HYDROLOGICAL ABSTRACTIONS

Considering Hydrological Cycle in the “Land System”,

following abstractions are involved

 Interception
 Depression Storage
 Evaporation and Evapotranspiration
 Infiltration
INTERCEPTlON
Interception is defined as the

precipitation water retained on the drainage basin through

its adherence to abstract objects such as leaves or other
vegetation, buildings, animals, or any such objects above
the surface of the ground
Interception is facilitated by following terms
 Interception storage is defined as the amount of
water or snow held by vegetation or other objects
(building, etc.) at any given time.
 Crown interception loss (Ic) is the amount of
water evaporated from water or sublimated directly
from snow intercepted by the crowns of vegetation.
 Throughfall (Pt) is that part of precipitation that
falls or drips through the crown of vegetation.
 Stemflow (Ps) is that portion of intercepted water
that accumulates and runs down stems.
 Factors Affecting Interception
 Three principal factors determine the amount
of water to be intercepted on a drainage
basin.

1. Storm characteristics
2. Vegetation characteristics
3. The season of the year
 Storm characteristics
 The number and spacing of precipitation events,
intensity and amount of precipitation and wind speed
determine the availability of water for interception.

 Large droplets contain sufficient kinetic energy that

results in leaf vibration removing some intercepted
water that otherwise would remain on a leaf.

 The percentage of interception is large for a small

rainfall Horton (1919)
 Vegetation characteristics
 Plant species, age, density and condition of vegetation
determine the adhesive effect
 The different plant species and kinds have different
characteristics such as leaf size, number of leaves and
molecular attraction.
 The density and health of the plants and condition of
the plant growth also affect the interception
 Dry plants will tend to soak up intercepted rainfall until
the plant or object has reached its capacity to hold
water.
 The season of the year
 Plant just emerging from the ground or tree leaves,
just emerging from their bud, intercept less water
than the plants and leaves that are mature.

 Plant that have died and are shedding or have

shed
leaves have lesser and varying ability to intercept

 For this reason, plant interception is less in spring and

winter than in late summer.
ESTIMATION OF INTERCEPTION

Total Interception It = Ic + If

 Crown interception loss (Ic) is the amount

of water intercepted by the crowns of
vegetation
 Forest floor interception loss is the
amount
(I ) of water that is intercepted by and
evaporated
f from the forest floor before infiltrating into
the soil
ESTIMATION OF INTERCEPTION
 Crown Interception Loss is obtained from the gross precipitation (Pg)
and Throughfall (Pt) and Stemflow (Ps) using

Ic = Pg – Pt – Ps

Pt is measured by rain gages under the canopy

Pg is measured by rain gages located in nearby openings
Ps is measured by collars around stems

 Forest Floor Interception Loss can be measured by collecting and weighing

samples of the forest floor

 The first sample is taken shortly after rainfall and the average loss of weight in later
samples is interpreted as the amount of intercepted water evaporated.

 Range – 3 to 5%
DEPRESSION STORAGE
 Depression storage, or ponding, is that water on a drainage
basin that drains into closed depressions and never reaches the
outlet of the basin

 This water becomes trapped in ponds; some eventually

evaporates and the remainder infiltrates into the ground
ESTIMATION OF DEPRESSION STORAGE
Two ways…

1. Using Hydrological Budget

Depression Storage = Rainfall – Runoff – Infiltration – evaporation -

Interception

 By measuring the Rainfall, evaporation and streamflow; and

estimating the infiltration and interception, Depression Storage
can be obtained
ESTIMATION OF DEPRESSION STORAGE
2. Using Models of Surficial Depression

Linsley et al. (1949)

Amount of water stored at a given time by surficial depressions is

V = Sd [1 - exp (-kPe)]

where V = amount of water stored at time t;

Sd = maximum depression storage capacity;
Pe = precipitation excess (gross precipitation minus
evaporation, interception and infiltration) at time t; and
k = constant (=1/Sd)
 The value of Sd may be obtained from topographic maps or field
measurements

 If Pe is very large, then V approaches the value of Sd

 If Pe is negligible, then V is also negligible

 Thus, 0  V  Sd
 In a 140- minute storm the following rates
of rainfall were observed in successive 20-
min intervals: 6.0, 6.0, 18.0, 13.0, 2.0, 2.0
and 12.0 mm/h. Assuming the Ø-Index
value as 3.0 mm/hr and an initial loss of 0.8
mm, determine the total rainfall, net runoff
and W –index for the storm.