Atmospheric turbulence within and above a Douglas-fir stand. Part I: Statistical properties of the velocity field

This is the first of two papers reporting the results of a study of the turbulence regimes and exchange processes within and above an extensive Douglas-fir stand. The experiment was conducted on Vancouver Island during a two-week rainless period in July and August 1990. The experimental site was located on a 5o slope. The stand, which was planted in 1962, and thinned and pruned uniformly in 1988, had a (projected) leaf area index of 5.4 and a heighth=16.7 m. Two eddy correlation units were operated in the daytime to measure the fluctuations in the three velocity components, air temperature and water vapour density, with one mounted permanently at a height of 23.0m (z/h=1.38) and the other at various heights in the stand with two to three 8-hour periods of measurement at each level. Humidity and radiation regimes both above and beneath the overstory and profiles of wind speed and air temperature were also measured. The most important findings are: