Fleischbein, K.; Wilcke, W.; Valarezo, C.; Zech, W. & Knoblich, K. (2006): <b>Water budgets of three small catchments under montane forest in Ecuador: experimental and modelling approach</b>. <i>Hydrological Processes</i> <b>20</b>, 2491-2507.
Resource Description
Title:
Water budgets of three small catchments under montane forest in Ecuador: experimental and modelling approach
Short Name:
Water budgets of three small catchments under montane forest
FOR816dw ID:
118
Publication Date:
2006-08-15
License and Usage Rights:
Resource Owner(s):
Individual:
Katrin Fleischbein
Contact:
email:
webmaster <at> tropicalmountainforest.com
Individual:
Wolfgang Wilcke
Contact:
email:
wolfgang.wilcke <at> kit.edu
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Institute of Geography and Geoecology
Reinhard-Baumeister-Platz 1
76131 Karlsruhe
Baden-Württemberg
Germany
The water budget of forested catchments controls the local water supply and influences the regional climate. To assess anthropogenic impact on the water cycle we constructed a water budget for three ~10 ha catchments under lower montane forest on the east-facing slope of the Andes in south Ecuador at 1900-2150 m elevation. We used field hydrological measurements and modeled surface flows with TOPMODEL, a semi-distributed catchment model. We measured incident precipitation, throughfall, stemflow, and surface flow between May 1998 and April 2002 in hourly to weekly resolution, and determined all variables needed to parameterize TOPMODEL. On average of the four monitored years and three catchments, incident precipitation was 2504±s.d.123 mm, throughfall 1473±197 mm, and stemflow 25±2 mm yr-1. Fog water input was negligible. Mean annual interception loss in the forest was 1006±270 mm, and mean annual surface flow, calculated with TOPMODEL in an hourly resolution was 1039±48 mm. The resulting mean annual evapotranspiration was 1466±161 mm of which 32% (=471±162 mm) was transpiration if evaporation from the soil was neglected. Our study catchments show a high evapotranspiration attributable to the strong solar insolation near the equator, the small impact of fog, the generally low intensity of incident precipitation and additional wind-driven advective energy input.
Literature type specific fields:
ARTICLE
Journal:
Hydrological Processes
Volume:
20
Page Range:
2491-2507
Publisher:
Wiley
Metadata Provider:
Individual:
Wolfgang Wilcke
Contact:
email:
wolfgang.wilcke <at> kit.edu
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Institute of Geography and Geoecology
Reinhard-Baumeister-Platz 1
76131 Karlsruhe
Baden-Württemberg
Germany
