Interception of a dense spruce forest performance of a simplified canopy water balance model

• Published in: Hydrology Research 2001-01, Vol.32 (4), p.265-284
• Main Authors: Alavi, G. (SLU, Uppsala (Sweden)), Jansson, P.-E, Haellgren, J.-E, Bergholm, J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: AGUA; ALMACENAMIENTO DE AGUA; Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Biological and medical sciences; BOSQUES; Canopies; CANOPY; COUVERT; CUBIERTA DE COPAS; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; EAU; Error analysis; Exact sciences and technology; Forest canopy; FORESTS; FORET; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gauges; Growing season; Hydrologic models; Hydrology; Hydrology. Hydrogeology; INDICE DE SUPERFICIE FOLIAR; INDICE DE SURFACE FOLIAIRE; Interception; Interception loss; Leaf area; LEAF AREA INDEX; LOSSES; Measuring instruments; MODELE; MODELOS; PERDIDAS; PERTE; PICEA ABIES; Pine trees; PRECIPITACION ATMOSFERICA; PRECIPITATION; Roofs; Soil; STOCKAGE D'EAU; Storage capacity; Storage conditions; SUECIA; SUEDE; SWEDEN; Synecology; Terrestrial ecosystems; Throughfall; WATER; Water balance; WATER STORAGE
• ISSN: 0029-1277; 1998-9563; 2224-7955
• DOI: 10.2166/nh.2001.0016

The process of interception was studied in 25-year-old dense stands of Norway spruce in South Sweden. The throughfall was measured intensively during one month and extensively during four growing seasons using water captured by large roofs and with randomly distributed funnel gauges. It was found that about 45% of the precipitation was lost as interception loss from this dense forest canopy. However, many sources of potential error, particularly in measurement of precipitation and throughfall, may be involved in quantifying the interception loss. The data set was used to test the interception part of a hydrological model, SOIL. The model uses a simple threshold formulation to calculate the accumulation of intercepted water in a single storage variable. The model was able to estimate fairly well the long-term cumulative interception loss from the forest canopy However, similarly to many other models, SOIL showed a pattern of overestimation of the interception loss during events with small precipitation and underestimation during events with large precipitation. It was concluded that the storage capacity was of major importance in modelling of long-term interception loss. Tree canopy water storage capacity on a leaf area basis was estimated to 0.7 mm which was three times larger than that obtained from a precipitation/throughfall graph.