Influence of the spatial distribution of vegetation and soils on the prediction of cumulus convective rainfall

This paper uses published work to demonstrate the link between surface mois ture and heat fluxes and cumulus convective rainfall. The Earth's surface r ole with respect to the surface energy and moisture budgets is examined. Ch anges in land-surface properties are shown to influence the heat and moistu re fluxes within the planetary boundary layer, convective available potenti al energy, and other measures of the deep cumulus cloud activity. The spati al structure of the surface heating, as influenced by landscape patterning, produces focused regions for deep cumulonimbus convection. In the tropics, and during midlatitude summers, deep cumulus convection has apparently bee n significantly altered as a result of landscape changes. These alterations in cumulus convection teleconnect to higher latitudes, which significantly alters the weather in those regions. The effect of tropical deforestation is most clearly defined in the winter hemisphere. In the context of climate , landscape processes are shown to be as much a part of the climate system as are atmospheric processes.