Impact of time lags on diurnal estimates of canopy transpiration and canopy conductance from sap-flow measurements of Populus cathayana in the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau

Abstract

Recently, canopy transpiration (Ec) has been often estimated by xylem sap-flow measurements. However, there is a significant time lag between sap flow measured at the base of the stem and canopy transpiration due to the capacitive exchange between the transpiration stream and stem water storage. Significant errors will be introduced in canopy conductance (gc) and canopy transpiration estimation if the time lag is neglected. In this study, a cross-correlation analysis was used to quantify the time lag, and the sap flow-based transpiration was measured to parameterize Jarvis-type models of gc and thus to simulate Ec of Populus cathayana using the Penman–Monteith equation. The results indicate that solar radiation (Rs) and vapor pressure deficit (VPD) are not fully coincident with sap flow and have an obvious lag effect; the sap flow lags behind Rs and precedes VPD, and there is a 1-h time shift between Ec and sap flow in the 30-min interval data set. A parameterized Jarvis-type gc model is suitable to predict P. cathayana transpiration and explains more than 80% of the variation observed in gc, and the relative error was less than 25%, which shows a preferable simulation effect. The root mean square error (RMSEs) between the predicted and measured Ec were 1.91 × 10−3 (with the time lag) and 3.12 × 10−3 cm h−1 (without the time lag). More importantly, Ec simulation precision that incorporates time lag is improved by 6% compared to the results without the time lag, with the mean relative error (MRE) of only 8.32% and the mean absolute error (MAE) of 1.48 × 10−3 cm h−1.