Chapter three

Interception and Depression storage

3.0 Introduction
Hydrologic abstractions are the processes acting to reduce total precipitation into
effective precipitation. Effective precipitation eventually produces surface runoff. The
difference between total and effective precipitation is the depth abstracted by the
catchment.
The processes by which precipitation is abstracted by the catchment are many. Those
important in engineering hydrology are the following:
 Interception,
 Infiltration,
 Surface or depression storage,
 Evaporation, and
 Evapotranspiration.
3.1 Interception
Interception is the process by which precipitation is abstracted by vegetation or other
forms of surface cover, including, in certain cases, cultural features of the landscape.
Interception loss is the fraction of precipitation that is retained by the vegetative cover.
The intercepted amount is either returned to the atmosphere through evaporation, or go
on to constitute throughfall, that part of precipitation which reaches the ground by first
passing through the vegetative cover. Interception losses are a function of:
 Storm character, including intensity, depth, and duration,
 The type, species, age, and density of vegetative cover, and
 The time of the year, or season.
Interception is usually the first abstractive process to act during a storm. Light storms
are substantially abstracted by the interception process. Light storms occur frequently
and therefore constitute the majority of the storms. The interception loss accumulated
in one year, primarily from light storms, amounts to about 25 percent of the average
annual precipitation.
For moderate storms, interception losses are apt to vary widely, being greater during the
growing season and smaller at other times of the year. Studies have shown that
interception values are likely to vary from 7 to 36 percent of total precipitation during
the growing season, and from 3 to 22 percent during the remainder of the year.
For heavy storms, interception losses usually amount to a small fraction of the total
rainfall. For long-duration or infrequent storms, the effect of interception on the overall
process of abstraction is likely to be small. In certain cases, particularly for flood
hydrology studies, the neglect of interception is generally justified on practical grounds.
The interception loss comprises two distinct elements.
 The first is the interception storage, i.e., the depth (or volume) retained in the
foliage against the forces of wind and gravity.
 The second is the evaporation loss from the foliage surface, which takes place
throughout the duration of the storm.
The combination of these two processes leads to the following formula for estimating
interception loss.

in which L = interception loss, in millimeters; S = interception storage depth in

millimeters, usually varying from 0.25 to 1.25 mm; K = ratio of evaporating
foliage surface to its horizontal projection; E = evaporation rate in millimeters
per hour; and t = storm duration, in hours.
Interception is the process by which water is captured on vegetation (leaves, bark,
grasses, crops, etc.) during a precipitation event. Intercepted precipitation is not
available for runoff or infiltration, but instead is returned to the atmosphere through
evaporation. Interception losses generally occur during the first part of a precipitation
event and the interception loss rate trends toward zero rather quickly.
3.1.1 Components and types of Interception
There are three Main Components of Interception:
 Interception Loss: The water that is retained by vegetation surfaces that is
later evaporated into the atmosphere, or absorbed by the plant. Interception loss
prevents water from reaching the ground surface and is regarded as a primary
water loss.
 Throughfall: The water which falls through spaces in the vegetation canopy, or
which drips from the leaves, twigs and stems and falls to the ground.
 Stemflow: The water which trickles along the stems and branches and down the
main stem or trunk to the ground surface.
There are three phases for rainfall interception loss:
 wetting phase that rainfall reach the canopy;
 saturation phase that the canopy reaches its maximum water storage capability;
and
 drying phase that after rainfall has ceased.
One can distinguish many types of interception, which can also interplay with each
other. It is likely that a part of the rainfall is intercepted by the canopy of a tree, while
the remaining part can be intercepted by epiphytes on the branches and/or bark, and
finally the under-storey and forest floor intercept the throughfall before infiltration
starts.
  Canopy: Canopy interception is the rainwater that is stored on the leaves and
branches of a tree which is subsequently evaporated.

Fig 3.1 Two major interception types in the natural environment.

 Forest Floor: Forest floor interception is the part of the throughfall that is
temporarily stored in the top layer of the forest floor and successively evaporated
within a few hours or days during and after the rainfall event.
 Fog: A special case of interception is fog interception or cloud interception.
Vegetation cannot only intercept rain, but also moisture (in the form of small
water droplets) from the air. Fog can occur due to different processes.
 Snow: Snowfall is also intercepted by trees. Especially, coniferous trees can store
so much snow, that they collapse under its weight.
 Urban Interception: Most hydrological studies focus on natural environments
and not on urbanized areas, which is also the case for interception studies.
However, recently with the increasing interest for alternative sources of water for
non-potable domestic use (so-called ‘grey water’), water balance studies on
(interception) evaporation in urban areas have increased.
There are many other factors that influence interception potential. Interception varies
widely by season as deciduous trees lose much of their canopy storage potential during
winter months.
 Fig. 3.2 Interception Rate versus Time
3.1.2 Factors Affecting Interception
i) vegetation characteristics
interception increases exponentially during a storm until the interception capacity is
achieved and the weight of more rain overcomes the surface tension holding the water
on the plants. Snow periodically sluffs off plants when the capacity to intercept snow is
achieved. Interception capacity is a function of,

a) growth form: trees, shrubs, grasses, forbs

 coniferous trees intercept 25-35% of annual precipitation
 deciduous trees intercept 15-25% of annual precipitation, but just as
much as coniferous trees during the growing season
 trees also have greater interception capacity because they project above
ground and into the wind, creating turbulence which drives water on
the lee side and into the interior of the tree
 grasses and forbs have high interception capacity during the growing
but then either die (annual plants) or loose mass (perennial plants);
also they are grazed and harvested (spring wheat intercepts 11-19% of
precipitation before harvest)

b) plant density
o The extent of ground cover and canopy closure are the important aspect of
density
c) plant structure: number, size, flexibility, strength and pattern of branches;
texture, surface area and orientation of leaves
o trees native to regions of heavy snowfall have flexible branches and trunks
to support and shed heavy snow loads (10-20 kg/m2 for wet snow)
d) plant community structure
 o secondary interception occurs in stratified forest communities where
water drips from the canopy and is intercepted by lower plants
o in short vegetation, interception storage merges with surface storage,
especially if the plants are flexible and bed under the weight of water (e.g.,
the lodging of crops, which can substantially reduce yields)
o snow-cover on shrubby vegetation and tall grasses is very irregular with
large void spaces representing up to 40% of the snowpack

ii) meteorological factors

a) precipitation intensity
o water can be delivered too quickly for the plants to accommodate
o a larger proportion of low intensity precipitation will be intercepted as the
storage capacity is created by drippage and stemflow
b) precipitation duration
o absolute interception storage increases with increasing storm duration
o but, because interception decreases exponentially, a larger proportion of
short duration precipitation is intercepted than is the water from a long
storm which is shed once a steady state (interception capacity) is achieved
o nearly all the precipitation from a very short storm can be
intercepted, i.e., there is no drippage or stemflow
c) wind speed
o promotes interception loss by evaporation
o inhibits interception until an initial layer of water or snow forms to
support further storage
o increases interception by blowing water into the interior of plants and
plastering wet snow against trees and shrubs
o thus the influence of wind is complex and depends on wind speed and type
of precipitation
d) type of rainfall: rain versus snow
o liquid water has high surface tension and forms an initial layer (sooner
than snow) to which subsequent rain coheres
o at temperatures around 0oC, rain can freeze to plants
o snow is more easily blown off or away from plants, but once it sticks,
snowflakes (depending on their size, shape and liquid water content) can
bridge that gap between leaves, stems and branches; thus the interception
of wet snow can be considerable
e) precipitation frequency
o a very important factor as in wet vegetation part of the interception
capacity is already occupied before a storm
o therefore, maximum interception capacity occurs with short duration
precipitation events that are spaced sufficiently far apart that vegetation
dries out
o however, infrequent precipitation is not conducive to plant growth, so
there may be less vegetation under these climatic conditions

iii) horizontal interception

  fog drip and rime, where water is filtered out of fog as it passes through
vegetation
 concentrated along the windward edge of coastal forests, where
precipitation may be 2-3 times higher than measured by rain gauges
 all precipitation is drippage (fog drip) and stemflow, since the
precipitation is induced by the vegetation and otherwise would not occ

3.2 Surface or Depression Storage

Surface (or depression) storage is the process by which precipitation is abstracted by
being retained in puddles, ditches, and other natural or artificial depressions of the land
surface. Water held in depressions either evaporates or eventually contributes to soil
moisture by infiltration. The spatial variability of storage in surface depressions
precludes its precise calculation.
Intuitively, the milder the catchment's relief, the greater the effect of depression storage.
Depression storage is inversely related to catchment slope. Usually, an equivalent depth
of depression storage can be estimated based on experience. Where accurate estimations
are difficult, depression storage amounts can be lumped together with other more
tractable hydrologic abstractions such as interception or infiltration.
If the soil surface has a low infiltration capacity and low hydraulic conductivity, and if
the topography allows for surface storage, then water may be stored at the surface in
small pools or depressions. These water-filled depressions, called vernal pools, are often
seasonal features that form because of perched water tables. These depression storage
areas may become hydrologically connected during high water conditions and develop a
flow network to deliver water to streams or other surface water bodies. Depression
storage refers to small low points in undulating terrain that can store precipitation that
otherwise would become runoff. The precipitation stored in these depressions is then
either removed through infiltration into the ground or by evaporation. Depression
storage exists on both pervious and impervious surfaces.
Typically, the effect of depression storage varies in time and, consequently, with storm
duration. At the beginning of a storm, depression storage usually plays an active role in
abstracting precipitation amounts. As time progresses, depression storage volumes are
eventually filled, with any additional water going on to constitute runoff. This has led to
the following conceptual model of depression storage:

in which Vs = equivalent depth of depression storage, in millimeters; Pe =

precipitation excess, defined as total precipitation depth minus interception loss
minus total infiltration depth; Sd = depression storage capacity, in millimeters;
and k = a constant.
Researches suggested that values of Sd for most catchments are in the range of 10-50
mm. The value of the constant k is estimated by assuming that for very small values of
precipitation excess (Pe ≅ 0), essentially all the precipitation goes into depression
storage (dVs /dPe = 1). This leads to k = 1/Sd.
3.2.1 Factors Affecting Depression Storage
Depression storage assumes that all water has had a chance to infiltrate or evaporate. As
shown on Figure 3.3, depression storage intensity decreases by nearly half when there is
an antecedent rainfall.

Fig 3.3 Depression Storage Loss Rate versus Time for Impervious Surfaces
Slope also impacts the potential depression storage of a land cover. As the slope
increases and approaches four percent, the depression storage may approach zero
(Figure 3.4).
 Figure 3.4. Depression Storage Loss versus Slope for Impervious Surfaces
Generally, the factors that could affect depression storage are;
 Nature of terrain
 Slope
 Type of soil surface
 Land use
 Antecedent rainfall
 Time
Table 1. Empirical Estimates of Depression Storage for Different Soil Types (for storms)
http://ecoursesonline.iasri.res.in/mod/page/view.php?id=125267
Sand 0.20 inches
Loam 0.15 inches
Clay 0.10 inches
Impervious areas 0.062 inches
Pervious urban 0.25 inches