A monthly interception equation based on the statistical characteristics of daily rainfall

Abstract

This paper presents a simple analytical equation for monthly interception on the basis of the combination of a daily threshold model with the probability distribution of daily rainfall. In this paper, interception has a wider definition than merely canopy interception. It is the part of the rainfall that evaporates after it has been stored on the wetted surface, which includes the canopy, the understory, the bottom vegetation, the litter layer, the soil, and the hard surface. Interception is defined as the process of evaporation from intercepted rainfall. It is shown that this process has a typical timescale of 1 day. Monthly interception models can be improved by taking the statistical characteristics of daily rainfall into account. These characteristics appear to be less variable in space than the rainfall itself. With the statistical characteristics of daily rainfall obtained at a few locations where reliable records are available (for example, airports) monthly models can be improved and applied to larger areas (20–200 km). The equation can be regionalized, making use of the Markov property of daily rainfall. The equation obtained for monthly interception is similar to Budyko's curve.