Aerodynamic Roughness - Vegetation Aerodynamic Roughness Parameters in the Amazon Basin

roughness z0 - Click here for enlarged version

roughness d0

     The aerodynamic roughness length (Z0) is an important parameter to determine the vertical gradients of mean wind speed and the conditions for momentum transfer over a vegetated or bare rough surface. Over vegetated surfaces, the aerodynamic roughness length has a simple one-to-one relationship with the rms height of the vegetation at the top of the canopy. Once this roughness length is determined for a surface, it does not change with wind speed, stability or stress.

During the LBA experiment the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS) with flexible horizontal and vertical resolution will be used in conjunction with other models to simulate the atmospheric circulation and trace gas concentration and transport at various scales. This model is suitable to determine the effect of surface roughness parameter at trace gas transport both at local level for LBA study areas and on at the regional level for the entire Amazon basin. In this stud, we use two radar remote sensing data sets to estimate the vegetation roughness parameters (z0 and d0).

Lu et al., 2006

• Methodology
• Z₀ Map
• D₀ Map
• Collaborators
• Meta Data