Water usage and microclimate

Energy and water budget analyses are employed as methods for assessing the effects of vegetation type, cultivation practices, and irrigation methods on the microclimate. A comparison is made of vegetation types that employ water received from (1) natural precipitation and (2) irrigation. Forest lands are compared to corn cultivated by conventional tillage and no tillage methods. The forest canopy generally has a lower surface albedo, greater surface roughness, higher transpiration rates, and increased water storage than the bare soil, mulched, and vegetated surfaces of a corn field. No tillage cultivation reduces wind and water erosion, lowers soil temperatures, and improves water retention compared to standard tillage used on corn fields. Irrigated agriculture has replaced much of the drought resistant vegetation of the Central Valley of California. The energy and water budgets of irrigated crops grown in the semi-arid climate of the Central Valley and irrigated by flood or sprinkler methods exhibit microclimates in which evapotranspiration dominates the energy and mass fluxes. Drip irrigation methods, by contrast, have reduced water losses compared to flood and sprinkler methods. The drip system supplies metered amounts of water to the base of each plant; low soil evaporation and improved water supply to the growing plant results from this method. The latent heat flux is reduced over that found in fields irrigated by flooding or spraying. Generally, agricultural transformation of large stands of natural vegetation is expected to change the micro- and macroclimate of the areas affected.