Abstract
In a desert environment dew can serve as an important source of moisture for plants, biological crusts, insects and small animals. A measurement programme was carried out within a sand dune belt situated in the northwestern Negev desert, Israel, to measure daily amounts of dew deposition as well as micro-meteorological conditions during the dew formation and early-morning drying process. Dew quantities were measured by micro-lysimeters along a 200-m transect as well as by the eddy-correlation technique at a reference location. A simple physical model was constructed to simulate the dew deposition process as well as early-morning drying for the interdune area and the north- and south-facing dune slopes. Measurements carried out during September and October 1997 showed that the daily amounts of dew ranged between 0.1 mm/night and 0.3 mm/night within the interdune area. On the slopes, the amounts of dew were about 50% lower. Simulated results agreed well with the field data.
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Received: 7 June 1999 / Revised: 9 November 1999 / Accepted: 17 November 1999
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Jacobs, A., Heusinkveld, B. & Berkowicz, S. Dew measurements along a longitudinal sand dune transect, Negev Desert, Israel. Int J Biometeorol 43, 184–190 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/s004840050007
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s004840050007