Beskydy 2017, 10, 33-40

https://doi.org/10.11118/beskyd201710010033

Wind characteristics of CzeCOS’s ecosystem station Bílý Kříž

Vinh Xuan Nguyen 1,2,3, Carlos P. Guerra Torres 2,3,4, Shilpi Yadav 2,3, Marian Pavelka 3, Michal V. Marek3

1Department of Ecology, Institute of Tropical Biology VAST, 85 Tran Quoc Toan Street, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
2Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
3Global Change Research Institute CAS, Bělidla 986/4a, 603 00 Brno, Czech Republic
4Department of Botany, University of Panama P.O. 0824-00077 Panama, Panama

Eddy-covariance is a direct and accurate method to measure exchanges of greenhouse gases and energy between ecosystems and the atmosphere under good turbulent mixing conditions. Calm conditions can affect the accuracy of the eddy-covariance measurements by potential gas buildup below the measurement height. This study characterizes wind patterns and calm periods at Bílý Kříž Ecosystem Research Station, using four-year (2010-2013) wind data measured on an eddy-covariance tower at the site, located in Beskids Mountains, Czech Republic. The site is covered by young, dense Norway spruce forest on a 12.5° slope facing South. The results show that the prevailing wind direction was from S to SW direction (55 % frequency of occurrence), and to a much lesser extent from N, NE and NW but including the strongest winds above 12 m s-1, possibly during gale or storm events. Calm condition (u < 1 m s-1) accounted for 34 % of year time. Summer and Spring were the calmest seasons. Occurrence frequencies of calm conditions for the six-month periods from May to October (plant growing season) were higher than those for the remaining parts of the year (on average 39 % vs 28 % respectively). One should be aware of the calm periods in May-October when processing eddy-covariance data, since it is the time period of most contribution of forest ecosystem as a sink of CO2.

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of CR within the National Sustainability Program I (NPU I), grant number LO1415; and Project No. VAST.HTQT.Sec.01/16-17 of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology.

References

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