tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6196870197578202117.post8377021386555230679..comments2023-03-24T04:43:13.183-07:00Comments on The Biochar Economy: Vortex towers could vegetate desertsSam Caranahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12376449209858411775noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6196870197578202117.post-73122883743837751632016-09-01T23:30:24.866-07:002016-09-01T23:30:24.866-07:00Adding biochar to the soil is an excellent way to ...Adding biochar to the soil is an excellent way to improve the soil's capability to retain moisture and nutrients, thus improving forest health and facilitating further vegetation growth, afforestation and reforestation. <br /><br />Trees take carbon out of the atmosphere to grow, and forests can remove huge amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Trees can provide fruit and shelter, while forest waste can provide building material and it can be turned into biochar, thus avoiding carbon dioxide to get released into the atmosphere. <br /><br />In a forest, water evaporates from the stems, leaves and flowers. A forest will preserve this moisture under its canopy during the warmest hours of the day, while the canopy also has a cooling effect by shading, thus also reducing evaporation of moisture from the soil. When it gets cooler, later in the day, winds will get stronger that will blow more moisture into the air, contributing to the formation of rain clouds. Rainfall further gets stimulated by volatile organic compounds that are released into the atmosphere from forests. The rain will then return the moisture back to the soil, and rainwater can run down deep into the soil alongside the roots of trees to replenish groundwater. <br /><br />Forests thus stabilize soil and reduce erosion, they can avoid that soils get hit by temperature peaks, they regulate water flow to mitigate floods and droughts, and they purify water. <br /><br />Here's a link to a <a href="http://www.wri.org/blog/2016/08/watersheds-lost-22-their-forests-14-years-heres-how-it-affects-your-water-supply" rel="nofollow">recent post by the World Resources Institute</a><br /><br />Furthermore, here's a recent study looking at links between soil moisture and rainfall. <a href="http://www.bu.edu/research/articles/soil-moisture-rainfall/" rel="nofollow">When Earth Speaks to Sky</a>Sam Caranahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12376449209858411775noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6196870197578202117.post-51221509179694091672015-05-31T05:38:42.671-07:002015-05-31T05:38:42.671-07:00Victor Gorshkov and Anastassia Makarieva argue tha...Victor Gorshkov and Anastassia Makarieva argue that forests drive winds through 'persistent condensation' bringing in rain from the oceans. "During condensation water vapor disappears from the gas phase. Air pressure depends on the number of air molecules and is reduced by condensation. Areas with persistent condensation become zones of low pressure that suck in the air from the surrounding regions. Forests ensure both a store and a flux of moisture on land and thus create such persistent low pressure zones on land. This causes moist winds to blow from the ocean to land." <br />Read more about <a href="http://news.mongabay.com/2013/0130-hance-physics-biotic-pump.html" rel="nofollow">the biotic pump</a>. Paper: <a href="http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/13/1039/2013/acp-13-1039-2013.html" rel="nofollow">Where do winds come from? A new theory on how water vapor condensation influences atmospheric pressure and dynamics</a> Sam Caranahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12376449209858411775noreply@blogger.com