Effects of canopy morphology and thermal stability on mean flow and turbulence statistics observed inside a mixed hardwood forest

Abstract The influences of thermal stability and seasonal changes in canopy morphology on mean flow and turbulence statistics in a mixed hardwood forest are presented from a year long field experiment at the University of Michigan Biological Station AmeriFlux site. A secondary wind speed maximum at z/h = 0.07 (z is height above ground and h is mean canopy height) below the level of peak vegetation area density (VAD) in the understory (young white pines) is observed more frequently and is more pronounced in fully leafed (closed) canopy than defoliated (open) canopy, and in stable than near-neutral and unstable conditions. A secondary wind speed maximum at z/h = 0.58 is observed only in the closed canopy below the level of peak VAD in the upper canopy (crowns of mature aspen trees), which occurs less frequently and is less pronounced than that at z/h = 0.07. Horizontal mean winds in the forest are observed to flow to the left (counter-clockwise) of that at the canopy top. The degrees of turning of the mean winds increase with increasing depth into the forest except a reversal (clockwise) near the forest floor in the closed canopy. The degrees of turning are greater in the closed canopy than the open canopy but smaller in near-neutral than unstable and stable conditions. The attenuations of Reynolds stress, correlation coefficient and velocity variances with increasing depth into the forest are more rapid in the closed canopy and in stable conditions. But the relative turbulence intensities are greater in the closed canopy than in the open canopy and decrease with increasing stability. In near-neutral stability, the zero-plane displacement height (d) for the closed canopy decreases with increasing wind speed (∼0.81h on average), while d for the open canopy does not show a clear dependence on wind speed (∼0.65h on average). The bulk drag coefficient ( C D h ) measured at the canopy top is much greater over the closed canopy than the open canopy, contrary to earlier observations over a deciduous forest. But C D h * = C D h / VAI (VAI is vegetation area index) is about the same over the closed and open canopies (∼0.03 in near-neutral stability). The drag coefficient (Cd) for the parameterization of drag force in mean momentum budget equations in closure models increases with decreasing wind speed and varies with height. The drag coefficient ( C d LES ) for the parameterization of drag force in prognostic momentum equations in large-eddy simulations of airflow in plant canopies is smaller than Cd, and the ratio C d LES / C d is greater in the open canopy than closed canopy and in stable than near-neutral and unstable conditions due to smaller relative turbulence intensities. All drag coefficients decrease and the displacement height increases with increasing stability, which indicates that these estimated aerodynamic parameters are not entirely the properties of vegetation elements, but are influenced by vertical turbulent mixing of momentum. Both eddy-diffusivity and mixing-lengths for momentum transfer decrease with increasing stability. An evidence of non-local transport is shown by peak values in estimated eddy-diffusivity and mixing-lengths below the crowns of mature aspen trees in the closed canopy. Otherwise, the eddy-diffusivity decreases with increasing depth into the forest, while the mixing-lengths above the level of the peaks are greater in the open canopy and the opposite is true below the level of the peaks.