Rainfall interception by trees of Pinus radiata and Eucalyptus viminalis in a 1300 mm rainfall area of southeastern New South Wales: II. Influence of wind-borne precipitation

Analyses were made of the concurrent canopy precipitation balances of a seed orchard pine and a mature forest eucalypt during protracted rainfalls selected for their representativeness of the range of variation encountered in the two canopy types at Tallanganda State Forest (ca. 990 m a.s.l.) in the Upper Shoalhaven Valley of southeastern New South Wales. Although their canopy storage capacities were widely different there was consistent interception behaviour in the pine and the eucalypt in all events. Detailed weather data and the time courses of interception loss provided circumstantial evidence for a varying and, at times, substantial influence of cloud or mist deposition on the canopy precipitation balances during rainfall that made a significant contribution to the variation in rainfall interception data. Mean evaporation rates from the saturated canopies during rainfall varied from ?0·02 mm hr^?1 up to 0·68 mm hr^?1 in the pine; and from ?0·04 mm hr^?1 up to 0·13 mm hr^?1 in the eucalypt. The implications of cloud-capture during rainfall for studies of rainfall interception in forests of southeastern Australia are discussed.