Abstract:Impacts of Chinese pine (Pinus tabulaeformis) plantations on rainfall redistribution processes for the mountainous area of North China were investigated with observed data for 32 rainfall events from four wet seasons, June to September, during 2005-2008. The results showed that the average throughfall, stemflow, and canopy interception amounts were 867mm (82.18%), 0.11mm (1.07%), and 1.07mm (16.75%), respectively. Throughfall, stemflow and interception amounts had statistically significant linear relationships with total rainfall (R2=0.995, R2=0.907, R2=0855, respectively). Throughfall occurs when the rainfall is greater than 0.3mm and stemflow occurs when the rainfall is greater than 3.51mm, based on the regression relationships developed in this study. The canopy interception rate varies hyperbolically with rainfall amount, and a regression equation was fitted as y=12.091+55.537/(x+0.426) (N=32, R2=0.685). The temporal distribution of rainfall events was also modified by the Chinese pine canopy: throughfall and stemflow started two and 12 minutes later than rainfall for a typical rainfall event of 29.1mm, and throughfall spanning period was about one hour longer for this 14.8 hour long rainfall event.