Abstract
Rainfall interception (RI) over an outdoor urban scale model was investigated. On average, RI was 6% of the total rainfall and smaller than typical values in forests (10-50%). No correlation was found between RI and gross rainfall or rainfall duration unlike the correlations found in forests. RI was dependent on the saturation deficit at the beginning of the rainfall event. The latent heat for RI was approximately balanced by heat conduction from the concrete surfaces. Differences in the canopy structure are considered as possible reasons for the different behaviors of RI between the present site and forests. These differences in canopy structure include the area of the effective wet surface, the size of the roughness elements, and canopy heat capacity.
