Premium
Inferring cloud deposition to a forest canopy using a passive cloudwater collector
Author(s) -
Mueller Stephen F.,
Imhoff Robert E.
Publication year - 1989
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/gl016i007p00683
Subject(s) - throughfall , canopy , environmental science , liquid water content , atmospheric sciences , hydrology (agriculture) , tree canopy , meteorology , deposition (geology) , elevation (ballistics) , cloud computing , geology , ecology , mathematics , geography , computer science , geotechnical engineering , paleontology , sediment , biology , operating system , geometry
A widely used passive cloudwater collector was operated continuously along with an automated canopy water throughfall measurement system at a high elevation spruce forest site. Cloudwater collection rate (R c ) and throughfall (TF) rate were examined to determine their interrelationship. In addition, the use of the cloudwater collector for inferring cloud liquid water content was examined. The degree of direct hourly correlation was fairly good between R c and canopy TF rate for non‐rain periods when the canopy was saturated (the former explained 58% of the variance in the latter). The correlation was even better (R² = 0.84) when TF rate was time‐lagged one hour. Estimated liquid water content, using collector data, was characterized by a large degree of uncertainty. This uncertainty appears to be caused, to a large extent, by the inability of the estimation method to account for the variation in cloudwater collection efficiency as a function of wind speed and droplet size.