Terahertz (THz) radiation can be generated by ultrafast photo-excitation of carriers in a semiconductor partly masked by a gold surface. A simulation of the effect taking into account the diffusion of carriers and the electric field shows that the total net current is approximately zero and cannot account for the THz radiation. Finite element modelling and analytic calculations indicate that th...

Despite the availability of numerous approaches to estimate potential evapotranspiration (PET ), temperature-based PET equations such as the Hamon equation and Thornthwaite equation are still used to predict changes in hydrology in a changing climate as temperature is one of the primary reported outputs from general circulation models. To isolate the actual dependence of PET on temperature, we ...

Net radiation is a key component of the energy balance, whose estimation accuracy has an impact on energy flux estimates from satellite data. In typical remote sensing evapotranspiration (ET) algorithms, the outgoing shortwave and longwave components of net radiation are obtained from remote sensing data, while the incoming shortwave ( S) and longwave ( L) components are typically estimated fro...

The energy balance components were measured above the ground surface of a temperate deciduous forest over an annual cycle using the eddy covariance technique. Over a year, the net radiation at the forest floor was 21.5% of that above the canopy, but this proportion was not constant, primarily because of the distinct phenological stages separated by the emergence and senescence of leaves. The do...

Green roof assemblies influence the total roof surface energy balance for a building. The energy balance for a green roof depends mostly on the selection of plants and substrates suitable for the building’s location. This study measured thermal properties of common green roof materials and selected two types of plants and substrates to simulate transient thermal performance of different green r...

Leaf area and its spatial distribution are key canopy parameters needed to model the radiation regime within a forest and to compute the mass and energy exchange between a forest and the atmosphere. A much larger proportion of available net radiation is received at the forest floor in open-canopy forests than in closed-canopy forests. The proportion of ecosystem water vapor exchange (lambda E) ...