An empirical relation describing leaf-area density inside the forest for environmental modeling

Abstract

The spatial distribution of the leaf-area density is a key parameter in describing the forest canopy characteristics, which has a strong impact on its radiation balance and the mass and energy exchange with the atmosphere as well. The objective of this short study is to define an empirical relation describing the vertical distribution of leaf-area density that can be used for an improved estimation of the turbulent transfer coefficient inside the forest as well as above it. To check the validity of the method proposed, the calculated values are compared with the observations using datasets from eight observational sites located in four different types of forest, covering a broad range of mean values of leaf-area indices between 2 and 18. © 2004 American Meteorological Society.