Although many studies have investigated the effects of forest cover on streamflow and runoff, and several have examined the effects of canopy density on snowpack accumulation, the impacts of forest canopy density on spatial patterns of snowmelt input to catchments remain relatively underquantified. We performed an intensive snow depth and density survey during maximum accumulation in a mid-lati...

We incorporated a single-layer urban canopy model into a simple two-dimensional atmospheric model in order to describe the fundamental impact of the urban canopy model on an idealized urban heat island simulation. We found that the heat island circulation developed less strongly than when using the atmospheric model with the standard slab urban model. Additionally, the coupling with urban canop...

River floodplains in the Netherlands serve as water storage areas, while they also have the function of nature rehabilitation areas. Floodplain vegetation is therefore subject to natural processes of vegetation succession. At the same time, vegetation encroachment obstructs the water flow into the floodplains and increases the flood risk for the hinterland. Spaceborne pointable imaging spectros...

Direct measurements of winter water loss due to sublimation were made in a sub-alpine forest in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Above-and below-canopy eddy covariance systems indicated substantial losses of winter-season snow accumulation in the form of snowpack (0Ð41 mm d 1) and intercepted snow (0Ð71 mm d 1) sublimation. The partitioning between these over and under story components of water...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS The light availability on a temperate, deciduous-forest floor varies greatly, reflecting the seasonal leaf dynamics of the canopy trees. The growth and/or reproductive activity of understorey plants should be influenced by the length of the high-irradiance period from snowmelt to canopy closure. The aim of the present study was to clarify how spring-blooming species regulate...

The 2012-2015 drought has left California with severely reduced snowpack, soil moisture, ground water, and reservoir stocks, but the impact of this estimated millennial-scale event on forest health is unknown. We used airborne laser-guided spectroscopy and satellite-based models to assess losses in canopy water content of California's forests between 2011 and 2015. Approximately 10.6 million ha...

Improving photosynthesis throughout the full canopy rather than photosynthesis of only the top leaves of the canopy is central to improving crop yields. Many canopy photosynthesis models have been developed from physiological and ecological perspectives, however most do not consider heterogeneities of microclimatic factors inside a canopy, canopy dynamics and associated energetics, or competiti...

Vegetation can play a major role in the hydrologic ecosystem service tradeoffs resulting from land use change: by affecting the volume of rain water that reaches the ground surface, vegetation affects water supply. But because canopy interception of rainfall is affected in complex and competing ways by forest structure and ambient weather conditions, both of which vary at small and large scales...

The weather patterns of the west side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains (cold, wet winters and hot, dry summers) strongly influence how water is partitioned between transpiration and evaporation and result in a specific strategy of water use by ponderosa pine trees (Pinus ponderosa) in this region. To investigate how year-round water fluxes were partitioned in a young ponderosa pine ecosystem in t...

A series of diurnal airborne campaigns were conducted over an orchard field to assess the canopy Photochemical Reflectance Index (PRI) as an indicator of water stress. Airborne campaigns over two years were conducted with the Airborne Hyperspectral Scanner (AHS) over an orchard field to investigate changes in PRI, in the Transformed Chlorophyll Absorption in Reflectance Index (TCARI) normalized...