H23G-1653
Detecting tree mass changes using accelerometers
Tuesday, 15 December 2015
Poster Hall (Moscone South)
Tim Hans Martin van Emmerik1, Marceau F Guerin2, Susan C Steele-Dunne3, Pierre Gentine4 and Nick Van De Giesen3, (1)Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft, 5612, Netherlands, (2)Columbia University, New York, NY, United States, (3)Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft, Netherlands, (4)Columbia University of New York, Palisades, NY, United States
Abstract:
During the course of a day, the mass of a tree changes as an effect of water transport within the tree, and intercepted water by the leaves of the tree canopy. Trees transport water through the roots and stem up to the canopy for transpiration. This process slows down when soil moisture in the root zone decreases. An accelerometer was mounted just below the crown of a plane (Platanus x hispanica) tree in Delft, the Netherlands, to measure the displacement and acceleration in three dimensions. Using spectral analysis, a diurnal pattern in the governing frequencies was found. Additional meteorological, sap flow, and canopy interception measurements are used to analyze the signal, and explain the variations in the governing frequencies. The goal of this study is to quantify the mass changes in a tree using 3D acceleration data, and separate this into contributions from interception, and changes in tree water content. This will allow further investigation of detecting and quantifying the effect of water stress on tree dynamics in forest canopies.
