A rainfall interception model for inhomogeneous forest canopy

Abstract

The process of rainfall interception by an inhomogeneous forest canopy composed of tree crowns with some gaps among them were considered, and the previous theoretical models of rainfall interception were modified to model an inhomogeneous canopy instead of a statistically homogeneous canopy. The paper deals with the following. First, the process of rainfall interception in tree crowns and that of rainfall in the gaps among them are studied respectively to acquire the average rainfall interception of a forest canopy. Based on the model derived by Liu (1987) and setting the canopy density value, both the relevant partial equations and a formula to estimate rainfall interception were derived. Moreover, the new model was solved through a numerical method and was illustrated with typical values of some ecological factors; three groups of curves were acquired by calculation with the VisualBasic program. A model of rainfall interception by an inhomogeneous forest canopy is classified as a multi-layer model, which is different from previous models (models where all the parameters represent the whole canopy). The results from the model in this paper could be used to determine the relationship between interception and each ecological factor in detail.

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