3 ms·
Trees are a collection of straws into the ground, sucking up water with negative pressure due to evaporation through the leaves. It's cool that there are cloud-
by meristohm 3y ago
Trees are a collection of straws into the ground, sucking up water with negative pressure due to evaporation through the leaves. It's cool that there are cloud-seeding chemicals released as well.
Forests smell and feel much better that clear-cut spaces, I know that much. I'd rather the USDA and Forest Service adopt more-sustainable logging practices, for leased land especially (where the economics equation currently favors clear-cutting), like the Menominee in northern Wisconsin.
- jazzyjackson 3y agoi've also wondered how much energy is absorbed by trees, I know on a 100 degree day the coolness of a shady grove well outcompetes the shade of a simple picnic shelter
- Avshalom 3y agothere's a couple things going on there. Photsynthesis isn't absorbing much its ~1-2% efficiency (so mostly just waste heat) but plants are mostly water which has a high heat capacity so it warms slower than a kiln dried wood structure. Wood/bark is also way less reflective than concrete and (living) plants respond to heat by opening up pores and letting water evaporate out of them (basically sweating) which can lower the dry bulb temperature (especially if there's any breeze).
- sampo 3y agoIn infrared, green leaves are more reflective than bare soil or concrete.
- nostromo 3y agoTrees also act as thermal sinks. They transfer surface heat down into their roots, where it is cool underground.
- eep_social 3y agoMore precisely, the temperature underground is very stable. At 8-12 feet there is little to no variation over the course of a year. So in a cold season it will be warmer underground than ambient (this is why foundations are dug “below the frost line”) while the opposite is true during a warm season.
- luma 3y agoWould evaporative cooling due to transpiration have a significant impact?