Headline March 31, 2016/ ''' ** THE STUDENTS WHO PLANTED TREES ** '''

''' ** THE STUDENTS WHO 

PLANTED TREES ** '''

IMRAN KHAN  -Pakistan's fearless and formidable son, is well on his way in building the province of KPK,  into a rare model of public servings and service.

Not long after, when this great man is gone from the world scene, and left for his heavenly abodes,  his sapling and tree planting campaign will truly blossom, with shades, clouds, rain, petals, fragrance and scents.

Just about, as beautiful as the lovely home side, atop a hill, where the WARRIOR resides. Once a bald and an ugly patch, it now sways in beautiful green orchards, to the lifting delights of  all, even the passers.  

DROUGHT IS USUALLY thought of as a natural disaster beyond the human control.  But as researchers peer deeper-

Into the Earth's changing bioclimate  -the vastly complex global interplay between living organisms and climatic forces   -they are better appreciating the crucial role that deforestation plays. 

SCIENTISTS AND STUDENTS have long, long known that vegetation has a profound effect on weather.

In 1907, officials built a  2,000  mile-long fence across Australia to keep invasive rabbits from crossing from the wild outback into farms. On the side with native vegetation, rain clouds formed in the sky above, but the farmfield skies were clear.

The  ''bunny-fence experiments''  charted a decline in rainfall of 20 percent on the cultivated side. Researchers are are still trying to explain why, but the leading theory is that the darker native plants absorb more heat and release it into the atmosphere, along with energy and water vapor to form clouds.

And then, like California, much of Brazil, since a  few months ago, is gripped by one of the worst droughts in its history. Huge reservoirs are bone dry and water has been rationed in Sao Paulo, a megacity of 20 million people; in Rio; and in many other places.

Cutting down forests releases stored carbon dioxide, which traps heat and contributes to atmospheric warning. But forests also affect affect climate in other ways, by absorbing more solar energy than grasslands, for example, or releasing vast amounts of water vapour.

Many experts believe that deforestation is taking place on such a large scale, especially in South America, that it has already significantly altered the world's climate   -even though its dynamics are not well understood.

''A lot of people are scrambling to make observations in the Amazon this year, with the expected big El Nino coming,'' said Abigail L.S.Swann, an eco-climatologist at the University of Washington. ''It's expected to drive significant drought over the Amazon, which will change how much water trees have available,''

Humans have long settled in places where there is adequate and predictable precipitation, and large forests play a crucial role in generating dependable amounts of rainfall. 

Trees take up moisture from the soil and transpire it, lifting it into the atmosphere.

A single fully grown tree releases  1,000 liters of water a day into the atmosphere: The entire Amazon rain forests sends up 20 billion tons a day.

The water vapour creates clouds, which are which are seeded with volatile gases like terpenes and isoprene, emitted by the trees naturally, to form rain. 

These water-rich banks of clouds travel long, wind-driven distances, a conveyor belt for the delivery of precipitation that scientists call flying rivers.

The sky-borne river over the Amazon carries more water than the Amazon River itself. It begins as moisture that builds over the Atlantic Ocean, and then flows westward over emerald crown of the Amazon, where it picks up far more moisture.

The laden clouds eventually pump up against the Andes and are steered south and then east., which means rain for Brazil and Bolivia.      

One way forests may move water is known as ''biotic pumping''.

As water transpires into the atmosphere above the forest, the theory holds, it creates a low pressure system that sucks in air surrounding it, eventually and continually pumping moisture inland from the ocean.

Cutting down forests degrades these low-pressure systems, essentially turning off the pump. Large-scale deforestation is thus believed to be a major contributor to the extreme drought in Brazil.

Today's researchers mainly rely on computer modeling to understand the effects of deforestation, an especially difficult task because there are so many complex pathways through which trees control climate:

Precipitation, carbon storage, large clouds of complex chemical emissions and the absorption of the sun's energy.........   

The Honour and Serving of the  ''latest research on weather and climate'' continues. Thank Ya all for reading and see you on the following one.

With respectful dedication to the Leaders, Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all on !WOW!  -the World Students Society and the Ecosystem 2011:

''' Student's Ecosystem '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless