Estimating heat storage in Amazonian tropical forest

Abstract

A method is described whereby changes in biomass heat storage can be estimated from measurements of biomass temperature and information on biomass distribution. The method takes into account the non-uniform changes in biomass temperature and indicates the appropriate locations for its measurement. Results of applying the method to a 35 m high tropical rain forest show that hourly changes in total heat storage can account for up to ± 80 W m-2 of the surface energy budget, with approximately equal contributions from changes in canopy air temperature, humidity and biomass heat storage components. Daily values are frequently about 5% and occasionally in excess of 10% of net radiation. Simplified expressions for estimating heat storage of Amazon forest using climatological data are proposed. © 1986.