Influence of wind on the infrared radiance statistics of vegetation canopies

Abstract

A simple method to calculate the statistical distribution of the vegetation-canopy radiative temperature is presented, based on the heat-balance equation of the vegetation canopy and the assumption that the bulk stomatal thermal resistance and short-wavelength absorption coefficients are random, uncorrelated variables with normal distribution densities. The distribution is found as a function of local meteorological factors. The influence of wind speed on the statistical nature of the vegetation-canopy radiance is studied in detail. A comparison between our theoretical results and previous experiments cited in the literature is also presented.