Modelling Wetland Growing Season Rainfall Interception Losses Based on Maximum Canopy Storage Measurements
Wojciech Ciężkowski,
Tomasz Berezowski,
Małgorzata Kleniewska,
Sylwia Szporak-Wasilewska,
Jarosław Chormański
Affiliations
Wojciech Ciężkowski
Department of Hydraulic Engineering, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Nowoursynowska 166, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland
Tomasz Berezowski
Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunication and Informatics, Department of Geoinformatics, Gdansk University of Technology, Gabriela Narutowicza 11/12, 80-233 Gdansk, Poland
Małgorzata Kleniewska
Department of Hydraulic Engineering, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Nowoursynowska 166, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland
Sylwia Szporak-Wasilewska
Water Center Laboratory, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Nowoursynowska 166, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland
Jarosław Chormański
Department of Hydraulic Engineering, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Nowoursynowska 166, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland
This study estimates rainfall interception losses from natural wetland ecosystems based on maximum canopy storage measurements. Rainfall interception losses play an important role in water balance, which is crucial in wetlands, and has not yet been thoroughly studied in relation to this type of ecosystem. Maximum canopy storage was measured using the weight method. Based on these measurements, daily values of interception losses were estimated and then used to calculate long-term interception losses based on precipitation and potential evapotranspiration data for the 1971–2015 period. Depending mainly on the number of days with precipitation, the results show that total interception losses for the growing season as well as monthly interception losses are around 13% of gross rainfall. This value is similar to the values observed for some forests. Hence, interception losses should not be disregarded in hydrologic models of wetlands, especially because data trends in meteorological conditions (mainly number of days with precipitation) show that interception losses will increase in the future if those trends stay the same.
