Spatial Variability of CO2 uptake by forests; Defining the relative contributions of biology and meteorology

This project examined the links between plant canopy structure and carbon fluxes. This project combined analysis of data from field

measurements with high resolution numerical  simulations of turbulent flow and scalar transport. The three dimensional turbulence

simulations explored (i) the connections between the structure of the canopy and the spatial structure of the resulting flux field,

and (ii) the effects of density stratification on these relationships. This is made possible because the Large Eddy Simulations (LES)

allow us to vary key canopy structural parameters and external forcing (such as radiation) and, consequently, observe how these

changes effect the observed flux distributions. This report highlights the approach taken and the results achieved through this project