Principles of Environmental Physics. Plants, Animals, and the Atmosphere

403 Pages·2014·11.519 MB·English

by  John Monteith and Mike Unsworth (Auth.)

Principles of Environmental Physics
Fourth Edition
Principles of
Environmental Physics
Plants, Animals, and the Atmosphere
Fourth Edition
John L. Monteith† and Mike H. Unsworth

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Preface to the Fourth Edition
Sadly,JohnMonteith,mycolleague,mentorandfriend,diedinJuly2012beforethis
editionwascomplete.Formorethan50yearshepioneeredtheapplicationofphysics
to the study and analysis of biological processes. He began his career in the Physics
DepartmentofRothamstedExperimentalStation,wherehiscollaborationwithHoward
PenmanledtothePenman-Monteithequationthathasbeensoinfluentialinecophys-
iologyandhydrologyforestimatingevaporationandtranspiration.AtRothamstedhe
alsocollaboratedwithGezaSzeiczandothersindesigningandbuildingsomeofthe
firstinstrumentsforEnvironmentalPhysics,includingearlyversionsoftubesolarime-
ters and porometers that became much-used tools for investigating canopy and leaf
environments.Hewasalsoamongthefirsttouseinfraredgasanalyzersformicrome-
teorologicalmeasurementsofthecarbondioxideexchangeofcropcanopies.
In1967hemovedtotheUniversityofNottinghamSchoolofAgriculturewherehe
builtupthefirstacademicdepartmentwithafocusonEnvironmentalPhysics.Thefirst
editionofthisbookin1973wasderivedfromthecoursethathedevelopedtherefor
seniorundergraduates,whichwasuniqueincoveringbothplantandanimalinteractions
withtheenvironment.Thetextquicklybecameessentialreadingforresearchersinthe
expanding fieldofEnvironmental Physicsworldwideandwastranslatedintoseveral
languages.WhenIjoinedJohnasco-authorforthesecondedition(1990),weupdated
thebook,expandedseveralchapters,andaddednewsectionsonnon-steady-stateheat
balances and on particle and pollutant gas transfer in recognition of the emerging
disciplinethatwouldeventuallybetermedbiogeochemistry.
Bythetimeofthethirdedition(2008),EnvironmentalPhysicshadexpandedrapidly,
drivenbyconcernsoverincreasingglobalcarbondioxideconcentrationsandchanging
climate.Inparticular,researchonthecarbonandwaterbudgetsofforestsandnatural
vegetationhadgreatlyincreased.Availabilityofnewfast-responseinstrumentationfor
trace gas measurement allowed the previously esoteric micrometeorological method
ofeddycovariancemeasurementtobewidelyapplied.Consequentlyweaddedmore
materialabouteddycovarianceandincludedmoreexamplesofapplicationsinforest
science.Wealsorespondedtorequeststoincludemoreworkedexamplesandproblem
sets for student use. The Preface to the Third Edition, which is reproduced below,
capturesmanyofJohn’sinsightsintothedevelopmentofEnvironmentalPhysics,and
reveals some of the thinking behind how this book is structured and the conventions
wehavechosentoadopt.
Thisfourtheditionprovidesanopportunitytoimproveonthepresentationofmate-
rial,updatethecorechapters,andsummarizesomeofthehighlightsofthehugeexpan-
sioninpublishedworkinEnvironmentalPhysicsoverthepastdecade.Inkeepingwith
thetitle,wehavechosentofocusonprinciples;readersseekingmoreadvancedtreat-
viii PrefacetotheFourthEdition
mentsoftopicsareencouragedtoexploresomeofthetextsmentionedintheBibliog-
raphy.Inchoosingexamplesfrompublishedresearchwehavecontinuedourpractice
of focusing on work that presents new insights and applies principles from the text;
this becomes increasingly challenging as Environmental Physics grows, so we have
includedmanynewreferencesaimedtohelpreadersfollowuponemergingtopics.
It has always been our aim to keep the mathematics in this book at a level acces-
sible to readers competent in algebra but not necessarily familiar with calculus. We
have responded to suggestions from our students and others by expanding many of
thealgebraicderivationstoshowintermediatesteps,andwehaveplacedsomeofthe
morecomplexmathematicsintextboxeswhichcouldbeomittedbythegeneralreader.
MorehasbeenincludedaboutthePenman-Monteithequationanditsapplications,and
about coupling of vegetation to the atmosphere. And we have increased the material
oneddycovarianceandmodifiedthepresentationofgradientmethodsinmicromete-
orologysothatmuchofthediscussionofnon-neutralstabilitycouldbebypassed.
Wearegratefultoourmanystudentsandcolleagueswhohavegivenusfeedback
on their use of this book and have provided many of the research examples that are
mentionedinthetext.Comments(bothpositiveandnegative!)onthiseditionwillbe
[email protected].
MikeUnsworth,2013.
Companion Website
Visitthisbook’scompanionwebsitetoaccessadditionalcontent.
http://booksite.elsevier.com/9780123869104
Preface to the Third Edition
InthetimesincethefirsteditionofPrinciplesofEnvironmentalPhysicswaspublished
in 1973 the subject has developed substantially; indeed, many users of the first and
secondeditionshavecontributedtothebodyofresearchthatmakesthisthirdedition
larger than the first. From the start, this text has been aimed at two audiences: first,
undergraduateandgraduatestudentsseekingtolearnhowtheprinciplesofphysicscan
beappliedtostudytheinteractionsbetweenplantsandanimalsandtheirenvironments;
andsecond,theresearchcommunity,particularlythoseinvolvedinmultidisciplinary
environmentalresearch.Inmanyways,environmentalphysicshasbecomemorethor-
oughlyembeddedinenvironmentalresearchoverthedecades.Forexample,inecology
andhydrology,conceptsofatmosphericexchangeofgasesandenergybetweenorgan-
isms and the atmosphere, and the resistances (or conductances) controlling them are
commonly applied. And in atmospheric science, soil-vegetation-atmosphere transfer
schemes (SVATS) are an integral part of general circulation, mesoscale, and climate
models.This“unionofideas”acrossthedisciplineshasmadeitchallengingtodefine
the scope of this third edition and to keep the size manageable. In doing so we have
beenguidedbytheword“Principles”inthetitle,sohavefocused,asinpreviousedi-
tions, on describing the critical principles of energy, mass, and momentum transfer,
and illustrating them with a number of examples of their applications, taken from a
rangeofclassicandmorerecentpublications.
Severalthemeshavewaxedandwanedovertheeditions.Atthetimeofthefirstedi-
tion,agriculturalcropmicrometeorologywasadominantapplicationofenvironmental
physics,beginningwiththedesiretoquantifythewateruseandirrigationrequirements
of crops, and extending, as new instrumentation became available, to the analysis of
carbondioxideexchangeineffortstoidentifytheenvironmentalcontrolsofcroppro-
ductivity.Therehasbeenmuchlessnewworkonagriculturalcropmicrometeorology
in the last decade or two, but applications of environmental physics to the study of
managed and natural forests and other ecosystems gathered pace through the 1970s
and1980s,andprobablycurrentlyaccountforalargerfractionoftheannualreviewed
publicationsinenvironmentalphysicsthanagriculturalapplications.Alsointhe1970s
and1980s,concerns over human influences onairquality(particularlyacidrainand
ozone)grew,leadingtotheapplicationofenvironmentalphysicstostudyfluxesofpol-
lutantgases,acidicparticles,andmisttocropsandforests.Additionally,thetechnology
forremotesensingfromsatellitesdevelopedconsiderably.
The second edition of Principles of Environmental Physics, published in 1990,
reflectedthesedevelopmentsbyaddinganewchapteronparticletransfer,newmate-
rial on radiative transfer, and expanding the sections on micrometeorological meth-
ods. It also expanded treatment of the environmental physics of animals and their
x PrefacetotheThirdEdition
environments,influencedbytheworkofanumberofresearchersstudyingtheheatbal-
anceoflivestockandwildanimals,whobegantousetheterminologyofenvironmental
physics,thusestablishingparallelswiththeintegrationofenvironmentalphysicsinto
plant science. The identification of the ozone hole above Antarctica in 1985, and its
influenceonultravioletradiationatthesurfacereceivedashortmentioninthesecond
edition,butemergingresearchondepositionofnitrogen-containinggasestovegetation
wasnotcovered;bothtopicsreceivemoreattentioninthisedition.
Throughthe1980s,extendingtothepresenttime,concernoverrisingconcentrations
ofcarbondioxideandothergreenhousegasesintheatmosphereandconsequentlikely
effectsonclimatehasbeenadominanttopic,leadingtoanexplosionofmeasurement
andmodelingresearchprogramsthatmakeuseofprinciplesdescribedinthisbook.Two
developments have been particularly important: improved instrumentation allowing
theeddycovariancetechniqueinmicrometeorologytobeappliedforstudiesofland-
atmosphereexchangeofcarbondioxide,watervapor,andsomeothertracegasesover
seasonalandmulti-annualperiods;andtheoreticaladvancestoenablemodelsofplant-
atmosphereexchangetobescaledupfromtheleafscaletolandscape,regionalandeven
globalscales,creatinglinksbetweentheprinciplesdescribedinthisbookatorganism
andcanopylevelswiththetypeofregionalandglobalmodelingnecessarytoaddress
climate-changeconcerns.Thiseditioncontainstwosubstantiallyrevisedchapterson
micrometeorologywithexpandedtreatmentoftheeddycovariancemethod,andwhich
contain several new case studies to illustrate the application of micrometeorological
methodsoverforestsandnaturallandscapes.Wehavealsoexpandedthematerialon
solar and terrestrial radiation with new discussion of the roles of radiatively active
greenhousegasesandaerosols.
Althougheddycovariancehasbecomethemethodofchoiceformicrometeorologyin
manysituations,wehaveretainedthematerialdescribingprofile(similarity)techniques
for deducing fluxes, because an understanding of similarity methods is essential for
large-scalemodelsandbecauseprofilemethodshaveadvantagesintermsofsimplicity
ofinstrumentationwhendesigningstudentprojectsorworkingwithlimitedresources.
Anumberofotherchangesinthiseditionhaveresultedfromourownexperience
andfeedbackfromothersusingthisbookasateachingtext:severalsectionsthatwere
particularlycondensedinearliereditionshavebeenexpandedtoaidclarity,andsome
sectionshavebeenrearrangedtoimprovetheflow;moreworkedexampleshavebeen
includedinthetext;somespecializedmaterial(forexample,detailsofthephysicsof
radiative emission and of radiation interaction with aerosols) has been added in text
boxes that can be omitted by readers seeking a briefer treatment of the subject; and
numericalproblemshavebeenaddedattheendofeachchapter.Manyofthenumerical
problemsaremoreextensivethantypicallyfoundintextbooks.Thisreflectsrequestswe
havehadovertheyearsfromteacherswhowouldliketoexplorerealisticapplications
of the subject; many of the problems have been used in our own undergraduate and
graduate teaching at Nottingham and Oregon State Universities, and we thank many
studentsfortheirfeedbackandsuggestionsforimprovementstotheproblems.
In planning this third edition we debated whether to change nomenclature in flux
equationsfromresistancestoconductances,andwhethertoexpressquantitiesin“mole”
unitsratherthan“m-kg-s”units.Biologistsincreasinglyuseconductancesandmoles
PrefacetotheThirdEdition xi
intheiranalyses,andtherearesomegoodtheoreticalanddidacticargumentsforthis.
But,onbalance,wepreferredtoretainthe“resistance”termsand“s m−1”unitsused
inearliereditions:theanalogywithOhm’sLawemphasizestheunderlyingphysicsof
manyanalysesusedinthisbook,andunitsofsm−1 forresistancesaremoreintuitive
forheatandmasstransfercalculationsinenergybalanceandhydrologicalapplications.
Nevertheless, werecognize thatmany readers willbefamiliarwithconductance and
mol units, so we have discussed conversions of units at several appropriate points
inthetext.Therearemanyadvantagesinenvironmentalphysiciststryingtobecome
comfortableinworkingwithbothsystemsofunitstofacilitatecommunicationacross
thedisciplines.
Weintendthistexttobeusefulforteachingundergraduatesandgraduatestudents
specializing in physics, biology, and the environmental sciences. The mathematical
treatmentisdeliberatelykeptrelativelysimple,withlittleuseofcalculus;thebiology
isalsostrictlylimited,consistingprincipallyofmaterialessentialforunderstandingthe
physicalapplications.Thereisabibliographydirectingreaderstomoredetailedtexts
ifnecessary.Forourothercategoryofreaders,researchscientists,wehavecontinued
the approach of previous editions by including a large number of references to the
peer-reviewed literature, identifying a mix of papers that we consider classics and
ground-breakingresearchapplications;morethan30ofthereferencesinthisedition
havebeenpublishedsince1990.
In the preface to the second edition we expressed the hope that our book would
encourage more university physics departments to expose their students to environ-
mental physics. Our impression is that progress has been slow. This surely cannot
be because of a lack of career opportunities—current environmental concerns open
many possibilities for environmental physicists in the atmospheric sciences, hydrol-
ogy,ecology,andbiology,particularlyiftheyenjoythechallengesofmultidisciplinary
work. Nor does it seem to be because physics students lack interest in environmen-
talsubjects.Perhaps itisinevitable thatthecrowded physics curriculumleaves little
roomforoptionssuchasenvironmentalphysics,butitwouldbesatisfyingif,bythe
timethefourtheditionofthisbookappears,environmentalphysicswasascommonas
astronomyormeteorologyasanoptionalcourseinphysicsdepartments.
JohnMonteithandMikeUnsworth,2006.
Acknowledgments
We thank the following for allowing us to use diagrams, photographs, and original
data:
Drs R. Keeling and P. Tans, and the database provided by the US Department
of Energy through its Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (Figure 2.2);
Dr. G. Kopp for providing the data used in Figure 5.1; Dr. S.T. Henderson and Adam
Hilger Publishers (Figure 5.2); Dr. J.A. Coakley (Figure 5.3); The British Antarctic
Survey (Figure 5.4); The Solar Energy Research Institute for the computer models
used to construct Figure 5.5; Dr. M.D. Steven and the Royal Meteorological Society
(Figure 5.6) from the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society; Dr. F.
Vignola for providing the data used in Figure 5.8; Dr. J.V. Lake for providing the data
used in Figure 5.9; Mr. F.E. Lumb and the Royal Meteorological Society (Figure 5.10)
from the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society; Dr. R. von Fleischer
and the Deutschern Wetterdienstes (Figure 5.15); Dr. R. Nakamura for providing the
data used in Figure 5.17; Dr. K. Bible for providing the data used in Figure 5.18;
Dr. E.L. Deacon and Elsevier Publishing Co. (Figures 6.1 and 15.7); Dr. S.A. Bowers
and Lippincott Williams and Wilkins Co. (Figure 6.3) from Soil Science; Dr. K.J.
McCree and Elsevier Publishing Co. (Figure 6.4) from Agricultural Meteorology;
Dr. G. Stanhill and Pergamon Press (Figure 6.6) from Solar Energy; Professor L.E.
Mount and Edward Arnold (Figures 6.7, 14.3, and 14.4); Dr. J.C.D. Hutchinson
and Pergamon Press (Figure 6.8) from Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology;
Dr. W. Porter for providing data used in Figure 6.9; Dr. C.R. Underwood and Taylor
and Francis Ltd (Figure 7.5) from Ergonomics; Dr. G.S. Campbell and Nottingham
University Press (Figure 8.3) Dr. K. Cena and the Royal Society of London (Figure
8.6) from the Proceedings of the Royal Society; Dr. J. Grace and Oxford University
Press (Figure 9.3) from Journal of Experimental Botany; The Royal Meteorological
Society (Figures 9.4, 9.5, 13.6, 13.7, 13.8, 13.9, 15.3, 17.13, and 17.14) from
the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society; Dr. W.C. Hinds and
John Wiley & Sons Inc. (Figures 9.6, 12.7, 12.8, 12.9, 12.10); Dr. D. Aylor and
the American Society of Plant Physiologists (Figure 9.7) from Plant Physiology;
Dr. A Stokes and Cambridge University Press (Figure 9.8); Drs C.J. Wood and
R. Belcher and D. Reidel Publishing Co. (Figure 9.10) from Boundary Layer
Meteorology; Dr. J.A. Clark and D. Reidel Publishing Co. (Figure 10.3) from
Boundary Layer Meteorology; Dr. B.J. Bailey and the International Society for
Horticultural Science (Figure 10.4) from Acta Horticulturae; Dr. S. Vogel and
Clarendon Press (Figure 10.5); Dr. A.J. McArthur and the Royal Society of London
(Figures 10.7 and 10.8) from the Proceedings of the Royal Society; Dr. R.P. Clark and
The Lancet (Figures 10.9 and 10.11), and Cambridge University Press (Figure 10.8)
xiv Acknowledgments
from Journal of Physiology; Dr. P.F. Scholander and the Marine Biological Laboratory
(Figure 10.12); Dr. I. Impens allowed us to use unpublished measurements in Figure
11.1. Dr. T. Haseba and the Society of Agricultural Meteorology in Japan (Figure
11.3) from Journal of Agricultural Meteorology; Dr. H.G. Jones and Cambridge
University Press (Figure 11.7); Dr. D. Aylor and Pergamon Press (Figure 12.5) from
Atmospheric Environment; Professor N.A. Fuchs and Pergamon Press (Figure 12.1);
Dr. A.C. Chamberlain and Academic Press (Figure 12.3), and D. Reidel Publishing
Co. (Figure 17.1) from Boundary Layer Meteorology; Dr. D. Fowler and Springer
(Figure 12.6) from Water, Air, and Soil Pollution; Dr. K. Raschke and Springer (Figure
13.5) from Planta; R. Milstein (Figure 13.10); Elsevier Publishing Co. (Figures 13.11
and 13.12) from the Journal of Hydrology and (Figure 17.11) from Agricultural
and Forest Meteorology; Dr. A.M. Hemmingsen (Figure 14.2); Dr. D.M. Gates and
Springer-Verlag (Figure 15.2); Dr. J. van Eimern and the Deutschern Wetterdienstes
(Figure 15.5); Dr. W.R. van Wijk and North Holland Publishing Co. (Figure 15.6); D.
Vickers and Dr. L. Mahrt (Figure 16.3); Dr. J. Finnigan and D. Reidel Publishing Co.
(Figure 16.4) from Boundary Layer Meteorology and (Figures 17.16 and 17.17); Dr.
R.H. Shaw and Elsevier Publishing Co. (Figure 16.8) from Agricultural Meteorology;
Academic Press (Figures 16.9 and 16.10); Dr. M.R. Raupach and Annual Reviews
Inc. (Figure 16.11) from Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics; Dr. T.A. Black
and Blackwell Scientific (Figures 17.9 and 17.10) from Global Change Biology;
Dr. D. Baldocchi (Figure 17.7) and D. Reidel Publishing Co. (Figure 17.19) from
Boundary Layer Meteorology; Dr. M. Sutton and the Royal Society (Figure 17.15)
from the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London.