A comparison of models to estimate in-canopy photosynthetically active radiation and their influence on canopy stomatal resistance

The models for photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) used in a multi-layer canopy stomatal resistance (CSR) model developed by Baldocchi et al. (Atmospheric Environment 21 (1987) 91–101) and in a two-big-leaf CSR model developed by Hicks et al. (Water, Air and Soil Pollution 36 (1987) 311) are investigated in this study. The PAR received by shaded leaves in Baldocchi et al. (1987) is found to be larger than that predicted by a canopy radiative-transfer model developed by Norman (in: Barfield, Gerber, (Eds.), Modification of the Aerial Environment of Crops. ASAE Monograph No. 2. American Society for Agricultural. Engineering, St. Joseph, MI, 1979, p. 249) by as much as 50% even though the Baldocchi et al. (1987) model is indirectly based on Norman's model. This larger value of PAR results in turn in a smaller CSR by as much as 30% for canopies with larger leaf area indexes. A new formula to predict vertical profiles for PAR received by shaded leaves inside a canopy is suggested in the present study based on Norman (1979) and agrees well with the original model of Norman (1979). The simple treatment used in Hicks et al. (1987) for canopy-average PAR received by shaded leaves is found to diverge for canopies with leaf area indexes not close to two A new empirical formula for canopy-average PAR is then suggested for use in a two-big-leaf model, and it is shown that under most conditions the modified two-big-leaf CSR model can predict reasonable values when compared with the more complex multi-layer CSR model. Both the modified multi-layer CSR model and the modified two-big-leaf CSR model are also shown to predict reasonable dry deposition velocities for O₃ when compared to several sets of measurements.