Abstract:

The process of rainfall interception by inhomogeneous forest canopy composed of tree crowns with some gaps among them has been considered, and the previous theoretical model of rainfall interception has been generalized from statistically homogeneous canopy to inhomogeneous canopy as well. Both the relevant partial differential equations and a formula to estimate rainfall interception were derived. Moreover, the new model is illustrated with typical values of some ecological factors, and some specific characteristics of interception process were shown.

Key words: inhomogeneous canopy, closing degree, rainfall interception, theoretical model