Quantum Day
21st Century Science, Technology, and Medical News
Hydrological Research Team Find That Parched and Dry Soil Trigger Afternoon Rain Storms
According to a team of scientists from countries such as UK, Holland, Austria and France, parched and dry soil are more likely to trigger afternoon storms. The team examined the movement, distribution, and quality of water processes across six continents. Their hydrological study is published in the scientific journal, Nature.
The work of the team may give more insight into the workings of the environment in terms of rain and droughts. These may then be used to construct better and more precise climate models to track the Earth's existing climate cycle.
Climate is the weather condition of an area averaged over a period of time (usually in years). The difference between weather and climate is that weather is the condition of the area in that specified time. Aside from measuring devices such as barometers, weather satellites provide images and data on a global scale on how the present condition of the Earth's climate.
Using satellite imagery, the research team noticed that rain clouds developed more in places where the ground is dry. They scientists examined the images which track the development of storm clouds across the globe and matched up where new storms appeared alongside images of how wet the ground was.
Video: Water Vapor, the Hydrological Cycle, and Climate Change
Dr. Chris Taylor from the NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology in the UK led the research team conducting the study. According to him, "We had been looking at storms in Africa and knew that rain clouds there tended to brew up in places where it hadn't rained in the previous few days. We were surprised to see a similar pattern occurring in other regions of the world such as the US and continental Europe. In those less extreme climates, with more vegetation cover, we expected the soil wetness effect would be too weak to identify."
The researchers compared their observations with six global weather and climate models used to simulate climate change. They found that the existing models do the wrong thing, triggering rain over wetter soils.
The implication is that existing climate models are more likely to go into a vicious circle whereby dry soils decrease rainfall, leading to even drier soil conditions. The paper concludes that fixing this problem is a priority for scientists developing the climate models.
Dr Taylor added, "Both heat and moisture are critical ingredients for rain clouds to build up during the afternoon. On sunny days the land heats the air, creating thermals which reach several kilometres up into the atmosphere. If the soil is dry, the thermals are stronger, and our new research shows that this makes rain more likely."
Co-author Dr Françoise Guichard from CNRM-GAME (CNRS and Meteo-France) said, "We need to improve climate models so that we get a better idea of what global climate change will mean on smaller regional scales over land."
CNRM-GAME (CNRS and Meteo-France)
Geoengineering Through Solar Reduction Management (SRM) May Significantly Reduce Rainfall
California Coastal Planners Preparing for Climate Change
Studying Solar Minimum and Its Effect on Climate
Climate Change Findings Not As Severe
MIT News: More Powerful Devastating Storms To Come Due To Climate Change
Newly Discovered Criegee Biradicals Shown to Naturally Cool The Planet
Scientists Publish Study Predicting Earth's Susceptibility To An Environmental Epidemic Can Trigger Planetary Collapse
Geoengineering and Its Effect on the Global Food Supply
Research Point To Microbe As Cause For Ocean's Methane Levels
Labels: Climate Change, global warming, hydrology, rain, science, storm
Support Quantum Day
Magnificent View of Spiral Galaxy Messier 77 - The Spiral galaxy Messier 77, 47 million light-years away and found in the constellation of Cetus (The Sea Monster) is captured in its full glory by the ...
Top Posts For The Week
Famous Scientists of the 21st Century
The 21st Century is just beginning but science and technology are moving in blazing speeds. Without the scientists, how could we move? Toda...
What Lobsters Can Teach Us About X-Ray Vision
An article published in How Stuff Works last November highlighted how lobsters are being used by the U.S. Dept. of Home Security to develop...
Zio® Patch Studied For Use In Diagnosing Irregular Heartbeat or Arrhythmia
Heart Arrhythmia is a condition when there is abnormal electrical activity in the heart. This may cause a heartbeat to be abnormally slow h...
Blog Archive Jul 2017 (1) Jun 2017 (1) Jan 2016 (2) Dec 2015 (4) Sep 2015 (7) Jul 2015 (6) Apr 2015 (3) Feb 2015 (3) Jan 2015 (32) Oct 2014 (1) Aug 2014 (5) Jul 2014 (4) Jun 2014 (2) May 2014 (3) Apr 2014 (7) Mar 2014 (5) Feb 2014 (14) Jan 2014 (26) Dec 2013 (21) Nov 2013 (10) Oct 2013 (25) Sep 2013 (17) Aug 2013 (25) Jul 2013 (14) Jun 2013 (11) May 2013 (16) Apr 2013 (53) Mar 2013 (27) Feb 2013 (39) Jan 2013 (75) Dec 2012 (47) Nov 2012 (36) Oct 2012 (46) Sep 2012 (54) Aug 2012 (60) Jul 2012 (59) Jun 2012 (72) May 2012 (81) Apr 2012 (82) Mar 2012 (58) Feb 2012 (40) Jan 2012 (54) Dec 2011 (46) Nov 2011 (34) Oct 2011 (20)
About Quantum Day
Abstracts On Scientists Develop Military Camouflag...
Abstracts on Extracting Uranium From Seawater
Acute Otitis Externa Fact Sheet
Weekly Game Highlights
Quantum Day© by JVizcarra is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Theme images by Maliketh. Powered by Blogger.