FLOOD00235

• County: Statewide
• Community: State of Colorado
• Stream Name: All
• Title: Stream, Riparian, and Wetland Ecology - Class material, Volume 1 of 2
• Date: 9/1/1987
• Prepared For: Students
• Prepared By: Professor Windell
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Educational/Technical/Reference Information

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1ilUU 9. ModtUed fr01l. D,li. H.ilhr. J.J. Gera,hty. and K. S. Co111ns. 1963. WI,re!' Athu of the
United States. Basic Facts About the NatIon', Watl!r ReSrlurc:ea. Water lnfonaatic'n Center, Inc:.

Port W.ahingtotl, L. I.. N.!l'.

In old-growth Douglas fir forests in th,e western C,sscade Mountains of
Oregon, nearly 100 percent of the storms of less than 0.13 cm (0.05 inch)
precipitation was intercepted and evaporated, but less than about 5 percent
of storms of more than 20 cm (8 inches) precipitation w,as intercepted and
evaporated (Rothacher 1963). In the interio.r areas of the west, where
annual rainfall may be low, and high-intensity long-dur,ation storms
infrequent, the vegetative canopy is open because trees are less closely
spaced, and total vegetative cover may be sp,arse. Unde:r these conditions,
interception losses are reduced, ranging frolD 5 to 14 pucent of the t~tal
annual rainfall (Anderson et al. 1976), but ,are signifi,:ant in controlling
the total amount of water entering a watershed. When l1I<!jor storms do '
occur, interception losses can be negHgi ble,.

Evaporation, Transpiration, Evapotranspiratil)n

On vegetated land areas, part of the mo:Lsture that i. returned to the
atmosphere occurs by plant transpiration of water which has been absorbed
from the ground through roots or which is a product of the photosynthetic
and metabolic processes. The absorbed and processed water is transpired or