skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Turbulence regimes in the nocturnal roughness sublayer: Interaction with deep convection and tree mortality in the Amazon

Journal Article · · Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
 [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [8]
  1. Amazonian National Research Institute (INPA-CLIAMB), Manaus, AM (Brazil)
  2. Amazonian National Research Institute (INPA-CLIAMB), Manaus, AM (Brazil); Federal Institute of Pará (IFPA), Belém, PA (Brazil)
  3. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States)
  4. Federal University of West Pará (UFOPA), Santarém, PA (Brazil)
  5. Universidade Federal do Pampa, Alegrete (Brazil)
  6. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  7. National Institute for Spatial Research (INPE), Cachoeira Paulista, SP (Brazil)
  8. Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena (Germany)

We investigated the influence of seasonality and proximity to the forest canopy on nocturnal turbulence regimes in the roughness sublayer of a Central Amazon forest. Since convective systems of different scales are common in this region, we also analyzed the effect of extreme wind gusts (propagated from convective downdrafts) on the organization of the turbulence regimes, and their potential to cause the mortality of canopy trees. Our data include high-frequency winds, temperature and ozone concentration at different heights during the dry and wet seasons of 2014. In addition, we used critical wind-speed data derived from a tree-winching experiment and a modeling study conducted in the same study site. Two different turbulence regimes were identified at three heights above the canopy: a weakly stable (WS) and a very stable regime (VS). The threshold wind speeds that mark the transition between turbulence regimes were larger during the dry season and increased as a function of the height above the canopy. The turbulent fluxes of sensible heat and momentum during the WS accounted for 88% of the entire nighttime flux. Downdrafts occurred only in the WS and favored a fully coupled state of wind flow along the canopy profile. The destructive potential of winds was four times higher than on nights without downdrafts.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1992474
Journal Information:
Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Vol. 339; ISSN 0168-1923
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (59)

Windthrows increase soil carbon stocks in a central Amazon forest journal January 2016
Convective storms and non-classical low-level jets during high ozone level episodes in the Amazon region: An ARM/GOAMAZON case study journal April 2017
Air turbulence characteristics at multiple sites in and above the Amazon rainforest canopy journal October 2018
Nocturnal Boundary-Layer Regimes journal August 1998
Toward biologically meaningful net carbon exchange estimates for tall, dense canopies: Multi-level eddy covariance observations and canopy coupling regimes in a mature Douglas-fir forest in Oregon journal May 2013
Mechanical vulnerability and resistance to snapping and uprooting for Central Amazon tree species journal November 2016
Stable boundary-layer regimes at Dome C, Antarctica: observation and analysis
  • Vignon, Etienne; van de Wiel, Bas J. H.; van Hooijdonk, Ivo G. S.
  • Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 143, Issue 704 https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.2998
journal March 2017
A case study of a gravity wave induced by Amazon forest orography and low level jet generation journal September 2021
Windthrow Variability in Central Amazonia journal February 2017
Quality Control and Flux Sampling Problems for Tower and Aircraft Data journal June 1997
Non-stationary Generation of Weak Turbulence for Very Stable and Weak-Wind Conditions journal November 2012
Convective cloud downdrafts as the cause of large blowdowns in the Amazon rainforest journal March 1998
Radiação solar e distribuição vertical de área foliar em floresta - Reserva Biológica do Cuieiras ZF2, Manaus journal December 2005
Widespread Amazon forest tree mortality from a single cross-basin squall line event: WIND-DRIVEN TREE MORTALITY IN AMAZONIA journal August 2010
Forests, carbon and global climate
  • Malhi, Yadvinder; Meir, Patrick; Brown, Sandra
  • Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Vol. 360, Issue 1797 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2002.1020
journal June 2002
Turbulence regimes in the stable boundary layer above and within the Amazon forest journal February 2017
In the Core of the Night-Effects of Intermittent Mixing on a Horizontally Heterogeneous Surface journal January 2003
Vulnerability of Amazon forests to storm-driven tree mortality journal May 2018
Windthrows control biomass patterns and functional composition of Amazon forests journal October 2018
Flux-variance and flux-gradient relationships in the roughness sublayer over the Amazon forest journal May 2017
Turbulence Regimes and Turbulence Intermittency in the Stable Boundary Layer during CASES-99 journal January 2012
Ozone transport and thermodynamics during the passage of squall line in Central Amazon journal June 2019
Amazon windthrow disturbances are likely to increase with storm frequency under global warming journal January 2023
Natural forest disturbance and change in the Brazilian Amazon journal July 1994
Low-level nocturnal wind maximum over the central Amazon basin journal January 1992
Size and frequency of natural forest disturbances and the Amazon forest carbon balance journal March 2014
Large-Scale Wind Disturbances Promote Tree Diversity in a Central Amazon Forest journal August 2014
Integrating high resolution drone imagery and forest inventory to distinguish canopy and understory trees and quantify their contributions to forest structure and dynamics journal December 2020
Flux contribution of coherent structures and its implications for the exchange of energy and matter in a tall spruce canopy journal January 2007
Respiration from a Tropical Forest Ecosystem: Partitioning of Sources and low Carbon use Efficiency journal August 2004
Fragmentation increases wind disturbance impacts on forest structure and carbon stocks in a western Amazonian landscape journal July 2017
The Role of Large-Coherent-Eddy Transport in the Atmospheric Surface Layer Based on CASES-99 Observations journal February 2016
Near-Surface Atmospheric Turbulence in the Presence of a Squall Line above a Forested and Deforested Region in the Central Amazon journal April 2021
Subdivisão fitogeográfica, tipos de vegetação, conservação e inventário florístico da floresta amazônica journal December 1979
Stable Boundary Layer Regimes in Single-Column Models journal May 2020
Recovery of Forest Structure Following Large-Scale Windthrows in the Northwestern Amazon journal May 2021
Simulation of the Scalar Transport above and within the Amazon Forest Canopy journal December 2021
Small-Scale Horizontal Variability of Mean and Turbulent Quantities in the Nocturnal Boundary Layer journal August 2018
Contrasting structures between the decoupled and coupled states of the stable boundary layer: Stable Boundary Layer Coupling
  • Acevedo, Otávio C.; Mahrt, Larry; Puhales, Franciano S.
  • Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 142, Issue 695 https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.2693
journal December 2015
Uncertainty estimates for 1-h averaged turbulence fluxes of carbon dioxide, latent heat and sensible heat journal January 2010
Hyperspectral remote detection of niche partitioning among canopy trees driven by blowdown gap disturbances in the Central Amazon journal February 2009
Seasonality of isoprenoid emissions from a primary rainforest in central Amazonia journal January 2016
Intermittent Turbulence Associated with a Density Current Passage in the Stable Boundary Layer journal November 2002
The Seasonal Cycle of the Radiation Budget and Cloud Radiative Effect in the Amazon Rain Forest of Brazil journal November 2016
Composição e diversidade florístico-estrutural de um hectare de floresta densa de terra firme na Amazônia Central, Amazonas, Brasil journal December 2008
Vertical propagation of submeso and coherent structure in a tall and dense Amazon Forest in different stability conditions PART I: Flow structure within and above the roughness sublayer journal July 2022
Fire, fragmentation, and windstorms: A recipe for tropical forest degradation journal October 2018
Forests and Climate Change: Forcings, Feedbacks, and the Climate Benefits of Forests journal June 2008
The steady-state mosaic of disturbance and succession across an old-growth Central Amazon forest landscape journal January 2013
Critical wind speeds suggest wind could be an important disturbance agent in Amazonian forests
  • Peterson, Chris J.; Ribeiro, Gabriel Henrique Pires de Mello; Negrón-Juárez, Robinson
  • Forestry: An International Journal of Forest Research, Vol. 92, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1093/forestry/cpz025
journal May 2019
Downward transport of ozone rich air and implications for atmospheric chemistry in the Amazon rainforest journal January 2016
Forest wind regimes and their implications on cross-canopy coupling journal December 2019
Stably Stratified Atmospheric Boundary Layers journal January 2014
Linking Meteorology, Turbulence, and Air Chemistry in the Amazon Rain Forest journal December 2016
Temporal Scales of the Nocturnal Flow Within and Above a Forest Canopy in Amazonia journal April 2016
Understanding Physical Processes Represented by the Monin–Obukhov Bulk Formula for Momentum Transfer journal July 2020
External controls on the transition between stable boundary‐layer turbulence regimes
  • Acevedo, Otávio C.; Costa, Felipe D.; Maroneze, Rafael
  • Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 147, Issue 737 https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.4027
journal April 2021
Micrometeorological measurements in Amazon forest during GTE/ABLE 2A mission journal January 1990
Influence of soil texture on carbon dynamics and storage potential in tropical forest soils of Amazonia: CARBON STORAGE POTENTIAL OF TROPICAL SOILS journal May 2003

Similar Records

Influence of nocturnal low‐level jet on turbulence structure and CO2 flux measurements over a forest canopy
Journal Article · Tue May 20 00:00:00 EDT 2008 · Journal of Geophysical Research · OSTI ID:1992474

Daytime turbulent exchange between the Amazon forest and the atmosphere
Journal Article · Thu Sep 20 00:00:00 EDT 1990 · Journal of Geophysical Research; (USA) · OSTI ID:1992474

Boundary Layer Climatology at ARM Southern Great Plains
Technical Report · Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2021 · OSTI ID:1992474