Evaluating the influence of rain event characteristics on rainfall interception by urban trees using multiple correspondence analysis

Zabret, Katarina (author), Šraj, Mojca (author)

Urban trees play an important role in the built environment, reducing the rainfall reaching the ground by rainfall interception. The amount of intercepted rainfall depends on the meteorological and vegetation characteristics. By applying the multiple correspondence analysis (MCA), we analysed the influence of rainfall amount, intensity and duration, the number of raindrops, the mean volume diameter (MVD), wind speed and direction on rainfall interception. The analysis was based on data from 176 events collected over more than three years of observations. Measurements were taken under birch (Betula pendula Roth.) and pine (Pinus nigra Arnold) trees located in an urban park in the city of Ljubljana, Slovenia. The results indicate that rainfall interception is influenced the most by rainfall amount and the number of raindrops. In general, the ratio of rainfall interception to gross rainfall decreases with longer and more intense rainfall events. The influence of the raindrop number depends also on their size (MVD), which is evident especially for the pine tree. For example, pine tree interception increases with smaller raindrops regardless of their number. In addition, MCA gives a new insight into the influence of wind characteristics, which was not visible using previous methods of data analysis (regression analysis, correlation matrices, regression trees, boosted regression trees). According to the nearby buildings, a wind corridor is sometimes created, decreasing rainfall interception by both tree species.

• Language: English
• Keywords: rainfall interception, throughfall, multiple correspondence analysis (MCA), rainfall event characteristics, urban trees, hydrology
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FGG - Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2019
• Number of pages: Str. 1-13
• Numbering: Letn. 11, št. 12, 2659
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-133286-16833a63-5770-c2e7-968f-dcd03f9168aa
• UDC: 556.5(497.4)
• ISSN on article: 2073-4441
• DOI: 10.3390/w11122659
• COBISS.SI-ID: 8995681
• Publication date in RUL: 19.11.2021

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Water
• Shortened title: Water
• Publisher: Molecular Diversity Preservation International - MDPI
• ISSN: 2073-4441
• COBISS.SI-ID: 36731653

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.
• Licensing start date: 17.12.2019

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: prestrezanje padavin, prepuščene padavine, multipla korespondenčna analiza (MCA), lastnosti padavinskega dogodka, urbana drevesa., hidrologija