Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Part I General perspectives
- Part II Regional floristic and animal diversity
- Part III Hydrometeorology of tropical montane cloud forest
- Part IV Nutrient dynamics in tropical montane cloud forests
- Part V Cloud forest water use, photosynthesis, and effects of forest conversion
- Part VI Effects of climate variability and climate change
- 54 Meso-scale climate change due to lowland deforestation in the maritime tropics
- 55 The impact of deforestation on orographic cloud formation in a complex tropical environment
- 56 Meso-scale climate change in the central mountain region of Veracruz State, Mexico
- 57 Potential effects of global climate change on epiphytes in a tropical montane cloud forest: an experimental study from Monteverde, Costa Rica
- 58 Climatic change impacts on tropical montane cloud forests: fire as a major determinant in the upper zones of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
- 59 Historical 14C evidence of fire in tropical montane cloud forests in the Chimalapas region of Oaxaca, southern Mexico
- 60 Biennial variation in tree diameter growth during eight years in tropical montane cloud forests on Mount Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
- 61 Modeling the dynamics of tropical montane cloud forest in central Veracruz, Mexico
- Part VII Cloud forest conservation, restoration, and management issues
- References
55 - The impact of deforestation on orographic cloud formation in a complex tropical environment
from Part VI - Effects of climate variability and climate change
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 May 2011
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Part I General perspectives
- Part II Regional floristic and animal diversity
- Part III Hydrometeorology of tropical montane cloud forest
- Part IV Nutrient dynamics in tropical montane cloud forests
- Part V Cloud forest water use, photosynthesis, and effects of forest conversion
- Part VI Effects of climate variability and climate change
- 54 Meso-scale climate change due to lowland deforestation in the maritime tropics
- 55 The impact of deforestation on orographic cloud formation in a complex tropical environment
- 56 Meso-scale climate change in the central mountain region of Veracruz State, Mexico
- 57 Potential effects of global climate change on epiphytes in a tropical montane cloud forest: an experimental study from Monteverde, Costa Rica
- 58 Climatic change impacts on tropical montane cloud forests: fire as a major determinant in the upper zones of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
- 59 Historical 14C evidence of fire in tropical montane cloud forests in the Chimalapas region of Oaxaca, southern Mexico
- 60 Biennial variation in tree diameter growth during eight years in tropical montane cloud forests on Mount Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
- 61 Modeling the dynamics of tropical montane cloud forest in central Veracruz, Mexico
- Part VII Cloud forest conservation, restoration, and management issues
- References
Summary
ABSTRACT
Ecological changes observed in cloud forests in the Monteverde area, northern Costa Rica, including disappearance of anuran populations and expansion of bird and bat ranges to higher elevations, have been linked to an increasing trend in dry-season mist-free days. Prior studies suggest that this trend may be influenced by both large-scale processes of climate change and regional-scale changes in land cover. Preliminary investigations exploring the impact of land use on cloud formation indicated that drying and warming of boundary layer air in response to lowland deforestation leads to increased cloud base heights. In the present study, numerical model experiments utilizing realistic land-use scenarios and atmospheric conditions are used to further explore the impact of land-use change on orographic cloud formation. The Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS) was used to simulate orographic cloud formation during the time period of 1–14 March 2003 in the Monteverde region for pristine, current, and future land-use scenarios. The simulations were initiated from the same atmospheric conditions and subject to similar lateral boundary conditions. Comparisons against observations showed that RAMS was capable of realistically simulating the nature of orographic cloud formation and boundary-layer thermodynamics. Numerical simulations indicated that deforestation in the lowlands and adjacent pre-montane areas results in an increase in average cloud base height and a consequent decrease in the areal extent of montane forests immersed in clouds. In the current and future land-use scenarios, warmer and drier air is found over the lowlands and pre-montane areas. […]
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- Information
- Tropical Montane Cloud ForestsScience for Conservation and Management, pp. 538 - 548Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011
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