Flow Over Hills Covered by a Plant Canopy: Extension to Generalised Two-Dimensional Topography

Abstract

An understanding of how topography, including that covered by a plant canopy, influences the flow and turbulence is important in many meteorological and micrometeorological applications. We revisit the framework of Finnigan and Belcher (Q J Roy Meteorol Soc 130:1–29, 2004) for neutral flow over sinusoidal two-dimensional topography covered by a canopy and present a minor modification that enables a formal match between the forms for the flow within and above the canopy, including within the deep canopy. The modification then allows the easy extension of the framework to generalised two-dimensional topography. The revised framework affirms the conclusions of Finnigan and Belcher (op.cit.); above the canopy the flow perturbations are maximised near to where the perturbation pressure is a minimum, whereas deep within the canopy the flow perturbations are maximised when the streamwise gradient of the perturbation pressure is largest. However, the extension to general topography strongly illustrates that it is the pressure perturbation, not the hill shape directly, that controls the magnitude and location of the topographic impacts on the flow. For isolated ridges with a plateau, the flow perturbations above the canopy maximise, not at the ridge crest, but where the hill curvature is largest. Multiple recirculation regions can also exist within the canopy, as determined by the streamwise gradient of the pressure perturbation. These results indicate that knowledge of the terrain over a larger area than hither-to-thought is required to assess whether the use of micrometeorological techniques is appropriate at individual sites.