More Great News About Trees

Dec. 16, 2008 - PRLog -- We already know that trees are good for the environment; they remove carbon from the atmosphere and help to reduce global warming. However, a recent discovery shows that they do much more than that – a chemical released by trees helps to cool the planet further by thickening cloud cover over forests. More of the chemical is released in warmer conditions and trees act as a "global air conditioner".

COFORD , the National Council of Forest Research and Development (Ireland) have recently announced in their Forestry and Wood December update 2008 that a chemical released by trees can help to cool the planet.  Scientists from the UK (Institute for Climate and Atmospheric Science at Leeds University) and Germany have discovered that trees release a chemical that thickens clouds above them, thereby reflecting more sunlight and cooling the Earth.

One of the scientists, Dominick Spracklen said ""We think this could have quite a significant effect. You can think of forests as climate air conditioners."

The chemicals are Terpenes (which give pine forests their distinctive smell) and their release had puzzled scientists for years, with some believing that the trees released them to communicate, while others say they could offer protection from air pollution.

The research team found the terpenes react in the air to form tiny particles called aerosols. The particles help turn water vapour in the atmosphere into clouds. Spracklen said the team's computer models showed that the pine particles doubled the thickness of clouds some 1,000 m above the forests, and would reflect an extra 5% sunlight back into space.

He said: "It might not sound a lot, but that is quite a strong cooling effect. The climate is such a finely balanced system that we think this effect is large enough to reduce temperatures over quite large areas. It gives us another reason to preserve forests."

Because trees release more terpenes in warmer weather, the discovery suggests that forests could act as a negative feedback on climate, to dampen future temperature rise. The team looked at forests of mainly pine and spruce trees, but Spracklen said other trees also produce terpenes so the cooling effect should be found in other regions, including tropical rainforests.

So trees not only remove Carbon from the atmosphere but also thicken the clouds above them, helping to further reduce global warming.

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James Cahill, Costa Rica Invest’s managing director says “investors in our project in Costa Rica are not only making money but they are eco friendly as well. Our investor’s trees remove carbon from the atmosphere with 1 ha of trees removing approximately 3.5 tonnes of carbon per annum. The growing of teak in plantations helps to reduce jungle logging of natural teak, thereby protecting our natural jungle resources. And now the news that trees further help to cool the planet by increasing cloud cover is more great news”.

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For more information, including high resolution images, the full detail of the discovery and case studies press only: Judy Ferguson, +353 (0)1 272 4184, pr@costaricainvest.ie

For more information on Costa Rica Invest and their products:
http://www.costaricainvest.ie or http://www.costaricainvest.co.uk

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Costa Rica Invest specialises in enironmentally friendly, ethically responsible, high yield investments, primarily in Costa Rica. Di Pacifico Dos is Costa Rica Invests current project investing in development land with the added value of teak trees.