The impact of vegetation cover on temperature and humidity properties in the reclaimed area of a brown coal dump

Abstract

Vegetation cover of the landscape plays an important role in the transformation of solar energy and the formation of microclimate in the landscape. A study carried out in the Velká podkrušnohorská brown coal dump (Czech Republic) focused on the impact of the structure and functions of landscape cover on temperature and humidity properties in nine localities with various states of vegetation cover. The development of temperature and relative humidity measured in various levels (temperature and relative humidity at 2 m and at canopy level; temperature on soil surface and at the depth of 0.1 m below soil surface) were assessed for the period of 1 July 2010–14 July 2010 and an evaluation of the Landsat 5 TM satellite data, collected on 10 July 2010, was carried out. Temperature development varied between the individual localities mostly at soil surface and in the ground; however, air temperatures and humidity were very similar at a height of 2 m. Extreme values of temperatures were measured on surfaces lacking vegetation cover or covered with sparse vegetation, in particular. On the basis of satellite data analysis, we determined the differences between the amounts of vegetation, temperatures and humidity values depending on the type of landscape cover and the stage of reclamation. The study results proved the significant impact of vegetation on the transformation of falling solarenergy and the formation of microclimate, and thus the importance of fast regeneration of functional vegetation cover in the surfaces newly forming in former brown coal mines.

Keywords:

• brown coal dump
• reclamation
• vegetation cover
• microclimate
• remote sensing

Acknowledgements

This work has been supported by grants from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports ofthe Czech Republic, nos. 6007665806 and 2B08006, and from the National Agency for Agricultural Research of the Czech Republic, grant no. QH82106. The authors thank Jana Kinská for improving the language of this article.