Journal of Heat Island Institute International Vol.7-2 (2012) Academic Article Field Measurement of the Energy Budget for an Isolated Plant Unit Atsumasa Yoshida Yumi Kataoka Kosuke Nii Shin’ichi Kinoshita Osaka Prefecture University, Sakai, Osaka, JAPAN Corresponding author email: ayoshida@me.osakafu-u.ac.jp ABSTRACT It is necessary to evaluate a green effect quantitatively to promote urban greening. The energy balance of a plant is important information for thermal environment design. In urban spaces, a lot of isolated plants (e.g., vegetation at individual residences and street trees) are seen. However, there are few studies of the energy balance of such isolated plants, and useful data are hard to obtain. In this study, the energy balance of an isolated plant unit was measured or expected, and a quantitative evaluation was performed for urban space planning. Introduction The thermal environment in urban areas keeps deteriorating due to the heat island phenomenon, which has become aggravated in recent years. To solve this problem, the role of plants was reviewed. For a quantitative forecast of the climate-easing effect of plants, it is important to understand the energy budget of the plant body. Much research has been conducted thus far, and the basic data are from technical studies of the energy budget of large-scale forest belts, meadows, and plants for rooftop gardening (Kanda et al. 1997; Misaka et al. 2007). Few studies have been done on the energy budget of isolated plants, such as those used in planting, gardening, and street trees in urban spaces. In the present study, the energy balance of an isolated plant unit was measured in the field, and a quantitative evaluation was performed for urban space planning. The plant units are shown in Figure 1. The camphor tree is one of the wood species often used in Japan as a street tree. The hibiscus is popular in Japan as a garden plant. The energy budgets of the isolated single tree and the potted plant were evaluated in the present study. The heat-transfer coefficient for the leaf side and the evaporation efficiency of the water surface are discussed. (a) camphor tree (b) hibiscus Figure 1. Isolated tree and potted plant - 142 - Energy Budget for an Isolated Single Tree temperature Tl, and vapor-pressure deficit D is shown in Figure 2 for the data from 2008. The vapor-pressure deficit D was defined by the difference between the saturated water-vapor pressure on the leaf side and the water-vapor pressure of the atmosphere. Some correlation was found between the transpiration rate and these weather conditions, respectively. However, there was a comparatively large dispersion, and the transpiration action was understood to be affected by the combined influence of the various factors. Moreover, the measured transpiration rate was only obtained for a single leaf. Therefore, it is necessary to estimate the amount of transpiration for the whole tree to evaluate the energy budget of a single tree, as described later. It is difficult to directly measure the amount of transpiration and the radiation balance of a tree planted in an urban area. A forecast model of the surrounding metrological elements was examined, based on the fragmentary measured results. A camphor tree was selected as the major target. Prediction of Transpiration Rate for a Single Leaf The physiological factors of the plant are related to the factors that control evaporation and to the transpiration rate. For instance, the transpiration rate approaches a constant incident number of photons for solar irradiation, as shown in Figure 3 for the data from 2005 to 2008. The transpiration rate of a single leaf is generally 20 18 18 16 16 16 14 12 10 8 Jp [µ g/cm2 /s] 20 18 Jp [µ g/cm 2 /s] 20 14 12 10 8 14 12 10 8 6 6 6 4 4 4 2 2 2 0 0 20 200 400 600 800 1000 Q [ µ mol/s/cm2] 25 30 35 40 0 5 10 T l [℃] (a) Photon number 15 20 25 camphor tree 20 15 10 5 200 400 600 800 1000 Solar radiation [W/m2] Figure 3. Relationship between transpiration rate and solar irradiation - 143 - 30 (c) Vapor-pressure deficit Figure 2. Relationship between the transpiration rate of a single leaf of a camphor tree, photon number, leaf temperature, and vapor-pressure deficit 0 25 D [hPa] (b) Leaf temperature Jp[ µ g/cm2/s] Jp [µ g/cm2/s] Measurement of Transpiration Rate of Single Leaf The transpiration rate for each unit area of each leaf Jpobs [μg/cm2/s] was obtained by using a diffusion-type polometer on the site. Air temperature Ta, leaf temperature Tl, relative humidity Rh, and photon number Q in a specific wavelength region (400–700 nm) of solar irradiation effective for photosynthesis were measured at the same time as the surrounding metrological elements. The target tree was a camphor tree, with height of about 10 m, on the campus of Osaka Prefecture University. This kind of tree is widely planted in urban parks and along streets. The relationship between the transpiration rate Jp of a single leaf of the camphor tree, photon number Q, leaf 35 40 expressed by the following equation. Jp = gb g s ( ρl − ρc ) gb + g s (1) where gb is the conductance of the boundary layer on the leaf side, gs is the stomatal conductance, ρl is the water-vapor concentration on the leaf side, and ρc is the water-vapor concentration of the surrounding atmosphere, respectively. The physics model that Jarvis (1976) proposed for stomatal conductance was employed in the present study. For Jarvis’s model, the stomatal conductance is shown by Eq. (2) as a product of the independent function of photon number Q, vapor-pressure deficit D, and leaf temperature Tl. Those values were regularized so each function may also take the value of 0 to 1. (2) g s = g s max f1 (Q) f 2 ( D) f 3 (Tl ) The values of gsmax and the parameters in each function were decided to suit the data according to the nonlinear least square method. The transpiration rate Jppre was predicted by obtaining gs by using these values and substituting the obtained value for Eq. (1). Figure 4 shows the correlation between the actual data Jpobs and the predicted values. As for the transpiration rate from a single leaf, the prediction was found to be almost possible according to the surrounding weather conditions. Model of Radiation Transfer and Transpiration of a Single Tree In general, because the camphor tree grows thick and spheroidal, its tree canopy was assumed to be a globe. The influence of the branch and the trunk was disregarded. All leaves were assumed to be attached parallel to the ground, and not to interfere with each other. A double layer of the spherical shell was adopted as a group of leaves. The leaf area index was set at 8.0. This index was defined as the ratio of the gross area of all the leaves that exist in the upper side with the area of the ground surface. In the globe shown in Figure 5, the axis of polar coordinates (θ = 0o) was assumed to be in a perpendicular direction, and the surface area was divided in the direction of the zenithal angle θ and azimuthal angle φ at intervals of 5o, Figure 4. Correlation between data and predicted values for the transpiration rate of a single leaf from a camphor tree solar radiation Z θ dθ θ= 0° leaf r dθ camphor canopy y inner layer layer2 r layer1 outer layer r sinθdψ x reflection ground dψ Figure 5. Outline of a tree model for a camphor tree - 144 - respectively. The radiation balance was estimated for each element. The solar-radiation transfer was handled separately for two wavelength bands PAR (photosynthetically active radiation) and NIR (near-infrared radiation). PAR is about 0.4 to 0.7 µm effective for photosynthesis. NIR is a longer wavelength band than PAR. The reflectivity (0.1 and 0.4) and the transmissivity (0.1 and 0.5) of the plant leaf were greatly different in PAR and NIR. Direct solar radiation accounted for 90% of global solar radiation on a fine day, and the ratio was different for the two wavelength bands. It was assumed that direct solar radiation is equally received in the hemisphere in the incident direction. The diffuse solar radiation from the sky and the ground was assumed to be received in the upper and lower hemisphere, respectively. The characteristics of the ground were assumed to be the same as the reflection property of the leaves in the meadow where the camphor tree was planted. As for the infrared radiation, the sky radiation and the emitted radiation from the leaves were considered in the upper hemisphere, and the emitted radiation from the ground and leaves was considered in the lower hemisphere; 0.98 was given to the emissivity of the leaf and ground. Emissivity has been reported to be more than 0.8, excluding metals (Yoshida et al. 2004). The surface temperature of the ground was equal to the leaf temperature. The leaf temperature Tl [oC] was requested by using the following empirical equation (Ikezawa et al. 1995), expressed by air temperature Ta [oC] and horizontal total solar radiation Sr [W/m2]. Tl = 0.882Ta + 0.0036 S r + 1.86 (3) The transpiration rates Jppre for the unit area and the unit time were requested by entering the metrological elements (e.g., air temperature, relative humidity, and solar radiation) into Jarvis’s model (1976). Next, the amounts of transpiration for the unit time of each leaf element were requested by multiplying the element area by Jppre. The total amount of transpiration from the tree was calculated as the sum of the elements. The validity of the tree model was verified by comparing the amounts of transpiration obtained in relation to the sap-flow speed, as described later. Estimated Energy Budget of an Isolated Single Tree The energy budget was estimated using the meteorological data measured on July 15, 2008 from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM, at intervals of 10 minutes. The amount of transpiration from a camphor tree was calculated by the method described in the previous paragraph. Latent heat flux lE was obtained by multiplying the evaporative latent heat by the estimated value, and dividing the projected area of the tree as seen from the sky. Net radiation flux Rn was also obtained by this method. Because the temperature difference on both sides of the leaf was small, the conductive-heat flux and thermal storage were disregarded. Sensible-heat flux H was assumed to be the remainder. Figure 6a shows the time variation of the energy budget for a single camphor tree. lE(model) in this figure means the estimated latent heat flux. lE (measurement) means the latent heat flux obtained from the measured result of the sap-flow speed, as explained in the following section. Figure 6b shows each element of the radiation balance. The absorbed amount of each wavelength band of PAR and NIR was clarified for solar radiation. The absorbed amount in the inner layer of the double spherical shell layers (see Figure 5) is separately displayed. Infrared radiation from the atmosphere and the leaves is displayed. As shown in Figure 6a, the estimated latent-heat transfer 1400 1000 Heat flux [W/m 2] 2008/7/15 800 Rn lE(model) lE(mesurement) H 600 400 1000 (leaves) 800 600 400 200 200 0 Radiation [W/m 2 ] 1200 Solar irradiation (total) solar radiation Absorbed absorption solar radiation (total, double) short wave radiation (PAR, double) PAR absorption(all) (PAR, inner) PAR absorption (surround) NIR absorption (all) (NIR, double) NIR absorption (surround) (NIR, inner) atmosphericEmitted radiation infrared radiation (sky) IR from leaf 10:00 10 12:00 12 14:00 14 0 8:00 8 Time 10:00 10 12:00 12 14:00 14 Time (a) Energy balance components (b) Radiation components Figure 6. Estimated energy budget of an isolated camphor tree in daytime in the summer - 145 - 16:00 16 accounted for 35% to 50% of the net radiation. It was clarified that the sensible-heat transfer also played a key role in the thermal transfer of the isolated single tree. A difference was found between the energy budget of the isolated tree and that of a colony tree (i.e., in a forest). It was understood that the ratio for the net radiation of the latent-heat transfer was similar to that for herb plant, described later. As shown in Figure 6b, it was understood that the majority of the absorbed solar radiation to the leaves was in the wavelength band of PAR, which influences transpiration activity. It was shown that the absorbed radiation in the outer layer of the double spherical shells (see Figure 5) was predominant. The time variation of the infrared radiation was not large, and the radiation cooling continued. The difference between the leaf temperature and the air temperature was small (i.e., about 1o C). Measurement of Sap-Flow Speed in a Tree Trunk The sap-flow speed in the trunk of a camphor tree was measured using Granier’s (1987) method to verify the accuracy of the amount of transpiration estimated by the tree model. TDP-80 of Dynamax Co. was used for the measurement. Two pairs of sensors of the T type thermocouple were arranged in the device and were inserted into the tree trunk. The heater was built into the upper sensor, and heat was given regularly. The temperature difference between these two sensors was measured. When the sap-flow speed stopped, the temperature difference between the sensors was at its maximum. If the relationship between the temperature difference and the sap-flow speed is known, the calculation of the sap-flow speed can be easily obtained. The amount of transpiration of a single tree can be calculated by taking the cross-sectional distribution of the sap-flow speed and integrating it with the cross section. The measurements were taken at two points of the southern and northern parts, at 70 mm and 15 mm from the surface, every minute. The core sample was extracted to find the sectional area in the sap wood through which the sap passed, and the area was determined visually. The latent-heat transfer was obtained by multiplying the sap-flow speed by the area. A ginkgo tree was measured as well as a camphor tree. Figure 7 shows the relationship between the latent-heat transfer and the global solar irradiation obtained from the sap-flow speed of a camphor tree and a ginkgo tree, respectively. It was understood that the tree also consumed 20% to 30% of the global solar irradiation as latent-heat transfer. Figure 6 shows the latent-heat transfer lE (measurement) on July 15, obtained according to the sap-flow speed. It roughly agreed with the latent-heat transfer obtained according to the model, and the validity of the tree model was confirmed. Energy Budget of a Potted Plant The energy budget of a potted plant was examined outdoors. The radiation balance measured directly, without a model. A hibiscus, which is a plant for general gardening, was used as the examination target. The measurements were performed in an open space on the campus of Osaka Prefecture University. The diameter of the potted hibiscus was about 55 cm, the height on the soil side of the pot was about 45 cm, and the (a) Camphor tree (b) Ginkgo tree Figure 7. Relation between global solar irradiation and latent-heat transfer Table 1 Measurement items and instruments Items Air temperature/Relative humidity Leaf and ground temperature Radiation flux Wind velocity Transpiration - 146 - Instruments Thermohygrometer Thermocouple Net radiometer Super sonic anemometer Top-loading balance leaf area index was 1.71. Enough water was given to the plant on the morning of the measurement day, and the soil face in the pot was covered with vinyl film. The electronic balance was assessed every 30 minutes, and the amount of transpiration was obtained. The measurement items and equipment are shown in Table 1. All data, except for the transpiration rate, were recorded with a data logger (EKO, SOLAC V) every minute. The measurement height for air temperature, humidity, and wind velocity was 1.0 m. The net radiation in the potted plant was obtained as follows. (4) Rn = S ↓ + L ↓ − Sp ↑ − Lp ↑ Rn = H + lE + G (5) where Rn is net radiation, S↓ is incident solar radiation, L↓ is incident infrared radiation, Sp↑is reflected solar radiation from the plant, Lp↑is emitted infrared radiation from the plant, H is sensible-heat flux, lE is latent-heat flux and G is conductive-heat flux [W/㎡]. The upward radiation on the plant canopy was obtained by considering the influence of the sensors, excluding the potted plant. The radiation balance on the bottom of the canopy consisted of the transmitted solar radiation through the plant canopy, the reflected solar radiation from the ground, and the emitted infrared radiation from the bottom of the plant canopy and the ground. The conduction-heat transfer in the plant canopy was thought to be 0 because no difference was found between the surface temperatures inside and outside the leaf. Results for the energy budget of a pot-grown plant were summarized. The evaluated time was 30 minutes. Figure 8 shows the ratio of the latent-heat transfer flux obtained by using the projected area of the plant to the net radiation flux. The net radiation flux has increased so that the absorbed radiation flux received under the plant canopy could increase in the pot-grown plant compared with the colony plant. However, the transpiration rate had the tendency to reach the ceiling for the solar radiation irradiated on account of the physiological traits of the plant, as shown in Figure 3. Therefore, the ratio of the latent-heat transfer flux to the net radiation flux was only about 50%, at most, even in summer, when transpiration is active, and it decreased in autumn. The date when the daytime temperature was greater than 25o C was expediently expressed as summer. It has been reported that the latent-heat transfer accounted for about 70% of the radiation transfer in a forest (Kanda et al. 1997). The ratio of the latent-heat transfer in the pot-grown plant was obviously smaller than that in the forest. It agreed with the aforementioned results for an isolated single camphor tree. The results for the pot-grown plant also indicated that transpiration control can be influenced through decreasing the soil moisture content of the pot. It is estimated that the plant keeps its energy balance by increasing the difference between leaf temperature and air temperature as much as possible, and increasing the sensible-heat transfer when stress caused by soil moisture or air temperature is added. A maximum difference between leaf temperature and air temperature of 7o C was observed, depending on the weather conditions. This issue will be examined in the future. From the aforementioned results, it is necessary to pay attention not only to the transpiration action of plant, but also to the sensible-heat transfer from the plant. Heat Transfer Coefficient on Leaf Side The heat-transfer coefficient on the leaf side was examined in consideration of the active sensible-heat transfer from the plant. First of all, the heat-transfer coefficient on the leaf side of pot-grown plant was presumed on the basis of the sensible-heat transfer of the crowd of leaves estimated from the energy balance data. The measurements were executed using the Figure 8. Relation between net solar radiation and latent-heat transfer of potted plant - 147 - potted hibiscus and a mock body of color and shape modeled on a hibiscus and made of dry material (i.e., an artificial plant), on November 21, 2007 and June 17, 2008. The artificial plant did not have any transpiring action. Therefore, it was thought that sensible-heat transfer would be more exactly appreciable for the living plant. The exchange of sensible heat of the artificial plant and the potted hibiscus was assumed to be performed on the leaf front and the back. Thus, the heat-transfer coefficient of the leaf side of the artificial plant and the potted hibiscus was calculated from the difference between the sensible-heat transfer flux, the leaf area index, and the temperature difference between the leaf surface and the surrounding air, as shown by the following equation. a= H (Tl − Ta )× 2 × LAI (6) where α is heat-transfer coefficient [W/m2/K], H is sensible-heat flux [W/m2], Tl is leaf temperature [oC] , Ta is air temperature [oC] and LAI is leaf area index. The heat-transfer coefficient of paper was measured outdoors for a comparison with the potted plant. The measurement was executed from summer to autumn in 2008 using black paper. The measurement place was the aforementioned open space, and the measuring instruments and the measurement items were the same as in Table 1. Paper of various sizes was used to examine the effect of the size on the heat-transfer coefficient. Figure 9 shows the averaged heat-transfer coefficient for 30 minutes of the leaves of the potted hibiscus and artificial plant, and the different sizes of paper. The temperature difference between air and leaf of the hibiscus was about 1° C to 5° C. The average leaf sizes of the potted hibiscus and the artificial plant were about 5 cm and 7 cm, respectively. The observed range of the wind speed narrowed comparatively because the wind was weak on the measured dates of the heat-transfer coefficients for the paper. It was understood that the heat-transfer coefficients of the potted hibiscus and artificial plant tended to be greater than those obtained from Jurges’ formula expressed by Eq. (7), generally used in the field of architectural engineering, or those obtained from the empirical equation used in the heat-transfer field of mechanical engineering. α = 6.2 + 4.3U (wind speed U<4.9[m/s]、rough surface) (7) It was confirmed that the heat-transfer coefficients increased as the paper sizes decreased. The size of the leaf was estimated to be one of the main reasons the heat-transfer coefficient on the leaf side was larger than that on infinite flat surface. The sensible-heat transfer flux of an isolated camphor tree H was obtained from the rest term of the net radiation flux and the latent heat flux was estimated by the physical model, as explained in the preceding section, and then the heat-transfer coefficient α was calculated using Eq. (6). Figure 10 shows the results for a camphor tree. The heat-transfer coefficients of the leaf side of the camphor tree were about 20 to 30 W/m2/K against the surrounding wind speed of 0.5 to 1.5m/s, and were at the same level as those of the potted plant. The heat-transfer coefficients of the plant leaf and small piece of paper were larger than the values obtained from the empirical equations. For a physical explanation, it was determined that the thermal boundary layer on the object side did not develop enough and turbulent mixing with the main current was active. As a result, the difference between the air temperature and the leaf temperature tended to decrease. It will be necessary to assess the correlation between the heat-transfer coefficient of the leaf and the canopy structure in the future. Figure 9. Heat-transfer coefficient for paper, a potted plant leaf, and an artificial plant leaf - 148 - Wind speed [m/s] Figure 10. Heat-transfer coefficient of leaf of camphor tree Evaporation Efficiency of an Isolated Tree and Potted Plant β= The mass-transfer coefficient κ was obtained from Eq. (8) by assuming an analogy with the heat-transfer coefficient α. The evaporation efficiency β was calculated by using Eq. (9) from the ratio of the evaporation rate of the camphor tree, estimated according to the model or the measured value of the potted hibiscus E and the product of mass-transfer coefficient κ and the vapor-pressure deficit (Xs-Xa). The evaporation efficiency was defined as a ratio of an actual transpiration rate to the evaporation rate on the water surface. κ= α C p × Le (8) E κ × (X s − X a ) (9) where κ is mass transfer coefficient [kg/m2/s], Cp is specific heat of air [J/kg/K], Le is Lewes number (= 0.83), β is evaporation efficiency, E is actual evaporation rate [kg/m2/s], Xs is saturated absolute humidity at surface temperature [kg/kgDA] and Xa is absolute humidity of air [kg/kgDA], respectively. Figure 11 shows the evaporation efficiency of an isolated camphor tree and potted hibiscus. The evaporation efficiency was about 0.05 to 0.2 in daytime, regardless of solar irradiation. The evaporation efficiency of a natural lawn with sufficient watering and a water retentive pavement in daytime after water Figure 11. Evaporation efficiency of an isolated tree and potted plant - 149 - sprinkling was reported to be 0.7 and 0.2-0.3, respectively (Umeda et al. 2006; Misaka et al. 2007). The evaporation from soil in addition to the transpiration from leaves was assumed to be active in a natural lawn. These were used on the roof or the road as mitigation countermeasures to decrease air temperature in an urban area. However, evaporation from the soil under each plant was not included in the present study. The isolated tree was thought to contribute significantly to mitigation of the thermal environment in an urban space, depending only on rainwater and creating shade in summer, although the evaporation efficiency of the tree was not large. Japan, 669-670. Yoshida Atsumasa, Sejima Takeshi and Washio Seiichi, 2004, Development System on Radiative Properties of Solid Materials in Infrared Region at Near Room Temperature, Proceedings of the 7th Asian Thermophysical Properties Conference E028 1-13. Umeda Kazuhiko, Fukao Hitoshi and Tamura Akihiro, 2006, Basic Investigation on Transpiration of a Tree in Summer for Evaluation of Thermal Environments, Journal of Environmental Engineering (Transactions of AIJ) No.601 15-20. Summary (Received Feb 9, 2012, Accepted Oct 10, 2012) 1. The latent heat-transfer of an isolated tree and potted plant occupied 50% at most of the radiation transfer, and the sensible-heat transfer played an important role with respect to the energy balance of the plants. 2. It was found that the heat-transfer coefficient on the leaf side was greater than that on the semi-infinite flat plate. One of the main causes is thought to be the small size of the leaf, based on the theory of boundary layers. 3. The evaporation efficiency of the tree was less than that of a natural lawn, including evaporation from the soil, but it did not change greatly as a result to solar irradiation. References Granier Andre, 1987, Evaluation of Transpiration in a Douglas Fir Stand by means of Sap Flow Measurements, Tree Physiology Vol.3 309-320. Ikezawa Noriyuki, Katayama Tadahisa, Hayashi Tetsuo, Choi Dongho, Hagishima Aya and Kagawa Harumi, 1995, Prediction of Thermal Environment on Streets with Roadside Trees Part2 Thermal Characteristics of Foliage, Summaries of Technical Papers of Annual Meeting Architectural Institute of Japan, 615-616. Jarvis Paul G., 1976, The Interpretation of the Variations in Leaf Water Potential and Stomatal Conductance found in Canopies in the Field, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, Vol.273 593-610. Kanda Manabu, Moriwaki Ryo, Takayanagi Yuriko, Yokoyama Hitoshi and Hamada Takashi, 1997, Environmental Effect of Meiji Shrine Forest as a Sink for Atmospheric Energy and Pollutants : (1) Field Observation in Summer 1996, TENKI Vol.44 713-722. Misaka Ikusei, Narita Kenichi, Shiono Syuuhei and Ishii Kouitirou, 2007, Observations of Heat Balance on Lawn and Pavement Surface in Urban Green Space, Summaries of Technical Papers of Annual Meeting Architectural Institute of - 150 -