Vegetation canopies influence climates across a range of spatial and temporal scales through a variety of mechanisms, often mediated by various features of canopy structure (the organization in space and time of the aboveground components of vegetation).  

Results/Conclusions

We review generally a variety of ways in which canopy structure may influence environments over scales of space (microclimate, mesoclimate and macroclimates) and of time (transient events, weather systems, seasons, and over the long-term).  We then discuss in more detail how some aspects of the structure of the outer canopy may influence both the surface radiation balance and the pattern of attenuation of radiation within the canopy.  Finally, we suggest some means for incorporating understanding of these interactions into schemes for estimating radiation environments within canopies and of the surface energy balance of vegetated regions.