Quantifying urban tree canopy interception in the southeastern United States

Urban stormwater is a major contributor to surface water degradation in the United States, prompting cities to invest in ways to naturally capture, store, and slowly release runoff through green infrastructure (GI). An often overlooked, yet integral, component of GI is urban tree canopy, which functions as GI through the process of rainfall interception (i.e., rainfall captured and stored within the canopy prior to returning to the atmosphere via evaporation). Nine trees from three native species commonly found in urban areas in the southeastern United States were studied in three parks in Knoxville, TN, USA to quantify interception. Throughfall (rainfall that passes through the canopy) and stemflow (rainfall that travels down the trunk) data were collected with continuous measurements by a network of automatic rain gauges positioned underneath each tree canopy. Data were collected from January 2018 to May 2019 which resulted in 98 storm events collected for each red maple (Acer rubrum) and willow oak (Quercus phellos), and 97 storm events collected for each white pine (Pinus strobus). Annually, red maples, white pines, and willow oaks intercepted 24.4%, 52.4%, and 33.2% of gross throughfall, respectively. Seasonally, white pines performed the most consistently with interception varying only from 49.2% to 57.0% between seasons compared to an interception range of 13.2–39.7% and 17.5–54.2% for red maples and willow oaks, respectively. Results demonstrated the effect of event duration, rainfall intensity, and seasonality on the interception potential of each species. Overall, these observations are a step toward allowing the storage capacity of urban trees to be properly credited as part of efforts to reduce stormwater runoff.