What is the average rainfall in the tropical rainforest

Location Map. Tropical rainforests are found closer to the equator where it is warm. Temperate rainforests are found near the cooler coastal areas further north or south of the equator. The tropical rainforest is a hot, moist biome where it rains all year long. It is known for its dense canopies of vegetation that form three different layers.

The top layer or canopy contains giant trees that grow to heights of 75 m about ft or more. The largest expanse — home to some of the tallest and biggest trees in the world, from redwood and Douglas fir to Sitka spruce — stretches from northern California to southeastern Alaska on the Pacific Coast of North America, grading into boreal rainforest at its northernmost.

Other significant temperate rainforests lie in Chile and New Zealand, though — historically, anyway — the British Isles, Scandinavia, Japan and other far-flung spots host smaller tracts.

Temperate rainforests, when compared with tropical rainforests, require less precipitation to maintain high levels of humidity because of their colder temperatures. He holds a B. The type of rainforest and its location determines annual rainfall amounts: Equatorial rainforests receive more than 80 inches of rain annually. Montane rainforests and cloud forests obtain up to 79 inches of rain per year. Monsoon rainforests get from between to inches of rain annually.

Temperate and boreal rainforests receive over 55 inches of rainfall per year, but some locations have received from 33 to inches per year.

What Is the Torrid Zone? The climate in tropical rain forests is constantly warm and moist. Some areas, however, get as much as centimeters inches of rain per year! One important feature of the rain-forest climate is the average temperature range. Tropical rain forests have a layered structure. A middle layer of trees forms a canopy, or roof, above the forest. This canopy allows little light through. Many trees have leaves with drip tips that channel water off the leaves. Thick, woody vines called lianas are found in the canopy.

They can be as big around as a person. Plants called epiphytes grow on canopy trees. Epiphytes include orchids, ferns, mosses, and lichens. Epiphytes use the tree for support and get water from falling rain.

Monkeys, sloths, bats, tree frogs, ants, beetles, parrots, hummingbirds, and snakes are just a few of the animals that live in the canopy. Art Explosion Art Explosion Many orchids are epiphytes that grow on trees. Bromeliads are also epiphytes. They hold water in the center of the cup of leaves that can be home to insects and frogs. Emergents, or tall trees, poke up through the canopy. Animals such as eagles, monkeys, butterflies, insect-eating bats, and snakes live in the emergent layer.

Some of these animals never travel into the layers below. Below the canopy is a layer called the understory. This part of the forest remains green all year round. Vines, small trees, ferns, and palms grow here.

The difference is in the location. If the rain forest is close to the equator, it is considered tropical. If the rain forest is farther away from the equator between the Arctic Circle and the Tropic of Cancer or the Antarctic Circle and the Tropic of Capricorn , then the forest is considered to be temperate. All temperate rain forests share similar characteristics, but different plants and animals populate each.

The key ingredients: Rain, and lots of it or other precipitation, such as snow, drizzle, mist, or fog. The area must receive a minimum of cm of moisture inches per year. The moist maritime climate keeps the landscape wet most of the year, resulting in an annual precipitation of about cm inches. Forest without trees we might have grasslands, but it wouldn't be rain forest. Both tropical and temperate rain forests are very lush and wet. The tropical rain forest has downpours at the rate of two inches an hour adding up to some inches of rain per year.

It rains a lot in the temperate rain forest, too -- about inches per year. And even more moisture comes from the coastal fog that hovers among the trees.

Tropical rain forests are warm and moist; while temperate rain forests are cool. The temperate rain forest in Alaska and along the Pacific Northwest are some of the most spectacular examples of temperate rain forest in the world. This ecosystem stretches along the Pacific Coast from Oregon to Alaska. Other countries that have temperate rain forests include Chile, New Zealand, and Norway.

What defines a rain forest quite simply is rain--lots of it. Precipitation here ranges from to inches to 14 feet -- every year. The mountains to the east also protect the coastal areas from severe weather extremes.

Seldom does the temperature drop below freezing in the rain forest and summertime highs rarely exceed 80 F. Imagine a forest of trees so huge, tall, and ancient that we all look like little children beside them. Imagine a world of vivid green moss, arching ferns, and a mass of plants so thick it's impossible to see the soil beneath it.

Temperate rain forests progress through a number of stages: mature, old growth, and ancient old growth. Characteristics that you are likely to notice in old growth, temperate rain forests are: trees that range in age from small seedlings just starting out, to very old and grand trees that have lived many hundreds of years many canopy layers each tree's upper levels of vegetation ; large standing snags broken trees, usually dead large logs on the forest floor and in streams an abundance of plants growing on other plants epiphytes and parasites a dense understory of shrubbery and an abundance of green in more shades than you can count, no matter what the time of year.