Advection, evaporation, and surface resistance

Summary

We study the effect of surface resistance r (whether of monolayers on free water or plant diffusive resistance) on evaporation rate, energy balance, and microclimate, under advective conditions. We use power-law representations of the vertical profiles of mean windspeed and eddy diffusivity, and exploit two known similarity solutions, one for a step-function change of surface concentration, and the other for a step-function change of surface flux density. To a very close approximation, these two contrasting canonical advective problems yield the same (spatially variable) boundary layer transfer coefficient expressing the ratio of the surface flux perturbation to the surface concentration perturbation. Adopting this coefficient reduces the (spatially variable) surface energy balance for the advective boundary layer with surface resistance to a quadratic equation, with the solution yielding the fetch distances x at which the surface temperature assumes a given value To. With To (x) established thus, the other significant properties of the boundary layer follow simply and directly.

The results reveal the profound influence of r, especially at small x. As boundary layer atmospheric resistance increases with x, r becomes relatively less important. It can be regarded as primarily reducing advective effects. Antievaporation films thus work best on small water surfaces in arid surroundings, but are less effective the larger the water body and the moister the surrounds. If leaf temperatures are not limiting, increasing r has greatest effect for small vegetated areas in an arid environment, but may not be optimal for extensive continuous monocultures. Control of surface resistance offers means of manipulating microclimate, for example when arid landscapes are watered for this purpose. The exploratory nature of this investigation, and its many limitations, are stressed.