Kauaʻi record · KCA-EP-0046
Throughfall and stemflow
Open this record in the interactive Atlas
About Throughfall and stemflow
Routing of intercepted precipitation from canopy surfaces to soil through drip and stem flow.
Names and classification
- Other names
- throughfall; stemflow
- Family
- Hydrology & Freshwater Flow
- Record type
- ecological_process
Habitat and ecology
- Ecological role
- Supports Atlas reasoning about ecosystem function, dependencies, threats, conservation leverage points and cross-module consequences.
Process and seasonal context
- Definition
- Routing of intercepted precipitation from canopy surfaces to soil through drip and stem flow.
- Drivers
- rainfall; fog; vegetation; soils; geology; extraction; climate
- Inputs
- rainfall; cloud water; stored water
- Outputs
- evapotranspiration; runoff; recharge; streamflow; groundwater discharge
- Spatial scales
- canopy → soil → aquifer → watershed → coast
- Temporal scales
- minutes → decades
- Validity and limits
- Context-specific; do not extrapolate across habitat, season, elevation, salinity or disturbance state without evidence.
Sources and further reading
- Groundwater Recharge in Hawaiʻi
- Effects of drought and cloud-water interception on groundwater recharge and wildfire hazard
- Climate and Management Effects on Soil Infiltration and Runoff in Hawaiian Forests
- Local to landscape-level controls of water fluxes through Hawaiian forests
- Cloud Water Interception in Hawaiʻi
- Effects of high-priority non-native plants on the water cycle