To examine the process of evapotranspiration during and after rainfall, observations in a Japanese cypress forest has been carried out in Kiryu Experimental Watershed (5.99ha), south of the Shiga Prefecture, Japan. The leaf wetness sensors, which detect the resistance between two stainless probes, and heat pulse method were used to estimate canopy wetness and sap flow during and after rainfall. The downward (from the atmosphere to the canopy) sensible heat flux was observed with the eddy correlation/energy balance method and interception loss reached 250 W m
-2 in the daytime during rainfall.
Evaporation, transpiration and canopy wetness were simulated with a multi-layer model. Interception submodel was parameterized using the data of canopy wet time observed with leaf wetness sensors and the latent heat flux observed with the eddy correlation/energy balance method. The time series of changes in sensible heat flux were successfully simulated compared with the observation results. Canopy wetness was sometimes overestimated especially in the upper canopy. The total amount of simulated interception loss was underestimated compared with the observation with water balance method, though close to the observation with the eddy correlation/energy balance method.
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