TY - JOUR
T1 - Microclimatology of treeline spruce-fir forests in mountains of the northeastern United States
AU - Richardson, Andrew D.
AU - Lee, Xuhui
AU - Friedland, Andrew J.
N1 - Funding Information:
This is a contribution to the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study. Dartmouth College, the University of Vermont, the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, the Vermont Monitoring Cooperative, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and the State University of New York’s Atmospheric Sciences Research Center, are thanked for logistical support and permission to conduct research on the different mountains. Philip Mone, Ellen Denny, Spencer Meyer, Shane Duigan and Eli Burak assisted with setting up the meteorological stations and collecting data. Doug Wolfe provided the ASRC data. Amey Bailey provided the Hubbard Brook data. The Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest is operated and maintained by the USDA Forest Service, Newtown Square, PA. Alexander Evans prepared the base maps used for Figs. 1 and 2 . This study was funded by a grant from the Andrew Mellon Foundation to Professor Graeme P. Berlyn and the author, as well as by additional support from the Sperry-Carpenter-Mellon fund at the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Yale University, and Professor Berlyn. Matthew Richardson, Ellen Denny and Jeff Sigler provided helpful comments on an early version of the manuscript.
PY - 2004/9/20
Y1 - 2004/9/20
N2 - The objective of this study was to characterize the temporal and altitudinal variation in microclimate of high elevation spruce-fir (Picea rubens-Abies balsamea) forests in three major mountain ranges of the northeastern United States. Mean lapse rates of air temperature were comparable to those previously reported for this region, but lapse rates varied considerably in relation to diurnal (and, to a lesser degree, seasonal) effects. Mean annual soil temperatures and soil temperature heat sums did not show a consistent pattern with regard to elevation. Within our study region, it has been suggested that frequent cloud immersion at high elevation results in radiation fluxes at that are dramatically reduced compared to those at mid and low elevation, but results of this study appear not to support this hypothesis. The frequency of very high (≥90%) relative humidities increased with elevation, but although clear-sky fluxes of photosynthetically active radiation increased moderately with increasing elevation, mean mid-day fluxes during the growing season were almost identical between mid and high elevation.
AB - The objective of this study was to characterize the temporal and altitudinal variation in microclimate of high elevation spruce-fir (Picea rubens-Abies balsamea) forests in three major mountain ranges of the northeastern United States. Mean lapse rates of air temperature were comparable to those previously reported for this region, but lapse rates varied considerably in relation to diurnal (and, to a lesser degree, seasonal) effects. Mean annual soil temperatures and soil temperature heat sums did not show a consistent pattern with regard to elevation. Within our study region, it has been suggested that frequent cloud immersion at high elevation results in radiation fluxes at that are dramatically reduced compared to those at mid and low elevation, but results of this study appear not to support this hypothesis. The frequency of very high (≥90%) relative humidities increased with elevation, but although clear-sky fluxes of photosynthetically active radiation increased moderately with increasing elevation, mean mid-day fluxes during the growing season were almost identical between mid and high elevation.
KW - Air temperature
KW - Lapse rate
KW - Radiation
KW - Soil temperature
KW - Subalpine
KW - Tree line
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U2 - 10.1016/j.agrformet.2004.03.006
DO - 10.1016/j.agrformet.2004.03.006
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:4143049069
SN - 0168-1923
VL - 125
SP - 53
EP - 66
JO - Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
JF - Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
IS - 1-2
ER -