Development of a new model for accurate prediction of cloud water deposition on vegetation

Katata, Genki; Nagai, Haruyasu  ; Wrzesinsky, T.*; Klemm, O.*; Eugster, W.*; Reto, B.*

Several experiments focusing on cloud (fog) water deposition on the land surface suggest that cloud water plays an important role in water resource in arid and semi-arid areas. A one-dimensional vegetation model including the process of cloud water deposition on vegetation has been developed to better predict cloud water deposition on the vegetation. High performance of the model was confirmed by comparisons of calculated surface heat and cloud water fluxes over the forest with measurements acquired at the Norway spruce forest in the Waldstein, Germany. Numerical experiments to examine the dependence of cloud water deposition on the vegetation species and structures are performed using the presented model. The results showed that the differences of leaf shape and size have a large impact on cloud water deposition and cloud water deposition varies with the growth of vegetation and seasonal change of Leaf Area Index (LAI).