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Interception
Before precipitation reaches the soil, it
must pass through whatever vegetation
cover is present. (In urban areas,
buildings and other structures act to
intercept precipitation.)
Vegetation cover retains some of this
precipitation and returns it to the
atmosphere by evaporation and/or
sublimation - this is interception
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Interception...........
First, the falling precipitation may
be intercepted by the vegetation in an
area.
It is typically evaporated back to the
atmosphere.
The leafy surface matter may also
intercept precipitation
http://www.weather.gov/iao/InternationalHydrologyCourseCD1
/johnson/wmo_2003/lectures/oct_2003_wmo_course.ppt
Interception…the point
http://www.weather.gov/iao/InternationalHydrologyCourseCD1
/johnson/wmo_2003/lectures/oct_2003_wmo_course.ppt
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http://www.harbor2.umb.edu/zhou/egs295_files/lecture_27.pdf
Precipitation interception by a
coniferous canopy
Coniferous canopies intercept both rainfall and
snowfall - this interception loss can be a significant
component of water balance.
Studies of rainfall interception in coastal British
Columbia and elsewhere show that up to 30% of
total annual rainfall does not reach the ground
under a mature coniferous canopy.
A similar percentage of total annual snowfall is
intercepted by mature conifers.
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Rainfall interception
rain can fall directly through gaps in the canopy
(throughfall), or it can hit the foliage and branches
once the foliage has been completely wetted by the
rain, droplets will begin to cascade down through
the canopy
water can drip off the canopy to the ground
(throughfall) or can run down stems (stemflow)
evaporative losses can occur from the canopy, or
from vegetation at the forest floor (interception)
P Components:
P = precipitation
C = canopy interception
C F = forest floor
interception
T = throughfall
T S = stemflow
T Itotal = F + C
Itotal = P - (T + S)
S
C
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Rain interception
Spittlehouse (1998) (from Spittlehouse, D.L. 1998. Rainfall interception in
young and mature conifer forests in British Columbia. In: Weather Data Requirements for
Integrated Pest Management. 23rd Conference on Agricultural and Forest Meteorology.
American Meteorological Society, Boston Mass. 171-174.)
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Very thick ground litter layers can hold as much as 0.5 inches!
http://www.weather.gov/iao/InternationalHydrologyCourseCD1
/johnson/wmo_2003/lectures/oct_2003_wmo_course.ppt
Is it a loss?
• Studies indicate interception can be 10-
40% of precipitation in some communities
• In dormant season, probably is a net loss
• In growing season, may be offset by
reduction in transpiration
• Due to wind turbulence in forests, a
greater loss than in grasslands where
interception is largely balanced by
decreased transpiration
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