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International audience; Forested landscapes often exhibit large spatial variability in vertical and horizontal foliage distributions. This variability may impact canopy-atmosphere ex- changes through its action on the development of turbulent structures. Here we inves- tigate in neutral stratification the turbulent structures encountered in a maritime pine forest characterised by a high, dense foliated layer associated with a deep and sparse trunk space. Both stand and edge regions are considered. In situ measurements and the outputs of large-eddy simulations are used and analysed together. In stand conditions, far from the edge, canopy-top structures appear stronlgy damped by the dense crown layer. Turbulent wind fluctuations within the trunk space, where the momentum flux vanishes, are closely related to these canopy-top structures through pressure diffusion. Consequently, auto-correlation and spectral analyses are not quite appropriate to characterise the vertical scale of coherent structures in this type of canopy, as pressure diffusion enhances the actual scale of structures. At frequencies higher than those associated with canopy-top structures, wind fluctuations related to wake structures developing behind tree stems are observed within the trunk space. They manifest themselves in wind velocity spectra as secondary peaks in the inertial subrange re- gion, confirming the hypothesis of spectral short-cuts in vegetation canopies. In the edge region specific turbulent structures develop just below the crown layer, in addi- tion to canopy-top structures. They are generated by the wind shear induced by the sub-canopy wind jet that forms at the edge. These structures provide a momentum exchange mechanism similar to that observed at the canopy top but in the opposite di- rection and with a lower magnitude. They may develop as in plane mixing-layer flows, with some perturbations induced by canopy-top structures. Wake structures are also observed within the trunk space in the edge region.

International audience; Sharp heterogeneities in forest structure, such as edges, are often responsible for wind damage. In order to better understand the behaviour of turbulent flow through canopy edges, large-eddy simulations (LES) have been performed at very fine scale (2 m) within and above heterogeneous vegetation canopies. A modified version of the Advanced Regional Prediction System (ARPS), previously validated in homogeneous conditions against field and wind-tunnel measurements, has been used for this purpose. Here it is validated in a simple forest-clearing-forest configuration. The model is shown to be able to reproduce accurately the main features observed in turbulent edge flow, especially the "enhanced gust zone" (EGZ) present around the canopy top at a few canopy heights downwind from the edge, and the turbulent region that develops further downstream. The EGZ is characterized by a peak in streamwise velocity skewness, which reflects the presence of intense intermittent wind gusts. A sensitivity study of the edge flow to the forest morphology shows that with increasing canopy density the flow adjusts faster and turbulent features such as the EGZ become more marked. When the canopy is characterized by a sparse trunk space the length of the adjustment region increases significantly due to the formation of a sub-canopy wind jet from the leading edge. It is shown that the position and magnitude of the EGZ are related to the mean upward motion formed around canopy top behind the leading edge, caused by the deceleration in the sub-canopy. Indeed, this mean upward motion advects low turbulence levels from the bottom of the canopy; this emphasises the passage of sudden strong wind gusts from the clearing, thereby increasing the skewness in streamwise velocity as compared with locations further downstream where ambient turbulence is stronger.

International audience; Two-point, space-time correlations of streamwise and vertical velocity were obtained from a wind tunnel simulation of an atmospheric surface layer with an underlying model wheat canopy constructed of flexible nylon stalks. Velocity data extend from 1/6 canopy height to several canopy heights, with in excess of 2000 three-dimensional vector separations of the two x-wire probes. Isocorrelation contours over anx, z slice show the streamwise velocity autocorrelation to be roughly circular, such that vertical velocities at the same horizontal position but different heights are closely in phase. Cross-correlations between the two velocity components reflect this difference to some extent. Lateral displacements of the probes revealed side lobes with correlations of reversed sign but we cannot positively link this pattern to particular vorticular structures. Integral length scales obtained directly from the spatial correlations match similar scales deduced from single-point time series with Taylor's hypothesis at 2 to 3 times the canopy height but greatly exceed such scales at lower levels, particularly within the wheat. We conclude that the reversed sign lateral lobes are important components of the correlation field and that an integral length scale for the lateral direction must be defined such that they are included. Convective velocities obtained from the time lag to optimally restore correlation lost by physical separation of the probes change only slowly with height and greatly exceed the mean wind velocity within and immediately above the canopy. Thus, mean wind velocity is not a suitable proxy for convective velocity in the application of Taylor's hypothesis in this situation. The ratio of vertical to longitudinal convective velocity for the streawise velocity signal yields a downwind tilt angle of about 39° which is probably a better estimate of the slope of the dominant fluid motions than the tilt of the major axis of the isocorrellation contours mentioned previously.