Characteristics of Tree Canopy Affecting Throughfall and Interception of Rainfall in a Stand of Silver Oak (grevilia Robusta)

The importance of forestry systems as a source of water storage has been recognized due to need for climate change mitigation. The volume of water which is caught by the vegetation and subsequently evaporated is called interception loss. Some interception values are determined from silver oak tree in the Cauvery catchment, Karnataka. Both net rainfall and pattern of throughfall are correlated with a number of factors such as climatic factors, type of rainfall, wind and vegetation factors. Individual storm appears to be the main factor in the determination of throughfall and interception loss. Over the six months period, a total rainfall of 1600 mm was measured in the open field. Of this total, on an average, only 48 per cent (768mm) reached the ground as throughfall; 49 per cent (775 mm) being attributed to the average interception loss.