Abstract (from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168192315002142): Physically-based models are a powerful tool to help understand interactions of vegetation, atmospheric dynamics, and hydrology, and to test hypotheses regarding the effects of land cover, management, hydrometeorology, and climate variability on ecosystem processes. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate recent modifications and further refinements to a multi-layer plant canopy model for simulating temperature and water vapor within three diverse forest canopies: a 4.5-m tall aspen thicket, a 15-m tall aspen canopy, and a 60-m tall Douglas fir canopy. Performance of the model was strongly related to source strength and profile stability within the [...]