A 2-DIMENSIONAL TRAJECTORY-SIMULATION MODEL FOR NON-GAUSSIAN, INHOMOGENEOUS TURBULENCE WITHIN PLANT CANOPIES

We report a two-dimensional (alongwind u, vertical w) trajectory-simulation model, consistent with Thomson's (1987) well-mixed criteria, that allows for the non-Gaussian turbulence typical of flow within a plant canopy. The effect of non-Gaussian turbulence was examined by formulating a non-Gaussian u, w joint probability density function (PDF) as the sum of two Gaussian joint-PDFs. The resultant PDF reproduced the desired means, variances, skewnesses, and kurtoses, and the correct covariance. In prediction of the location of maximum concentration downwind of a line source in homogeneous, slightly non-Gaussian turbulence, it proved advantageous to incorporate skewness and kurtosis. However, in the case of inhomogeneous. highly non-Gaussian turbulence, the addition of skewness and kurtosis in the model resulted in substantially worse agreement with measurements than the results of the model using Gaussian PDFs. This may be due to inaccuracy in our PDF formulation. Dispersion predictions from the model with Gaussian PDFs were generally not statistically different from measurements. These results indicate that a two-dimensional Gaussian trajectory-simulation approach is adequate to predict mean concentrations and fluxes resulting from sources within plant canopies.