Key questions on the evaporation and transport of intercepted precipitation

Abstract

The interception of precipitation by vegetation has important consequences for climate and water resources. Although canopy interception has been studied for centuries, many fundamental unknowns remain. We present persistent questions that reflect challenges in measuring, representing, and understanding how terrestrial ecosystems intercept, partition, and transport precipitation—down to soils or back to the atmosphere. In summary of this book, we outline future needs and simultaneously provide a primer for those interested in precipitation interception processes.