Preliminary calculations for high-resolution regional mapping of cloud water deposition and water sustainability for vegetation

Katata, Genki; Nagai, Haruyasu  

A new methodology to evaluate an index of Water Sustainability for Vegetation () is proposed. is defined as the ratio of water supply (considering rainfall, surface runoff and fog deposition on vegetation) to demand (evapo-transpiration) by vegetation. Simulations using a mesoscale meteorological model (MM5) were employed to make meteorological fields. At each simulation grid, fog deposition and were quantified by a detailed land surface model (SOLVEG) for several vegetation species. This method was applied to develop the high spatial resolution (6 km) maps of fog deposition and at arid areas in West Asia. At the coastal highland areas along the Red Sea, trees captured a large amount of fog water (60 mm yr; 30 % of precipitation). The potential vegetation map derived from corresponded to the current vegetation map. The proposed method is effective to evaluate water availability for plants surviving under the arid environment.