest from Large-Eddy Simulation and Field Observations

  • Published:
Boundary-Layer Meteorology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Turbulent statistics of neutrally stratified shear-driven flow within and above a sparse forest canopy are presented from a large-eddy simulation (LES) and compared with those from observations within and above a deciduous forest with similar height and foliage density. First- and second-order moments from the LES agree with observations quite well. Third-order moments from the LES have the same sign and similar vertical patterns as those from the observations, but the LES yields smaller magnitudes of such higher-order moments. Turbulent spectra and cospectra from the LES agree well with observations above the forest. However, at the highest frequencies, the LES spectra have steeper slopes than observations. Quadrant and conditional analyses of the LES resolved-scale flow fields also agree with observations. For example, both LES and observation find that sweeps are more important than ejections for the transport of momentum within the forest, while inward and outward interaction contributions are both small, except near the forest floor. The intermittency of the transport of momentum and scalar increases with depth into the forest. Finally, ramp structures in the time series of a passive scalar at multiple levels within and above the forest show similar features to those measured from field towers. Two-dimensional (height-time cross-section) contours of the passive scalar and wind vectors show sweeps and ejections, and the characteristics of the static pressure perturbation near the ground resemble those deduced from field tower-based measurements. In spite of the limited grid resolution (2 m × 2 m × 2 m) and domain size (192 m × 192 m × 60 m) used in this LES, we demonstrate that the LES is capable of resolving the most important characteristics of the turbulent flow within and above a forest canopy.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Amiro, B. D.: 1990, 'Drag Coefficients and Turbulence Spectra within Three Boreal Forest Canopies', Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 52, 227-246.

    Google Scholar 

  • Andrén, A., Brown, A. R., Graf, J., Mason, P. J., Moeng, C.-H., Nieuwstadt, F. T. M. and Schumann, U.: 1994, 'Large-Eddy Simulation of a Neutrally Stratified Boundary Layer: A Comparison of Four Computer Codes', Quart. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc. 120, 1457-1484.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baldocchi, D. D. and Meyers, T. P.: 1988, 'A Spectral and Lag-Correlation Analysis of Turbulence in a Deciduous Forest Canopy', Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 45, 31-58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brunet, Y., Finnigan, J. J., and Raupach, M. R.: 1994, 'A Wind Tunnel Study of Air Flow in Waving Wheat: Single-Point Velocity Statistics', Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 70, 95-132.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cionco, R. M.: 1965, 'A Mathematical Model for Air Flow in a Vegetative Canopy', J. Appl. Meteorol. 4, 517-522.

    Google Scholar 

  • Comte-Bellot, G. and Corrsin, S.: 1971, 'Simple Eulerian Time Correlation of Full-and Narrow-band Velocity Signals in Grid-Generated, 'Isotropic' Turbulence', J. Fluid Mech. 48, 273-337.

    Google Scholar 

  • Denmead, O. T. and Bradley, E. F.: 1985, 'Flux-Gradient Relationships in a Forest Canopy', in B. A. Hutchison and B. B. Hicks (eds.), The Forest-Atmosphere Interaction, D. Reidel Publishing Co., Dordrecht, The Netherlands, pp. 421-442.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gao, W., Shaw, R., H. and K. T. Paw U: 1989, 'Observation of Organized Structure in Turbulent Flow within and above a Forest Canopy', Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 47, 349-377.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goudriaan, J.: 1977, Crop Micrometeorology: A Simulation Study, Center for Agricultural Publishing and Documentation, Wageningen, The Netherlands, 249 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Inoue, E.: 1963, 'On the Turbulent Structure of Airflow within Plant Canopies', J. Meteorol. Soc. Japan 41, 317-326.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, P. S.: 1981, 'On the Displacement Height in the Logarithmic Velocity Profile', J. Fluid Mech. 111, 15-25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaimal, J. C. and Finnigan, J. J.: 1994, Atmospheric Boundary Layer Flows, Their Structure and Measurement, Oxford University Press, 289 pp.

  • Kanda, M. and Hino, M.: 1994, 'Organized Structure in Developing Turbulent Flow within and above a Plant Canopy, Using a Large Eddy Simulation', Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 68, 237-257.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leclerc, M. Y., Beissner, K. C., Shaw, R. H., den Hartog, G., and Neuman, H. H.: 1991, 'The Influence of Buoyancy on Third-Order Turbulent Velocity Statistics within a Deciduous Forest', Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 55, 109-123.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyers, T. P and Paw U, K. T.: 1986, 'Testing of a Higher-Order Closure Model for Modeling Airflow within and above Plant Canopies', Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 37, 297-311.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyers, T. P and Paw U, K. T.: 1987, 'Modeling the Plant Canopy Micrometeorology with Higher-Order Closure Principles', Agric. For. Meteorol. 41, 143-163.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moeng, C.-H.: 1984, 'A Large-Eddy-Simulation Model for the Study of Planetary Boundary-Layer Turbulence', J. Atmos. Sci. 41, 2052-2062.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moeng, C.-H. and Wyngaard, J. C.: 1988, 'Spectral Analysis of Large-Eddy Simulations of the Convective Boundary Layer', J. Atmos. Sci. 45, 3573-3587.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moeng, C.-H. and Wyngaard, J. C.: 1989, 'Evaluation of Turbulent Transport and Dissipation Closures in Second-Order Modeling', J. Atmos. Sci. 46, 2311-2330.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newmann, H. H., den Hartog, G., and Shaw, R. H.: 1989, 'Leaf Area Measurements Based On Hemispheric Photographs and Leaf-Litter Collection in a Deciduous Forest During Autumn Leaf-Fall', Agric. For. Meteorol. 45, 325-345.

    Google Scholar 

  • Patton, E. G., Shaw, R. H., Paw U, K. T. and Moeng, C.-H.: 1994, 'A Comparison of Two Large-Eddy Simulations of Turbulent Flow above and within a Forest Canopy', in preprint for American Meteorological Society 21st Conference on Agricultural and Forest Meteorology & 11th Conference on Biometeorology and Aerobiology, San Diego, CA, pp. 88-91.

  • Patton, E. G., Shaw, R. H., and Paw U, K. T.: 1995, 'Large-Eddy Simulation of a Forest: Influence of Canopy Structure on Turbulent Kinetic Energy', in preprint for American Meteorological Society 11th Symposium on Boundary Layers and Turbulence, Charlotte, NC, pp. 525-528.

  • Raupach, M. R.: 1979, 'Anomalies in Flux-Gradient Relationships over Forest', Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 16, 467-486.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raupach, M. R., Coppin, P. A., and Legg, B. J.: 1986, 'Experiments on Scalar Dispersion within a Model Plant Canopy. Part I: The Turbulence Structure', Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 35, 21-52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, R. H. and Tavangar, J.: 1983, 'Structure of the Reynolds Stress in a Canopy Layer', J. Climate Appl. Meteorol. 22, 1922-1931.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, R. H. and Seginer, I.: 1985, 'The Dissipation of Turbulence in Plant Canopies', in preprint for American Meteorological Society 7th Symposium on Turbulence and Diffusion, Boulder, CO, pp. 200–203

  • Shaw, R. H. and Seginer, I.: 1987, 'Calculation of Velocity Skewness in Real and Artificial Plant Canopies', Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 39, 315-332.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, R. H., Den Hartog, G., and Neumann, H. H.: 1988, 'Influence of Foliar Density and Thermal Stability on Profiles of Reynolds Stress and Turbulence Intensity in a Deciduous Forest', Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 45, 391-409.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, R. H., Paw U, K. T., Zhang, X.-J., Gao, W., den Hartog, G., and Neumann, H. H.: 1990, 'Retrieval of Turbulent Pressure Fluctuations at the Ground Surface Beneath a Forest', Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 50, 319-338.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, R. H. and Schumann, U.: 1992, 'Large-Eddy Simulation of Turbulent Flow above and within a Forest', Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 61, 47-64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, R. H., Brunet, Y., Finnigan, J. J., and Raupach, M. R.: 1995, 'A Wind Tunnel Study of Air Flow in Waving Wheat: Two-Point Velocity Statistics', Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 76, 349-376.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spalart, P. R., Moser, R. D., and Rogers, M. M.: 1991, 'Spectral Methods for the Navier-Stokes Equations with One Infinite and Two Periodic Directions', J. Computational Phys. 96, 297-324.

    Google Scholar 

  • Su, H.-B., Paw U, K. T., and Shaw, R. H.: 1996, 'Development of a Coupled Leaf and Canopy Model for the Simulation of Plant-Atmosphere Interactions', J. Appl. Meteorol. 35, 733-748.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sullivan, P. P., Moeng, C.-H., and McWilliams, J. C.: 1996, 'A Grid Nesting Method for Large-Eddy Simulation of Planetary Boundary-Layer Flows', Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 80, 167-202.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thom, A. S.: 1971, 'Momentum Absorption by Vegetation', Quart. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc. 97, 414-428.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thom, A. S.: 1975, 'Momentum, Mass and Heat Exchange of Plant Communities', in J. L. Monteith (ed.), Vegetation and the Atmosphere, Volume 1, Principles,Academic Press, pp. 57-109.

  • Wilson, N. R. and Shaw, R. H.: 1977, 'A Higher-Order Closure Model for Canopy Flow', J. Appl. Meteorol. 16, 1197-1205.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhuang, Y. and Amiro, B. D.: 1994, 'Pressure Fluctuations during Coherent Motions and Their Effects on the Budgets of Turbulent Kinetic Energy and Momentum Flux within a Forest Canopy', J. Appl. Meteorol. 33, 704-711.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Atmospheric Science Program, University of California, Davis, California, USA

    Hong-Bing Su, Roger H. Shaw & Kyaw Tha Paw

  2. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA

    Chin-Hoh Moeng & Peter P. Sullivan

Authors
  1. Hong-Bing Su
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Roger H. Shaw
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Kyaw Tha Paw
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Chin-Hoh Moeng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Peter P. Sullivan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Su, HB., Shaw, R.H., Paw, K.T. et al. Turbulent Statistics of Neutrally Stratified Flow Within and Above a Sparse Forest from Large-Eddy Simulation and Field Observations. Boundary-Layer Meteorology 88, 363–397 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1001108411184

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1001108411184

Search

Navigation