Effects of Soil Moisture Variations on Deposition Velocities Above Vegetation

The parameterized subgrid-scale surface flux (PASS) modelprovides a simplified means of using remote sensing data from satellites and limited surface meteorological information to estimate the influence of soil moisture on bulk canopy stomatalresistances to the uptake of gases over extended areas.PASS-generated estimates of bulk canopy stomatal resistance were usedin a dry deposition module to compute gas deposition velocitieswith a horizontal resolution of 200 m for approximately 5000 km² of agricultural crops and rangeland. Results were compared with measurements of O₃ flux and concentrations made during April and May 1997 at two surface stations and from an aircraft. The trend in simulated O₃ deposition velocityduring soil moisture drydown over a period of a few days matchedthe trend observed at the two surface stations. For areas underthe aircraft flight paths, the variability in simulated O₃ deposition velocity was substantially smaller than the observedvariability, while the averages over tens of kilometers were usually in agreement within 0.1 cm s^-1. Model results indicated that soil moisture can have a major role in depositionof O₃ and other substances strongly affected by canopy stomatal resistance.     

Some Factors that Affect the Deposition Rates of Sulfur Dioxide and Similar Gases on Vegetation

The deposition of sulfur dioxide on growing vegetation is affected by diverse environmental factors, many of which undergo large diurnal and spatial variations. The aerodynamic resistance to vertical transfer in the surface boundary layer can be formulated in terms of the friction velocity, height of observation, vertical heat flux, and surface roughness. Also important are the resistance in the air layer closest to the surface elements and, in dry vegetation, the average stomatal resistance of the plants. The latter variable is among the most difficult to estimate, but over many agricultural field crops like those in the midwestern U.S., a typical minimum value of average stomatal resistance to SO₂ transfer is about 0.7 s cm^-1, as is indicated by various experimental data. The deposition velocity can be estimated as the inverse of the sum of the resistances of the layers, necessarily down to where the concentrations are zero; in the surface boundary layer, any of the various resistances might be dominant. Above the surface layer, the micrometeorological relationships are known with less certainty, but reasonable approximations indicate that during unstable conditions the resistance to transfer is very small at heights of several tens of meters and during stable conditions the aerodynamic resistance is very large aloft.