Vineyard Energy Partitioning Between Canopy and Soil Surface: Dynamics and Biophysical Controls.

For sparse planting crops, soil surface plays an important role in energy balance processes within the soil-canopy-atmosphere continuum; thus, it is necessary to partition field energy fluxes into soil surface and canopy to provide useful information to reduce agricultural water use and to develop evapotranspiration models. Field experiments were conducted in vineyards during four growing seasons to examine the energy partitioning among soil surface, canopy, and field separately. Vineyard energy fluxes including latent heat (LE) were measured by eddy covariance system and canopy latent heat LE c was obtained from sap flow. Then, soil surface latent heat LE s was calculated as the difference between LE and LE c. The Bowen ratio and the ratio of latent heat to available energy were used to examine energy partitioning. Results indicate daily and hourly LE s obtained from LE and LE c overestimated microlysimeter-derived values by 13.0% and 10.8%, respectively. Seasonal-average latent heat accounted for 59.0%-64.3%, 65.8%-77.8%, and 56.6%-62.5% of corresponding available energy for vineyard, canopy, and soil surface, respectively. Soil water content and canopy were the main controlling factors on energy partitioning. Surface soil moisture explained 32%, 11%, and 52% of the seasonal variability in energy partitioning at field, canopy, and soil surface, respectively. Leaf area index explained 41% and 26% of the seasonal variability in energy partitioning at field and soil surface. Air temperature was related to canopy and field energy partitioning. During wet periods, soil can absorb sensible heat from the canopy and LE s may exceed soil surface available energy, while during dry periods, the canopy may absorb sensible heat from the soil and LE c may exceed canopy available energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]