Automatically translated from Basque, translation may contain errors. More information here. Elhuyarren itzultzaile automatikoaren logoa

How do you turn soils into weather aids?

  • Extreme drought and rainfall have become a new norm. Among the increasing economic and ecosystem damages, those sustained by cultivation are not the lowest. These are soils that desiccate in times of drought or that cannot absorb all the water in large rains. How to become part of the solution?
Lumbricus terrestris espezieko ale bat, lurrera berriz jaisten. Zizareak hodeigintzako langile ekinak dira, baldin eta bizitzen uzten baditugu.Wipimedia

Climatologists have long said climate change will make the water cycle more chaotic, we can now find evidence and measurements of it in the article of the intensity of extreme hydroclimatic events shown by the satellites Changing intensity of hydroclimatic extreme events revealed by GRACE and GRACE (GRACE and GRACE). In the Basque Country, without satellite data, we have lately realized the trend: we have spent in a period of two years exhausting several sources that were “always” in the mountains (2022), to widen the trees as never before and collect rotting potatoes in the orchards (2024). Farmers find it particularly difficult to adapt to such contrasts, particularly if soils are not sufficiently structured in depth.

What happened at the end of October in central Valencia is an extreme example of what could cause heavy rains on soils incapable of absorbing water. The causes of this event are multiple, of which one of the most important is the excessive artificialization of the soils, which we must learn from the Valencia of ARGIA, No. 2893: to give air to the land, as shown in the report. Another cause is climate change: the hottest sea evaporates more water in a warmer atmosphere and the rains are more intense. And another is the health – or unhealthy – of terrestrial ecosystems and their ability – or incapacitation – to be part of the local water cycle, at 2887 ARGIA, what if the climate solution also existed in forests and marshes? As explained in Article 1, in line with the work of the physical atmosphere Millán Millán.

Forests and marshes, also fields

A key factor in coping with this humidity variability is soil porosity, i.e. its ability to absorb water. Unlike forests and marshes, the porosity of the fields is mostly dependent on us and can be increased in two ways: biologically or mechanically. Biological porosity is destroyed in fields that burn frequently, but plow and fluffy we replace it with mechanical porosity. Mechanical porosity has an immediate effect, as in the newly assembled soil it is easier to mix, sow and modify plants. On the contrary, this porosity is not long-lasting and, at least, every year we have to rearm and turmoil. Earthworms are rejecting this annual destruction of their habitat, and unfortunately they do not have the ability to bring that repulsion to the media or to make it understood to the ambitious ones that live on the surface. They would prefer to let them make their journeys peacefully in the underground canals that they have built with difficulty, and that we feed them, for example, with leaves of litter or crushed wood in the skin and sowing plants that develop a great biomass of roots, in which oats, centenes, barley or sorghum, among others, work well. Another disadvantage of ploughing is the compaction of the soil in deep layers – with the weight of tractors – which makes it difficult to develop roots and absorb water. Therefore, when it does not rain, broken soils often run out of water, especially if the organic matter has been too deficient, while in the midst of heavy rains, unable to absorb all the water, they may lose some of their surface by spilling mud, or if the mud is there, leave the surface without air, forcing the worms to flee. It is clear that these lands are not well provided for the extreme weather conditions that are coming.

It is about the fact that, unlike mechanical porosity, biological porosity takes time to develop, especially if part of a very unstructured soil, and that during development there are obstacles such as unintentional, tranquil or scarce herbs N in the first months. This transition time varies according to the type of land, the local climate and the history of each field, but it usually oscillates between eighteen months and four years, according to the research-farmer François Mulet, who has developed these techniques in horticulture in the last two decades. Therefore, for those who have to take advantage of their land in the short term, in exchange for expanding the worm crew, leaving the plough covered is not an easy decision, although it has many long-term benefits.

Instead of droughts and rains, create clouds

In structured soils, biomass extends deeper into the soil, including living roots and bacteria that live in symbiosis with them, dead roots and fungi that consume them, actinomycetes, key worms in the construction and maintenance of this structure, and many other beings. This complex biomass, which extends deeper into the soil, also has to do with the atmosphere: thanks to deep biological porosity, it is more capable of absorbing large rains. Thanks to this porosity, in times of drought the water from deep layers is also accessible and helps to compensate for the water that does not come from the sky. The improvement in the development capacity of the roots translates into greater plant biomass, which evaporates more water, feeding the development of clouds and the local water cycle. In addition to droughts, local water cycles prevent steam from accumulating in higher layers and hence the development of the large storms observed in Valencia, as explained by Millán Millán, who develop them.

Beyond the local level, the regeneration of low clouds is particularly important today, as they have been disappearing in recent years. According to the article Recent global temperature urge intensified by record-low planetary albedo of the journal Science recently (recent increase in temperature at the lowest albetas of all time), this may be the reason for the temperatures measured in 2023, in addition to the reduction of sulfur aerosol emissions. The low clouds are very important because, in addition to the rain, they reflect some of the sun's rays into space, thus reducing the warming of the low atmosphere. If they disappeared, warming would accelerate with the risk of overcoming non-return levels. Worms would live great without aromatizing biceps. We, on the other hand, cannot dispense with them: they not only work for our food production, but also in the production of clouds.


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