Air and biomass heat storage fluxes in a forest canopy: Calculation within a soil vegetation atmosphere transfer model

An analytical method for calculating the sub-diurnal change in heat storage in tree trunks is presented and incorporated in a soil vegetation atmosphere transfer (SVAT) model. The modelled change in biomass heat storage (Jtr) is driven by radial heat diffusion within the trunks and surface heat exchange by convection, insolation and longwave radiation. The calculation requires only variables from the previous and current time step and is independent of measured biomass temperature. The model was applied to a 40 m tall Australian temperate Eucalyptus forest at the Tumbarumba Ozflux site. A comparison between modelled and measured trunk temperatures showed agreement to within 1 °C, providing confidence in the model. Hourly values of Jtr peaked at 61 W m−2 for this site. Similar values of Jtr were obtained using an adaptation of the force-restore method. Additional calculations for a range of leaf area indices and trunk radii enable a quick estimate of the maximum hourly value of Jtr for any forest with given leaf area index, quadratic mean trunk radius (at breast height) and biomass. Inclusion of heat storage fluxes in the hourly available energy budget for the forest improved agreement between available energy and measured heat fluxes above the canopy, with energy closure rising from 90 to 101%. Accounting for Jtr in the SVAT model also improved agreement between measured and modelled fluxes of sensible and latent heat.