An observational study of the factors that influence interception loss in boreal and temperate forests

Japan and Siberia showed significant energy-balance differences related to evaporation from wet canopies. At the Siberian sites, the net all-wave radiation was always larger than the latent heat flux used for interception loss, while Japanese sites often showed the opposite pattern. When the latent heat flux exceeded the net all-wave radiation, the air temperature above the canopy during rainfall events was higher at upper levels than at lower levels, even in the daytime. These results indicate that the sensible heat flux was directed downward and suggest that both net all-wave radiation and sensible heat flux contribute to evaporation from wet canopies during and shortly after rainfall events in Japan.