How the Biotic Pump Links the Hydrological Cycle and the Rainforest to Climate: Is It for Real? How Can We Prove It?
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How the Biotic Pump links the hydrological cycle and the rainforest to climate: Is it for real? How can we prove it? Peter Bunyard, MA Instituto de Estudios y Servicios Ambientales –IDEASA Escuela de Ciencias Exactas e Ingeniería Universidad Sergio Arboleda Bogotá, Colombia Bunyard, Peter How the Biotic Pump links the hydrological cycle and the rainforest to climate: ¿Is it for real? ¿How can we prove it? / Peter Bunyard – Bogotá: Universidad Sergio Arboleda. Instituto de Estudios y Servicios Ambientales-IDEASA, 2014. 114 p. - ISBN 978-958-8745-88-6 (rústica) ISBN 978-958-8745-89-3 (.pdf) 1. CLIMATOLOGÍA 2. CIRCULACIÓN ATMOSFÉRICA 3. CICLO HIDROLÓGICO 4. TEORÍA DE LA BOMBA BIÓTICA 551.6 ed. 21 How the Biotic Pump links the hydrological cycle and the rainforest to climate: Is it for real? How can we prove it? ISBN: 978-958-8745-88-6 (rústica) ISBN: 978-958-8745-89-3 (.pdf) © Peter Bunyard Universidad Sergio Arboleda Instituto de Estudios y Servicios Ambientales - IDEASA Escuela de Ciencias Exactas e Ingeniería Edición: febrero de 2014 Queda prohibida toda reproducción por cualquier medio sin previa autorización escrita del editor. El contenido del libro no representa la opinión de la Universidad Sergio Arboleda y es responsabilidad del autor. Edición: Yadira Caballero Quintero - Carlos Andrés Caho Rodríguez. Calle 74 No. 14-14 Teléfono: (571) 325 7500 ext. 2131/2260 www.usergioarboleda.edu.co Bogotá, D.C. Directora de Publicaciones Científicas: Yadira Caballero Quintero [email protected] Director del Fondo de Publicaciones: Jaime Arturo Barahona Caicedo [email protected] Impresión: Digiprint Bogotá, D.C. CONTENTS PRESENTATION ..............................................................................9 Chapter 1 BIOTIC PUMP THEORY ...............................................................13 Theory description .............................................................................13 Biotic Pump theory and history .......................................................... 17 Botanical and biotic pump theory .....................................................26 Physiological functioning of stomata ...................................................30 Chapter 2 BIOTIC PUMP THEORY: SEEKING PROOF .............................37 Method ...............................................................................................37 Description .......................................................................................... 41 Chapter 3 RESULTS AND ANALYSIS ............................................................45 Amazon Basin ....................................................................................62 Costa Rica ...........................................................................................67 The evaporative-condensation force and winds ..................................69 Diurnal Barometric Pressure Wave ....................................................79 Chapter 4 DISCUSSION ....................................................................................87 Experimental results: the ultimate proof? ...........................................94 CONCLUSION ............................................................................... 101 3 PETER BUNYARD LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS List of fiGurES Figure 1. Teleconnections of the Amazon Basin ................................15 Figure 2. Deforestation leads to local changes in hydrology ...............16 Figure 3. Past and future deforestation extent over the Amazon basin .....................................................................19 Figure 4. On-shore and off-shore winds and how coastal forests extend inland penetration ......................................................21 Figure 5. Plant available water distribution (PAW) ............................22 Figure 6. Stomata guard cell ..............................................................32 Figure 7. Effects of heat on Rubisco activase, Rubisco activation state and Calvin cycle activity ..........................................33 Figure 8. Process of transpiration of plants. ........................................34 Figure 9. Equipment used for the experiment. ...................................38 Figure 10. Scheme of the equipment used for the experiment. ...........39 Figure 11. Radio-sounding sites on South America............................43 Figure 12. Radio-sounding sites on Africa..........................................44 Figure 13. Condensing vapour over forested slope in contrast to that cleared for pasture ...................................................................58 Figure 14. The Colombian Putumayo, deforested for cattle ...............58 Figure 15. Flow Diagram derived from hydrological equations pertaining to the physics of the biotic pump .......................60 List of GraPHICS Graph 1. Relationship between precipitation and deforestation ......... 17 Graph 2. Annual Variation of Leaf Area Index (LAI) .......................29 Graph 3. Evapotranspiration and its relationship with broadleaf cover and precipitation ......................................................30 Graph 4. Relationship between the net evaporative/condensation force (hPa/km) and water vapour pressure deficit (VPD). ................. 31 Graph 5. Comparative slope change of f E and surface wind. .......... 36 4 How the Biotic Pump links the hydrological cycle and the rainforest to climate Graph 6. La Selva, Costa Rica. Comparative slope change of f E and surface wind .........................................................................36 Graph 7. Experiment with three condensing cycles............................40 Graph 8. Monthly data derived from daily radiosoundings for the different locations ....................................................................43 Graph 9. Leticia, partial pressure water vapour against temperature. ............................................................................................47 Graph 10. Leticia, partial pressures water vapour with Altitude........48 Graph 11. Theoretical curves of the evaporative force f E ...................49 Graph 12. Partial Pressure Force. Leticia 9th September 2013 ..........50 Graph 13. Deforestation impact over the biotic pump .......................52 Graph 14. La Selva, February 2014. Average temperature and average fE ....................................................................................54 Graph 15. Calculations of f E and surface humidity from radio-soundings, August 2012 ............................................................55 Graph 16. Radio-soundings for January 2012. Comparative f E and surface humidity ......................................................................56 Graph 17. Dependence of precipitation on distance X (Km) .............. 57 Graph 18. Precipitation over non-forested territories ......................... 57 Graph 19. Radiosounding for Leticia, Amazonas ..............................62 Graph 20. Radiosounding calculations based on surface conditions as given in altitude z1 .........................................................63 Graph 21. Monthly data from February 2010 to April 2011 and the same for the early part of 2011 ...............................................65 Graph 22. The variance of surface water vapour density on a monthly basis 2011-2012.............................................................65 Graph 23. The variance of surface humidity on a monthly basis 2011-2012 ...................................................................................66 Graph 24. Variance in surface humidity (2001-2012) .........................66 Graph 25. Impact of pressure changes brought about through condensation of water vapour on airflow ............................................68 Graph 26. La Selva OTC biological station, May 20th, 2012. ...........70 5 PETER BUNYARD Graph 27. La Selva, 15th October 2012. ............................................70 Graph 28. Rate of change of evaporative force f E ..............................72 Graph 29. Rate of change of wind ......................................................73 Graph 30. La Selva, January 18th, 2013 ............................................ 74 Graph 31. Palo Verde, 4th September 2011 ........................................75 Graph 32. Rate of change of f E versus windspeed, La Selva 25th December 2011 ...........................................................................76 Graph 33. La Selva, 21st October, 2012 .............................................76 Graph 34. La Selva December 8th, 2013 ............................................77 Graph 35. Regression plot of f E vs windspeed rate of change .............78 Graph 36. Strong and weaker accumulated correlations for La Selva, March 2012 ....................................................................78 Graph 37. La Selva barometric waves, averaged for different months in 2012, with simulated waves ................................................80 Graph 38. Palo Verde, March to April, 2012, averaged barometric diurnal wave against simulated curve ..............................81 Graph 39. Barometric average data for the 10 years, for Jokioinen in Northern Finland ......................................................81 Graph 40. Jokioinen for June 1961-1970 .............................................82 Graph 41. The relationship between the cosine component of the barometric wave and relative humidity ....................................83 Graph 42. Liquid water path