Effect of snow interception on the energy balance above deciduous and coniferous forests during a snowy winter

We discuss how snow intercepted by deciduous and coniferous forests affects their water and energy balances. Intensive micrometeorological observations above and below the canopy were carried out in deciduous (DF) and coniferous (CF) forests in the winter of 1996-97 in Sapporo, Hokkaido Island, Japan. Compared with the DF, large amounts of intercepted snow on the canopy of the CF caused a relatively large latent heat flux, which depended on the aerodynamic and canopy resistance. When the intercepted snow oil the canopy disappeared from the CF, the sensible and latent heat fluxes were the same at the two sites. Canopy resistance determined the latent heat flux above the DF because the aerodynamic resistance was insignificantly small. The canopy resistance for the DF was correlated with the snow surface temperature. Differences in the amounts of intercepted snow and in the canopy and aerodynamic resistance affected the partition of the input radiative energy above the two canopies. Furthermore, the site of effective energy exchange differed in the CF and DF because the effective energy exchange in the DF occurred at the forest floor.