The occurrence of solar radiation in forest medium and its relationship with the spatial distribution of the canopy elements are investigated in this work. Experimental sampling techniques of the radiation measurements inside tall vegetation covers are developed and tested, having as base mobile support apparatus, made of modular reticulates suspended on the top of the large trees, which allows the placement of the radiation sensors at different heights along a vertical profile within the canopy and the replication of the vertical probing at different sites. Solar radiation measurements were made at the experimental site of Reserva Ducke (02°56' S; 59°57' W), Manaus - Brazil, in the period 29 Oct. to 11 Dec. 1998. The inversion of the solar radiation physical model allowed the estimation of the leaf area density for the local vegetation. The calculated values for the leaf area index (LAI) at the three verticals with dominant diffuse radiation conditions were 6.6, 6.3 e 6.2.
leaf area index; solar radiation; forest; Amazonia