Linking ice accretion and crown structure: towards a model of the effect of freezing rain on tree canopies.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

Despite a longstanding interest in variation in tree species vulnerability to ice storm damage, quantitative analyses of the influence of crown structure on within-crown variation in ice accretion are rare. In particular, the effect of prior interception by higher branches on lower branch accumulation remains unstudied. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that intra-crown ice accretion can be predicted by a measure of the degree of sheltering by neighbouring branches.

Methods

Freezing rain was artificially applied to Acer platanoides L., and in situ branch-ice thickness was measured directly and from LiDAR point clouds. Two models of freezing rain interception were developed: 'IceCube', which uses point clouds to relate ice accretion to a vox

SUBMITTER: Nock CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4904176 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature