Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Chemistry in Mainz, Germany, have shown that the Amazon produces its own rain. In what way? During the rainy season, the particles released by the Amazon rainforest cause the water in the fog to condense, generating rain.

The air above the Amazon is very clean and the particles that can be found in it are, at least in large part, liberated by the jungle. Eighty per cent of these particles are smaller in diameter than the micrometer and consist of pollen, spores and other biological materials; the remaining 20 per cent are salts and minerals transported from Africa and various parts of the Atlantic.

This study aims to better understand the logic of rainfall in different parts of the world, especially in order to address the problem of rainfall shortages.