Consideration of radiation absorption by stems in forests for microclimate modeling

Béland, Martin; Bonan, Gordon; Kobayashi, Hideki; Baldocchi, Dennis

doi:10.5194/gmd-19-9019-2026

Articles | Volume 19, issue 18

https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-9019-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-9019-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 19, issue 18

Development and technical paper

|

24 Sep 2026

Development and technical paper |

| 24 Sep 2026

Consideration of radiation absorption by stems in forests for microclimate modeling

Martin Béland, Gordon Bonan, Hideki Kobayashi, and Dennis Baldocchi

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-9019-2026-supplement

Data sets

Data for paper "Modifications in the Norman (1979) canopy radiative transfer model to consider multiple scattering in clumped layers and radiation absorption by stems" M. Beland https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15206721

Ground lidar data, leaf and wood area density at six broadleaf deciduous forest plots M. Beland https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21537265

Model code and software

digital-forest-lab/Norman_stems: V1 (Version V1) digital-forest-lab https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21536957

Short summary

Computer models used to simulate forest canopy microclimates rely on radiative transfer simulations. These models commonly only consider tree leaves and exclude wood structures. Here we present modifications to a commonly used model to consider stem absorption. We compared model estimates to detailed simulations using 3D data from ground lidar at four deciduous forest sites. We also compared simulations against field observations of sunlight reflected by canopies.