Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
The heat wave conditions start out with a large disparity in evapotranspiration
between the grass and the forest. The forest loses water at nearly the same rate as under
climatological conditions, showing a slight reduction after only about 20 days. On the
other hand, the grass depletes soil moisture much quicker, leading to reduced evapo-
transpiration after 9 days. Although the sensible heat lux of grass under unstressed
conditions is only slightly higher for the heat wave situation than for normal condi-
tions, the quicker soil moisture depletion leads to an earlier and stronger rise in the
sensible heat lux. Within 16 days the grass shows a larger sensible heat lux than
forest. Thus, although forests tend the aggravate the heat wave initially, grass dries
out so strongly that after approximately 2 weeks grass starts to be the major supplier
of heat to the atmosphere.
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