THE EFFECTS OF PLANT WATER STORAGE ON TRANSPIRATION AND RADIOMETRIC SURFACE-TEMPERATURE

The storage of water in plants (a capacitor) is incorporated into the plant component of a boundary layer model. The capacitance, storage resistance, and storage water potential are related directly to the volume of water stored. We show how an initial volume of stored water affects the surface transpiration flux, canopy radiometric temperature and stomatal resistance. The magnitude of the capacitance effect in large plants did not exceed 20-50 W m-2 in transpiration (per unit leaf area) and 1-degrees-C in surface radiometric temperature. Storage in small plants seem to play virtually no role in the surface energy budget or have any significant effect on surface radiometric temperature.