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Effects of Tropical Deforestation on Surface Energy Balance Partitioning in Southeastern Amazonia Estimated From Maximum Convective Power
Author(s) -
Conte Luigi,
Renner Maik,
Brando Paulo,
Oliveira dos Santos Claudinei,
Silvério Divino,
Kolle Olaf,
Trumbore Susan E.,
Kleidon Axel
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2018gl081625
Subject(s) - sensible heat , latent heat , bowen ratio , environmental science , energy balance , atmospheric sciences , evapotranspiration , deforestation (computer science) , dry season , climatology , meteorology , geography , physics , geology , ecology , thermodynamics , cartography , biology , computer science , programming language
Abstract To understand changes in land surface energy balance partitioning due to tropical deforestation, we use a physically based analytical formulation of the surface energy balance. Turbulent heat fluxes are constrained by the thermodynamic maximum power limit and a formulation for diurnal heat redistribution within the land‐atmosphere system. The derived turbulent fluxes of sensible and latent heat compare very well to in situ observations for sites with intact rainforest and soybean land cover in southeastern Amazonia. The equilibrium partitioning into sensible and latent heat flux compares well with observations for both sites, except for the soybean site during the dry season where water limitation needs to be explicitly accounted for. Our results show that tropical deforestation primarily affects the absorption of solar radiation and the water limitation of evapotranspiration, but not the overall magnitude of turbulent heat fluxes that is set by the thermodynamic maximum power limit.