Great list of papers thank you, I have two comments.
The comments on Bioaerosols refer to Pseduomonas Syringae bacteria which it seems to suggest encouraging. I looked it up to find it shown as a significant plant pathogen which is, unfortunate! Maybe not the best idea.
Many of the papers understandably speak about the benefits of reforestation but I have a problem with this. Most food does not come from forests but from grasslands which hardly get a mention yet Allan Savory and Alejandro Carrillo (in the Chihuahuan Desert) among others, all report improvements in precipitation through their regenerative farming practices.
It strikes me that land that has an economic value is more likely to succeed with restoring the small water cycle than that with limited value like forests. The American prairies and the famous black soils of Ukraine are both carbon rich grasslands which we are losing at a frightening pace. Restoring these lands with the correct farming practices would combat worldwide soil erosion while also restoring their natural water cycle, which I would view as the better option. Just saying.
Thanks so much for compiling and sharing this valuable resource. In relation to restoring earth, water and climate, a very early pioneer of what was called the Landcare movement in Australia, Prof Brian Roberts certainly needs a mention on the global stage with his work on soil conservation, e.g. see: https://scienceqld.org/2023/12/11/land-ethics-roberts/
Thanks for all this homework! It all helps reinforce my campaign to Bring back the Rains to Southern Africa - through Restoring Trees, Repairing Soils and Raising the Water Table. See Radio4PASA.com/Bring-back-the-rain. Bruce Danckwerts, CHOMA, Zambia
This is an excellent collection of important papers. I didn't know about Manabe's paper on water. He includes a lot about water in the atmosphere in his carbon-modeling papers, clearly he was on the right track, but had to stick to the mandate of studying carbon and its effects. Thanks for putting this together.
Excellent work putting this all together. Hope that trip to Spain was fruitful. Certainly got you into a mindset that we are so close to. Climate change is all around us. Some of these articles support a lot of the work we are researching on the Arctic and predominant winds blowing into a portion of Greenland. All about water recycling, from solid to vapor then not far off blown to an area in Greenland that now shows much more rapid melt than the other areas.
"Origin and fate of atmospheric moisture over continents" Van der Ent and Savenije 2010.
Alpha - great list, thanks for compiling this. To me one seminal paper missing is Horton's paper on infiltration. While first and foremost it laid out his theory of infiltration, the other less cited aspect was his recognition that plants modulated hydrologic variability. He got this before anyone else, I think. I wrote about it here: https://scottdierks.substack.com/p/ecohydrology-the-relationship-between
These are great papers, but IMHO it’s also important to address the other literature in the field that hasn’t found these effects. For example the half century of experimental watershed results summarized in AE Brown (Journal of Hydrology 2005) that found only decreases in water availability with increased vegetation. https://x.com/weltanschuuang/status/1818294855883542929
Can you explain more what you think the AE Brown curve is pointing to? ...... yes, there needs to be papers that clarify when tree planting increases hydrological cycle and when it decreases it. Planting too densely , or planting native trees, or monocultures can lead to a draining of the soil moisture faster than it can be replenished. In those cases even if you have temporarily more evaporation and then more rain, that effect can diminish over time, because soil moisture decreases and soil gets degraded.
I think the general conclusion from the AE Brown curve is that forest reduction increases water availability through a decrease in transpiration. Afforestation has the opposite effect due to increased transpiration.
Also, in arid places with low precipitation, changes in vegetation don’t matter because all the evapotranspiration is really just evaporation, so ET doesn’t change.
I don’t really know how to explain these differences…
Great list of papers thank you, I have two comments.
The comments on Bioaerosols refer to Pseduomonas Syringae bacteria which it seems to suggest encouraging. I looked it up to find it shown as a significant plant pathogen which is, unfortunate! Maybe not the best idea.
Many of the papers understandably speak about the benefits of reforestation but I have a problem with this. Most food does not come from forests but from grasslands which hardly get a mention yet Allan Savory and Alejandro Carrillo (in the Chihuahuan Desert) among others, all report improvements in precipitation through their regenerative farming practices.
It strikes me that land that has an economic value is more likely to succeed with restoring the small water cycle than that with limited value like forests. The American prairies and the famous black soils of Ukraine are both carbon rich grasslands which we are losing at a frightening pace. Restoring these lands with the correct farming practices would combat worldwide soil erosion while also restoring their natural water cycle, which I would view as the better option. Just saying.
Good point. In drier landscapes it’s more natural to grow grasslands than forests . So yes in those climates restore the grasslands
Thank you. I appreciate your efforts on this.
Thanks so much for compiling and sharing this valuable resource. In relation to restoring earth, water and climate, a very early pioneer of what was called the Landcare movement in Australia, Prof Brian Roberts certainly needs a mention on the global stage with his work on soil conservation, e.g. see: https://scienceqld.org/2023/12/11/land-ethics-roberts/
Thanks for all this homework! It all helps reinforce my campaign to Bring back the Rains to Southern Africa - through Restoring Trees, Repairing Soils and Raising the Water Table. See Radio4PASA.com/Bring-back-the-rain. Bruce Danckwerts, CHOMA, Zambia
great glad you are working to bring back the rains in South Africa... btw your link does not work...
Link: https://www.radio4pasa.com/bring-back-the-rains
This is an excellent collection of important papers. I didn't know about Manabe's paper on water. He includes a lot about water in the atmosphere in his carbon-modeling papers, clearly he was on the right track, but had to stick to the mandate of studying carbon and its effects. Thanks for putting this together.
Excellent work putting this all together. Hope that trip to Spain was fruitful. Certainly got you into a mindset that we are so close to. Climate change is all around us. Some of these articles support a lot of the work we are researching on the Arctic and predominant winds blowing into a portion of Greenland. All about water recycling, from solid to vapor then not far off blown to an area in Greenland that now shows much more rapid melt than the other areas.
"Origin and fate of atmospheric moisture over continents" Van der Ent and Savenije 2010.
I hope to have you rev
Hi the rest of your comment got cutoff
I sent the rest Directly to your other email
Thank you Alpha! This is very important!
Nothing but praise is due for your presenting this list. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much for your efforts ! It will surely encourage people to restore rainfall in dry regions, the natural way.
Scott, hey great paper by Horton. I hadn’t heard of it before. I will digest more of this subject and consider adding it to the ‘canon’
Alpha - great list, thanks for compiling this. To me one seminal paper missing is Horton's paper on infiltration. While first and foremost it laid out his theory of infiltration, the other less cited aspect was his recognition that plants modulated hydrologic variability. He got this before anyone else, I think. I wrote about it here: https://scottdierks.substack.com/p/ecohydrology-the-relationship-between
You can find the original Horton paper here: https://basin.earth.ncu.edu.tw/Course/SeminarII/abstract2015_1/2016.04.07/Yung-Chieh%20Chuang/The%20role%20of%20infiltration%20in%20the%20hydrologic%20cycle..pdf
Alpha, you said my link does not work, and you are correct. I think it must be case sensitive, so try https://www.radio4pasa.com/bring-back-the-rains
These are great papers, but IMHO it’s also important to address the other literature in the field that hasn’t found these effects. For example the half century of experimental watershed results summarized in AE Brown (Journal of Hydrology 2005) that found only decreases in water availability with increased vegetation. https://x.com/weltanschuuang/status/1818294855883542929
Can you explain more what you think the AE Brown curve is pointing to? ...... yes, there needs to be papers that clarify when tree planting increases hydrological cycle and when it decreases it. Planting too densely , or planting native trees, or monocultures can lead to a draining of the soil moisture faster than it can be replenished. In those cases even if you have temporarily more evaporation and then more rain, that effect can diminish over time, because soil moisture decreases and soil gets degraded.
I think the general conclusion from the AE Brown curve is that forest reduction increases water availability through a decrease in transpiration. Afforestation has the opposite effect due to increased transpiration.
Also, in arid places with low precipitation, changes in vegetation don’t matter because all the evapotranspiration is really just evaporation, so ET doesn’t change.
I don’t really know how to explain these differences…
Another example: forest thinning increases water yield and forest health in the Sierra Nevada. https://youtu.be/o9Ier7YBHxc?si=P-Y2TdE4bWx8nkkC