Evapotranspiration measurements of native vegetation, Owens Valley, California, June 1986
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Geology topics
Publications and source records attributed to R. J. Reginato.
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Surface temperatures, T s , were estimated for a natural vegetative surface in Owens Valley, California, with infrared thermometric observations collected from an aircraft. The region is quite arid and is composed primarily of bushes (∼30%) and bare soil (∼70%). Application of the bulk transfer equation for the estimation of sensible heat, H , gave unsatisfactory values when compared to Bowen ratio and eddy correlation methods over a particular site. This was attributed to the inability with existing data to properly evaluate the resistance to heat transfer, r ah . To obtain appropriate r ah -values the added resistance to heat transfer, kB −1 , was allowed to vary although there is both theoretical and experimental evidence that kB −1 for vegetative surfaces can be treated as constant. The present data indicate that for partial canopy cover under arid conditions kB −1 may be a function of T s measured radiometrically. The equation determining kB −1 was simplified and tested over another arid site with good results; however, this had a limited data set (i.e., 6 data points). The dimensionless kB −1 equation is simplified for use over full canopy cover and is shown to give satisfactory estimates of H over a fully-grown wheat crop.
Chlorophyll fluorescence of mature lemon trees was measured with a Fraunhofer line discriminator (FLD). An increase in fluorescence was correlated with plant water stress as measured by stomatal resistance and twig water potential.