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Global canopy rainfall interception loss derived from satellite earth observations
Author(s) -
Zheng Chaolei,
Jia Li
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
ecohydrology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.982
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1936-0592
pISSN - 1936-0584
DOI - 10.1002/eco.2186
Subject(s) - interception , environmental science , canopy interception , canopy , leaf area index , satellite , vegetation (pathology) , water cycle , atmospheric sciences , hydrology (agriculture) , throughfall , soil water , geology , soil science , ecology , medicine , geotechnical engineering , pathology , biology , engineering , aerospace engineering
Information on global canopy rainfall interception loss is essential for understanding the dynamics of land surface processes and the water cycle. In addition, large uncertainty remains regarding the global variation in this factor. The development of satellite earth observations has provided a great opportunity for the estimation of global rainfall interception loss to reveal the spatiotemporal variations. In the current study, the analytical Gash model was adapted and applied to estimate global rainfall interception loss from 2001 to 2015 on the basis of satellite remote‐sensing products, for example, gross rainfall amount and rate and leaf area index. The Dalton‐type equation was adopted to estimate the wet canopy evaporation rate in the revised Gash model. The estimation on the basis of the Dalton‐type equation showed better agreement with the ground observations than the classical Penman–Monteith equation in terms of estimated rainfall interception loss and its ratio to gross rainfall. Large spatial variations in global rainfall interception loss were found, and high values appeared in the regions with dense vegetation cover and high gross rainfall amounts, for example, tropical rainforests, whereas high rainfall interception to gross rainfall ratios occurred in the regions with low rain rates and high vegetation cover. This study constitutes a significant step forward in understanding global hydrological cycle on the basis of earth observation products.