Why Most Rain Never Reaches The Ground
Less than half of the rain that falls from a cloud makes it all the way to the ground – because a lot evaporates while falling or after landing in treetops. Thanks to Georgia Southern University...
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Hi, this is Kate from MinuteEarth. Most rain never reaches the ground. Because it falls on the oceans! But a lot of rain falling over land also doesn’t reach the ground. Some of it disappears before it gets very far. As raindrops fall they pass through warmer and warmer air, which evaporates more and more water molecules from their surfaces. Measuring that water loss is tricky; we can't levitate rain gauges at different heights in the sky to directly measure how much rain evaporates, but computer simulations suggest that about 40% of falling rain disappears back into the sky. And when rain does touch down, it lands mostly on Earth’s forests. That’s because wherever lots of rain falls, thirsty trees dominate by growing tall and wide and sh...
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Hi, this is Kate from MinuteEarth. Most rain never reaches the ground. Because it falls on the oceans! But a lot of rain falling over land also doesn’t reach the ground. Some of it disappears before it gets very far. As raindrops fall they pass through warmer and warmer air, which evaporates more and more water molecules from their surfaces. Measuring that water loss is tricky; we can't levitate rain gauges at different heights in the sky to directly measure how much rain evaporates, but computer simulations suggest that about 40% of falling rain disappears back into the sky. And when rain does touch down, it lands mostly on Earth’s forests. That’s because wherever lots of rain falls, thirsty trees dominate by growing tall and wide and sh...
