--- title: "Leaf Wetness Duration Modeling from Daily Data" output: rmarkdown::html_vignette vignette: > %\VignetteIndexEntry{Leaf Wetness Duration Modeling from Daily Data} %\VignetteEncoding{UTF-8} %\VignetteEngine{knitr::rmarkdown} editor_options: chunk_output_type: console --- ```{r, include = FALSE} knitr::opts_chunk$set( collapse = TRUE, comment = "#>" ) ``` ## Introduction Leaf Wetness Duration (LWD) represents the daily period during which free water is present on the canopy surface. It is a fundamental agrometeorological variable for predicting infection risks caused by phytopathogenic fungi, such as downy mildew and powdery mildew. Although epidemiological models operate mostly at an hourly scale, historical records and climate change projections for the 21st century often provide meteorological data only at daily resolution. The `agriclimr` package implements a robust methodological framework to overcome this limitation, enabling the reconstruction of hourly temperature and relative humidity profiles from daily extremes to estimate daily LWD. The methodology described herein is based on the work of **Zito et al. (2020)** (*Optimization of a leaf wetness duration model*, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology). --- ## Model Flow Structure The simulation process is divided into three fundamental steps integrated into the package: 1. **Hourly Temperature Reconstruction:** Computed via the sine-exponential model by Wann et al. (1985). 2. **Hourly Relative Humidity Estimation:** Derived based on the assumption of a constant actual vapor pressure throughout the day. 3. **Hourly and Daily Leaf Wetness Determination:** Applied using an empirical relative humidity threshold (Sentelhas et al., 2008). --- ## Mathematical Foundation ### Step 1: Sine-Exponential Temperature Model The daily temperature cycle is reconstructed in two phases (diurnal and nocturnal) using equations based on astronomical parameters (daylength, sunrise, and sunset times): **A. Diurnal Phase:** Between the time of minimum temperature ($t_n$, shortly after sunrise) and sunset ($t_s$): $$T(t) = T_{min} + (T_{max} - T_{min}) \cdot \sin\left[\frac{\pi \cdot (t - t_n)}{dl - \beta + \alpha}\right]$$ Where: * $T_{min}$ and $T_{max}$: Minimum and maximum temperature of the current day. * $dl$: Daylength (photoperiod in hours), calculated from latitude and solar declination. * $\alpha$: Time lag between solar noon and the time of maximum temperature (default: $2.75$ h). * $\beta$: Time lag between sunrise and the time of minimum temperature (default: $1.40$ h). **B. Nocturnal Phase:** Between sunset ($t_s$) and sunrise of the next day ($t_n'$): $$T(t) = T_{min\_next} + (T_{sunset} - T_{min\_next}) \cdot \exp\left[\frac{-\gamma \cdot (t - t_s)}{24 - dl + \beta}\right]$$ Where: * $T_{min\_next}$: Minimum temperature of the next day. * $T_{sunset}$: Calculated temperature at sunset ($t_s$). * $\gamma$: Night cooling coefficient (default: $2.75$). ### Step 2: Hourly Relative Humidity Reconstruction It is assumed that the actual water vapor pressure ($e_a$) remains constant over the 24-hour period ($e_{ah} = e_{ad}$). The hourly variation in Relative Humidity ($UR_h$ or $RH_h$) stems purely from the oscillation of the saturation vapor pressure ($e^o_{(T)}$), which is a direct function of the hourly temperature calculated in the previous step (Tetens' Equation): $$e^o_{(T)} = 0.6108 \cdot \exp\left(\frac{17.27 \cdot T}{T + 237.3}\right)$$ Thus, the conversion is given by: $$RH_h = 100 \cdot \frac{RH_d \cdot e^o_{(T_d)}}{e^o_{(T_h)}}$$ Where $RH_d$ is the daily mean relative humidity and $T_d$ is the daily mean temperature. ### Step 3: Leaf Wetness Estimation Hourly Leaf Wetness Duration is treated as a binary variable (0 = dry, 1 = wet). Wetness is computed whenever $RH_h$ reaches or exceeds a structured critical threshold ($RH_{lim}$): $$MF_h = \begin{cases} 1, & \text{if } RH_h \ge RH_{lim} \\ 0, & \text{if } RH_h < RH_{lim} \end{cases}$$ The summation results in the total daily value of LWD (0 to 24 hours): $$LWD_{daily} = \sum_{h=0}^{23} MF_h$$ --- ## Practical Implementation with `agriclimr` The package offers modular functions as well as high-level functions for direct data processing of tabular datasets (`data.frame` or `tibble`). ### Base Example: Single Vector Execution To understand the internal mechanics, we can test the basic hourly estimation functions for a single day: ```{r} library(agriclimr) # Defining meteorological variables for a hypothetical day t_min <- 12.0 t_max <- 25.0 t_min_next <- 13.0 lat <- -27.3 doy <- 150 # Day of the year (June) # 1. Reconstruct 24 hours of temperature temperaturas_h <- estimate_hourly_temp( t_min = t_min, t_max = t_max, t_min_next = t_min_next, lat = lat, doy = doy ) temperaturas_h # 2. Reconstruct hourly Relative Humidity (with daily mean RH = 80%) ur_h <- estimate_hourly_rh( rh_daily = 80, t_daily = (t_min + t_max) / 2, t_hourly = temperaturas_h ) ur_h # 3. Determine the binary leaf wetness vector (Threshold = 85%) molhamento_h <- estimate_lwd_rh(ur_h, threshold = 85) molhamento_h # Sum of daily leaf wetness sum(molhamento_h) ``` ### Processing Daily Time Series In operational routines, you will use the main function `daily_to_hourly_lwd()`, which manages the entire internal disaggregation workflow and returns a structured output. ```{r} library(agriclimr) # Creating an example daily data series (5 continuous days) dados_diarios <- tibble::tibble( data = as.Date("2026-06-01") + 0:4, lat = rep(-27.3, 5), tmin = c(12.0, 13.5, 11.0, 10.5, 14.0), tmax = c(22.0, 24.5, 21.0, 19.5, 23.0), ur_media = c(80, 75, 85, 90, 70) ) # Applying the automated package function resultado_horario <- daily_to_hourly_lwd( data = dados_diarios, date_col = data, t_min_col = tmin, t_max_col = tmax, rh_daily_col = ur_media, lat_col = lat, rh_threshold = 85 ) # Viewing the first structured records head(resultado_horario, 12) ``` ## References * **Zito, S., Castel, T., Richard, Y., Rega, M., & Bois, B. (2020).** Optimization of a leaf wetness duration model. *Agricultural and Forest Meteorology*, 291, 108087. * **Wann, M., Yen, D., & Gold, H. J. (1985).** Evaluation and calibration of three models for daily cycle of air temperature. *Agricultural and Forest Meteorology*, 34(2), 121-128. * **Sentelhas, P. C., Dalla Marta, A., Orlandini, S., Santos, E. A., Gillespie, T. J., & Gleason, M. L. (2008).** Suitability of relative humidity as an estimator of leaf wetness duration. *Agricultural and Forest Meteorology*, 148(3), 392-400.