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Updated: Mar 24, 2026

Simulating Impacts of Ice Storms on Forest Ecosystems
Published on: June 30, 2020
Critical wind speed at which trees break
E Virot1, A Ponomarenko1,2, É Dehandschoewercker1,2
1LadHyX, CNRS UMR 7646, École Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, France.
Abstract:
Data from storms suggest that the critical wind speed at which trees break is constant (≃42m/s), regardless of tree characteristics. We question the physical origin of this observation both experimentally and theoretically. By combining Hooke's law, Griffith's criterion, and tree allometry, we show that the critical wind speed indeed hardly depends on the height, diameter, and elastic properties of trees.
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