[Canopy interception of Pinus tabulaeformis plantation on Longzhong Loess Plateau, Northwest China: characteristics and simulation].

Taking the Pinus tabulaeformis plantation in the Anjiagou catchment on Longzhong Loess Plateau as test object, an observation was made on the characteristics of throughfall, stemflow, interception, and canopy structure of P. tabulaeformi during its growth season (from May to September) in 2011. Based on the observed data, the revised Gash analytical model was adopted to simulate the canopy interception, aimed to understand the ecological hydrological processes of Pinus tabulaeformis plantation and related mechanisms. In the observation period, a total of 19 precipitation events were observed, with a total precipitation of 215.80 mm. The throughfall, stemflow, and canopy interception were 165.24 mm, 2.29 mm, and 48.27 mm, occupying 76.7%, 1.1%, and 22.4% of the total precipitation, respectively. The simulated canopy interception was 41.24 mm, being 7.13 mm lower than the observed value and with a relative error of 14.7%. There were 33.8% and 60.0% of interception were evaporated from the canopy during and after precipitation, respectively. The revised Gash analytical model was highly sensitive to the canopy storage capacity, forest coverage, rainfall intensity, and evaporation, but less sensitive to the stemflow rate and stem water holding capacity.