Energy consumption and evapotranspiration at several boreal and temperate forests in the Far East

We measured sensible and latent heat fluxes (H and lambda E) in five forests located in boreal, cool-temperate, and warm-temperate zones of the Far East concurrently over several years to clarify their energy-consumption characteristics and the variation in and factors controlling evapotranspiration. The consumption of energy for evapotranspiration was larger at the southern sites than at the northern sites, and evapotranspiration in summer (July-August) was larger (average 2.9 mm day(-1)) for temperate forests than for boreal forests (average 1.7 mm day(-1)). Differences in energy-consumption characteristics between the forest types (e.g., deciduous vs. coniferous) were not as distinct as those by location. This inter-locational difference resulted from differing evapotranspiration restrictions caused by land-surface characteristics, rather than differing atmospheric evaporation demand. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.