UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL

EXAMINATIONS: June 2011

Saturday 4th June 2011 09h00 Petrie
MODULE: Agrometeorology and Environmental Biophysics
CODE: AMET210

DURATION: 3 hours TOTAL MARKS: 150

Internal examiner: Professor M. J. Savage

External examiner: Dr M. G. Abraha

Please note:
1. Students are requested, in their own interests to write legibly.
2. This paper consists of 9 pages. Please ensure that you have all pages.
3. Calculators are permitted.
4. Please attempt all sections. All answers should be presented in your answer book. Symbols
used are as used in lectures. Some constants given below are approximate.
5. Useful information
 0 oC = 273.15 K; density of water  water is 1000 kg m-3; molecular mass of water mw is
18 g mol-1; specific heat capacity of liquid water c p.water is 4180 J kg-1 K-1; specific
latent heat of fusion for water L f is 0.33 MJ kg-1; specific latent heat of vapourisation
for water Lv is 2.43 MJ kg-1.
 Specific heat capacity of air is 1030 J kg-1 K-1.
 Stefan-Boltzmann constant  = 5.6704 x 10-8 W m-2 K-4; Wien’s constant k  2.8978
 10-3 m K; Universal gas constant R  8.31451 J mol-1 K-1; e   w RT / mw .
 Dry adiabatic lapse rate is – 0.01 K m-1.
 Saturated adiabatic lapse rate is – 0.005 K m-1.
 Ohm’s Law constant for ri , rav and stomatal resistance rs is  air c p /  .
 Ohm’s Law constant for aerodynamic resistance rah is  air c p .
 Fick’s Law constant for sensible heat flux density is  air c p K h .
 Fick’s Law constant for latent energy flux density is  air c p K w /  .
 Lv Fw   ( I net  Fs ) /(1   ) when using the shortened energy balance convention
I net  Lv Fw  Fh  Fs  0 or
Lv Fw  ( I net  Fs ) /(1   ) when using the convention that I net  Lv Fw  Fh  Fs
where     (T2  T1 ) /(e2  e1 ) .
 Fundamental evaporation equation is:      ra    ri  /   (ra  rs )    ra 
where  /  = 1, 2, or 3 for temperatures of 6, 18 or 26 oC respectively where  = 0.066
kPa K-1.
UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL EXAMINATIONS: June 2011 Page 2
COURSE AND CODE: Agrometeorology and Environmental Biophysics AMET210
Please attempt all sections.
Section A: 60 marks (Question 1 – 10 marks; Question 2 – 50 marks); 72 min
Section B: 60 marks (any three questions out of five – 20 marks for each question);
72 min
Section C: 30 marks (all questions); 36 min

Section A

Please answer Questions 1 and 2. Total marks for this section is 60 and the
suggested time is 72 minutes.

Questions 1 and 2 are compulsory

Question 1

Define, using diagrams where appropriate, any ten of the following twelve:

(a) climate (b) radiation balance

(c) mulching (d) absolute humidity
(e) incandescence (f) greenhouse gas
(g) specific latent of vapourisation (h) photoperiod
(i) specific heat capacity (j) mesophytes
(k) zone of thermal indifference (l) air temperature anomaly

[10]

Question 2

(a) Briefly discuss what a microlysimeter is and what it is used for. 2

(b) State Fick’s law for sensible heat flux density and for latent energy flux density. (Hint:
see front page of this examination paper). 3

(c) State the Similarity Principle. 1

(d) The Penman and the Penman-Monteith approaches for determining evaporation from
many different surface types, are based on physical principles applied to the soil-plant-
atmosphere system.
1. Use a labelled diagram to show the Penman approach to evaporation, for sensible heat
and latent energy fluxes.
2. What relationships for sensible heat and latent energy flux density did Penman use to
develop a method for calculating evaporation?
3. What was the essential difference in approach between Penman and Penman-Monteith?
6

(e) Using a diagram to depict the psychrometric chart, show , , es, e and e for a given
wet and dry bulb temperature. 4
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COURSE AND CODE: Agrometeorology and Environmental Biophysics AMET210

(f) Using a diagram, present a model for the exchange of sensible heat and latent energy
fluxes for a single leaf based on the big-leaf assumption. 8

(g) Using the diagram for Question 2(f), write down equations for the three resistances
shown. 3

(h) State how these three equations in Question 2 (g) were combined, the rationale for
combining them and state which two equations were combined. 4

(i) State the two other equations that were used in conjunction with the equations of
Question 2 (g) when deriving the Penman-Monteith equation. 2

(j) Define  in terms of sensible heat and latent energy flux density. 2

(k) In lectures, we considered the influence of environmental conditions on evaporation.

We considered a number of environmental cases. Define in words the conditions for each
of the following cases: 1. tall-crop reference evaporation; 2. the equilibrium case; 3. the
desert case; 4. the oasis case. 8

(l) Obtain an expression for  for the equilibrium evaporation case. 3.5

(m) For the desert case, obtain  desert . Comment on the significance of this result in
relation to shelter of crops. 3.5
[50]

Section B

Please answer any three questions from Questions 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. Total marks
for this section is 60 and the suggested time is 72 minutes. Please note that if
more than three are attempted, only the first three will be marked.

Question 3

Write short notes using diagrams and giving examples if necessary, to illustrate your
understanding, on any five of the following topics discussed in lectures. Please note that more
than just a definition of the topic is required. If more than five are attempted, only the first
five will be marked:

(a) El Niño;

(b) troposphere;
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COURSE AND CODE: Agrometeorology and Environmental Biophysics AMET210

(c) global warming potential;

(d) Dobson unit and its critical value;

(e) hockey stick theory;

(f) “Climategate”;

(g) basic SI units.

[20]

Question 4

(a) Define remote sensing. 1

(b) If an infrared thermometer is aimed at Midmar Dam from above, what would it be
sensing? 1

(c) Canopy surface temperatures alone, are of little use for the determination of crop water
status. What other temperatures are useful when canopy temperature is determined? 3

(d) Use theory to obtain an expression for the surface temperature of a canopy as a
function of the infrared thermometer temperature, as presented to you in lectures. Use an
annotated diagram as an aid to your derivation. 6

(e) One practical application of environmental remote sensing is its use for the estimation
of biomass.

i. Define, in an equation, the concept of NDVI. 1.5

ii. NDVI ranges from negative to positive values. Explain the significance of the negative
values. 2

iii. Using the reflection measurements for a pine canopy shown in Table 1 for an irrigated
pine canopy for days 1 and 5, obtain the NDVI values before and after irrigation.

Table 1. The reflectance values for a pine canopy for the red and near-infrared regions at
midday on two cloudless days
Reflection in the red Reflection in the near-
region infrared region
Day 1 (before irrigation) 0.39 0.41
Day 5 (after irrigation) 0.09 0.37

iv. Besides cost considerations, give two major disadvantages of the method of
determining NDVI using remote sensing methods.
5.5
[20]
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COURSE AND CODE: Agrometeorology and Environmental Biophysics AMET210
Question 5

(a) A number of physical laws were used in discussing the causes, characteristics and
prevention of frost. Name them. 3

(b) What are the two main categories of radiative frost? 2

(c) What methods did the early 19th century Italian farmers use to protect their vineyards
from black frost? You should give the purpose for each method in your discussion. 3

(d) Give three reasons why a black frost is more damaging than a white frost. 3

(e) Show, using a diagram, the inversion of air temperature during a radiative frost. 3

(f) Give all possible temperature conditions during a black frost. 6

[20]

Question 6

(a) Discuss the requirements for the measurement of air temperature for an automatic
weather station system. 3

(b) In a diagram, show the response of a typical organism to temperature. Your curve
must indicate the five cardinal temperatures. 3.5

(c) Discuss a main advantage of altering the temperature of crops. 2

(d) Using a diagram, show a typical diurnal variation in solar irradiance for a cloudless
summer day in Pietermaritzburg. In particular, indicate the times of zero and the time of
the maximum solar irradiance. 4.5

(e) In lectures and in the practical sessions, we used a dataset containing the air
temperature anomalies between 1880 and 2010, for both hemispheres. The 95 %
confidence intervals for the rate of increase in air temperature for the 1880-1970 and
1971-2010 periods are shown in Table 2.

Table 2. The 95 % confidence intervals for the rates of increase in air temperature for
both hemispheres (NH, SH) for 1880-1970 and for 1971-2010
Period 1880-1970 (oC/100 years) 1971-2010 (oC/100 years)
NH (0.4042, 0.6587) (2.5046, 3.3656)
SH (0.1443, 0.3548) (0.8492, 1.5045)
i. From the confidence interval values, what do you conclude about the rate of air
temperature increase for the 1880-1970 and the 1971-2010 periods, for each hemisphere?
ii. From the confidence interval values, what do you conclude about the rate of air
temperature increase for the 1971-2010 period for the southern hemisphere?
iii. In lectures, we discussed a reason for the result in ii above. Discuss.
4
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COURSE AND CODE: Agrometeorology and Environmental Biophysics AMET210
(f) Briefly discuss what is meant by “global warming”, distinguishing between natural and
anthropogenic components. 3
[20]

Question 7

Below is a list of physical laws/equations/relations:

(i)  w  e mw / RT
(ii) I s /Qo = 0.23+ 0.48 n / N
(iii) maxT  constant
(iv) a   
(v) Eheater  Eradial  Econduction  Esap .

(a) Name each law/equation/relation involved, describe the use of the law or equation in
one sentence and state which of the laws/equations are empirical. 15

(b) Use annotated diagrams to illustrate any two of the laws/equations or give an
application of the law. 5
[20]

Section C

Please answer all questions. Total marks for this section is 30 and the suggested
Questions
time is 361minutes.
and 2 are compulsory

Questions 8 to 10 are compulsory

Question 8

The air temperature and relative humidity measurements, from the Agrometeorology tower, at
2 m on 25th April at 14h00, were 28.9 oC and 33.0 % respectively.

Using the psychrometric chart on page 9 of the examination paper, determine the following
giving your units for the stated conditions (or answer the question):

i. the wet bulb temperature; 1

ii. the water vapour pressure; 1

iii. the dew point temperature; 1

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COURSE AND CODE: Agrometeorology and Environmental Biophysics AMET210

iv. calculate the water vapour pressure deficit; 1

v. At 11h36 on 20th April, the air temperature was 33.3 oC and the wet bulb temperature,
calculated from the measured relative humidity of 72.0 %, was 28.8 oC. If sprinkler
irrigation were applied to evaporatively cool the grass, what would the air temperature be
reduced to? 3

vi. What would be the relative humidity after the evaporative cooling? 1

Air temperature measurements from the tower at 05h00 and 14h00 for the 2- and 5-m
heights are shown in Table 3.

Table 3. Measured air temperatures at the Agrometeorology tower on 20th April at 05h00
and 14h00 for the 1- and 5-m heights
Height (m) Air temperature (oC) Air temperature (oC)
at 05h00 at 14h00
1 12.74 28.49
5 14.11 28.37
vii. Calculate the environmental lapse rate at 05h00 and at 14h00. 2

viii. Comment on these lapse rate values in relation to atmospheric stability. 2

[12]

Question 9

A Bowen ratio energy balance system is used above maize to obtain the following
measurements where the convention is that fluxes away from the surface are negative and
otherwise positive: Inet = 650 W m-2, Fs = -132 W m-2 and the air temperature and water vapour
pressure measurement averages for the two measurement levels are shown in Table 4.

Table 4. Bowen ratio measurements of air temperature and water vapour pressure above a
maize canopy.
Height z above maize Air temperature Water vapour pressure
canopy surface (m) Tz (oC) ez (kPa)
1.1 34.67 2.653
2.1 26.75 2.542

(a) Calculate the Bowen ratio. 2

(b) Calculate the latent energy flux density LvFw in W m-2 using the shortened energy
balance equation. In a diagram, indicate the direction of LvFw. 2

(c) Calculate the sensible heat flux density Fh in W m-2. In a diagram, indicate the direction
of Fh. 2
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COURSE AND CODE: Agrometeorology and Environmental Biophysics AMET210
(d) Comment on the possible level of physiological stress for this maize canopy. Using an
energy balance diagram, give a reason for your answer. 2
[8]

Question 10

(a) Define the term thermal time. 2

(b) Suppose that the additional thermal time requirement for maturation of a maize crop, with
a base temperature of 10 oC, is 60 oC day.
i. In your answer book, complete Table 5 for only the last two columns shown below.
ii. On which day will the crop mature? Justify your answer. 8

Table 5. Maximum and minimum air temperatures for four days of the growth of a maize
canopy.
Day Minimum Maximum Day Thermal Daily
air air time accumulated
temperature temperature (oC day) thermal time
(oC) (oC) (oC day)
1 26.3 41.3 1
2 24.1 37.2 2
3 19.8 32.8 3
4 16.0 24.4 4
[10]
UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL EXAMINATIONS: June 2011 Page 9
COURSE AND CODE: Agrometeorology and Environmental Biophysics AMET210