Evaluation of vegetation effects on the generation and modification of mesoscale circulations

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to evaluate i) the effect of vegetated surfaces on modifying sea breeze and daytime thermally induced upslope flows, and ii) the generation of thermally induced flow by vegetated areas contrasted by bare soil areas. The study suggests that the impact of vegetated surfaces in those cases is highly dependent on the environmental conditions as well as vegetation characteristics. For ideal environmental conditions resulting in high evapotranspiration rates over extended dense vegetated areas, it is shown that the circulation types listed in i) are substantially reduced. For the situation described by ii), circulations with an intensity close to that of a sea breeze can develop when the vegetation is very dense, and covers an extended area, and under favorable environmental conditions. -from Authors