Vegetation has a 30% influence on rainfall

vegetation and rainfall

Vegetation in ecosystems has various functions, such as maintaining all living beings that depend on it and providing food. They also generate the oxygen that we breathe through the process of photosynthesis.

Now, for even more importance, Vegetation has been found to have great influence on climate. How can the climate of a place be related to the existing vegetation?

Climate and vegetation

Scientists who have studied this phenomenon have found strong feedbacks between the atmosphere and vegetation. These feedbacks have a great influence on rainfall and the incidence of radiation on the surface and, therefore, have an impact on the local climate. Vegetation is responsible for 30% of the variation in precipitation and incident radiation on the surface.

These studies can help to improve meteorological predictions, since knowing the vegetation of an area and its influence, can generate better prediction models of temperatures and rainfall. This study is, as far as its authors know, the first to examine biosphere-atmosphere interactions using purely observational data, and it could greatly improve weather and climate predictions essential for agricultural crop management, food security, water supplies, droughts and heat waves.

We know that vegetation can affect climate and weather patterns by releasing water vapor during the photosynthesis process. This release of water vapor into the air alters the energy flows of the surface and promotes the formation of clouds. Thanks to those clouds, rainfall occurs. Therefore, vegetation is essential for the rainfall regime to remain stable.

In addition, clouds in turn alter the amount of sunlight, or radiation, that can reach the Earth's surface, affecting the planet's energy balance, and in certain areas this can lead to precipitation.


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