Planting Trees to increase rainfall. Know more…
Wednesday, 7th July 2021
A new study found that converting agricultural land to forests will increase summer rains by an average of 7.6%.
The researchers also found that adding trees will change the downwind rain pattern of the new forest.
The author believes that the additional rains may partially offset the increased drought conditions caused by climate change.
Increased rainfall survey results are based in part on observations of existing patterns. But the main cause is unclear and may be related to the way forests interact with cloudy air.
Tree planting has become an important part of many countries' efforts to tackle global climate change.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that Britain’s goal is to plant approximately 30 million new trees each year by 2025.
Several studies have examined the range of possible positive and negative effects of plantation prosperity.
The authors use observation-based statistical models to estimate how changes in forest cover will affect rainfall across the continent.
Researchers found that if the forests across Europe increase by an average of 20%, this will promote local rainfall, especially in winter, and have a greater impact on coastal areas.
However, in addition to local rainfall, the planting of new forests will also affect the downwind direction. Scientists have found that rainfall in these places increases especially in summer. Put these two effects together, and in the realistic reforestation scenario described by the team, they found that the total summer rainfall increased by 7.6%.
Also Read: Cloud bursts linked to forest fires?
According to the lead author Ronny Meier of ETH Zurich, this is a very important discovery. It also has an impact on climate change.
"Probably the most threatening sign of climate change that we expect related to rainfall is the decrease in summer rainfall in southern Europe, such as the Mediterranean," he told BBC News.
"According to our research, afforestation there will lead to increased rainfall. Therefore, afforestation can be very beneficial in adapting to the adverse effects of climate change."
But the author also pointed out that increased rainfall may increase already affected by climate change. It affects the rainfall pattern, which has a potential negative impact, especially in the Atlantic region.
The authors say that the reasons for these local and long-distance impacts on rainfall are uncertain and point out that cloudy air from rain tends to linger longer in forested areas. The rugged nature of these forests can cause rain.
"Forests are much more rugged than farmland," said Ronny Meier.
"Therefore, it causes more turbulence at the land-atmosphere interface, and the resistance of forests to the atmosphere is greater than that of agricultural land."
"We believe that this type of resistance and increased turbulence over the forest may be our cause"
Compared to agricultural land, new forests tend to evaporate more water into the atmosphere, and this additional supply is the main reason for the increase in downwind rains.
For the author, the fact that trees planted in one country can have an impact on another means that the world should really consider all the effects of how we use the land.
This also shows once again that the idea of ??using trees to solve climate change is not as simple as people often describe.
"Planting trees is definitely not a quick way to solve climate change," said Professor Wim Thiery of the Free University of Brussels, Belgium, who was not involved in the new research.
"Adding new trees or restoring lost forests will never offset greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels. We must stop generating these emissions first."
"But reducing our emissions is not enough: if we hope to change To keep the heat below 1.5 ° C, we also need to actively remove carbon from the atmosphere. From this perspective, tree planting is a potential candidate to produce these negative emissions, but tree planting shouldn't be the one that doesn't take all possible ways to reduce carbon. Emissions. Excuses."
The News Talkie Bureau
Source:
BBC