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The canopy coupling index of a tropical forest

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Abstract

During the TREND (Tropical Environmental Data) experiment conducted in Thailand, wind observations were made at several levels below and above a tropical forest canopy. These data allowed us to compute the widely used canopy coupling index and to study its dependence on ambient conditions. Our results indicate that the coupling between the above and below canopy flows depends primarily on stability and wind direction and to a lesser extent on the magnitude of the ambient wind speed. The coupling index as a function of the normalized height below the canopy was best described by exponential functions.

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References

  • Cionco, R. M.: 1983, ‘On the Coupling of Canopy Flow to Ambient Flow for a Variety of Vegetation Types and Densities’, Boundary-Layer Meteorol. (in press).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Meteorology, University of Maryland, 20724, College Park, MD, USA

    R. T. Pinker

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  1. R. T. Pinker
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Pinker, R.T. The canopy coupling index of a tropical forest. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 26, 305–311 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00121404

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00121404

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