There are positive climate improvements in hot spots where vegetation thrives that affect climatic conditions of up to 30 percent. The improvements between these regional vegetations and the atmosphere are helpful in setting weather and climate forecasts essential to crop management, security, droughts, heat waves, and water supplies.
Researchers led by Associate Professor of the Earth and Environment Engineering from Columbia University, New York, Pierre Gentine tap on global satellite data and analyze its observations. His study shows that in known regions of vegetation, the space between the atmosphere and the terrestrial biosphere could be strong explaining the 30 percent alteration. His research is published on the May 29, 2017 "Nature's Geoscience" and is the first look at how the atmosphere and the biosphere above regional vegetations interact and alter conditions.
Gentine's study further illustrates the weather prediction process using the feedback method between the regional vegetation biosphere and the atmosphere. A one-week forecast of the area is attainable but long scale predictions still need more data to comply. More modeling and observations between photosynthesis and the atmosphere are required for further improvements of weather and climatic predictions, reports Science Daily.
Dr. Gentine's Ph.D. student and lead author of the study Julia Green, explains the 30 percent alteration sequence above the regional vegetations, saying that photosynthesis plays the major role in the process. During the plants' food production stage, water vapor is released thereby affecting weather patterns and climate changes. Water vapor consequently affects surface energy rate resulting in cloud formations. Green further adds that clouds affect the entry of radiation altering the earth's energy equilibrium and in some areas lead to precipitation. To date, photosynthesis and the biosphere alteration are still unquantifiable, reports Physics.Org.
Professor of the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Earth Sciences from George Mason University Paul Dirmeyer states that Gentine's and Green's studies intrigued the science communities and found it exciting. The research is a timely response to the threats of climate change.
