Tropical Rainforest By Varsha Kumar

Weather and Climate The tropical rainforest has a very moist warm climate. It is mostly warm, shady and muggy in a tropical forest with lots of vegetation and variety of animals. Precipitation:The total rainfall for a year is between 150 to 660 cm - lots of rain. All year round the relative humidity is very high. Sunshine/daylight totals: Rain forests are either on the equator or very close to the equator. Above the canopy of trees the sun shines very brightly. In the rain forest, the sun light barely reaches the ground. There is hardly any direct sunlight reaching the forest floor. The days and nights are generally equal at the equator. The longest days are 21st March and 21st Sept. The rest of the days are slightly shorter. Generally, there are a little less than 12 hours. Humidity: Humidity is very high in the tropical rain forests. It is between 77-88%. Air Pressure:Changes as you move up in the forest. It is generally low in the forest.

Temperature: There is not much difference in temperature during the day and night and even throughout the year. An average day’s temperature is around 30C - 35C (90s F). At night the temperature drops to about 20C - 25C (70s F). Tropical rainforest lie very close to the equator. Wind Velocity: There are no strong winds in the rain forest.

Weather Trends The unique feature of rain forest is that they have no seasons. They have the same weather patterns through out the year. They are no changes seen month to month. The rain forests have the sun shining brightly outside the tree canopy and diffused sun light inside the forest. It rains every day. Changes in weather patterns occurs only if the trees are cut down. One of the effects would be flooding because more water reaches the ground. Another effect is global warming. With fewer trees, the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will increase and increase global warming. Changes in temperature eventually changes the climate and weather.

Impact on environment and organisms The sun shines almost every day in the tropical forests. The rain forest holds a lot of moisture it also rains almost every day. Sunshine and rain together make the trees grow very well. Weather pattern of rainfall every day makes trees in the rainforest large and tall. Most of the rain that fall in the rain forest never actually reaches the ground. Since there are so many trees in the rainforest barley any rain reaches the ground. It is stopped by canopy of leaves that prevent both rain and direct sunlight from reaching the ground. There are lot of epiphytes that survive in the floor of the forest. The weather in the tropical rain forests is responsible for the large variety of plants seen in these forests. The abundance of trees found in the rain forests provides a home for organisms. Insects are the largest group of animals in the rain forests. All animals found in the forests adapt to living with trees.

Recourses http://library.thinkquest.org/26634/text/forest/climate.htm http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/rainforest.htm http://www.umich.edu/~gs265/society/deforestation.htm http://ic.ucsc.edu/~kholl/envs80a/lec23.htm