Orji Ruth
CLAIM- Rain falls more on oceans than on land.
A recent post made on X (Twitter) by @renoomokri were he stated that Rain falls more in the ocean that on land, he even went further to ask the audience to fact check him for authenticity.
This post has since gathered 30,900 views; 415 likes; 35 comments; 98 retweets
https://x.com/renoomokri/status/1808496511573237797?t=1zsfHIVSgHVWX1dIhmaW_Q&s=08
NatureNews, Africa’s foremost news publications on climate change, which is dedicated to providing accurate insights to stop the spread of fake news particularly among users of social media, subjected the claim to fact checking.
Findings: Using the Google search tool in conducting this research, NatureFact, the fact checking unit of NatureNews, accessed a few papers and studies.
A thorough fact-checking investigation has revealed that this assertion is indeed accurate.
@Fox9Now a YouTube News Channel gives a detailed analogy of how and why it rains more on the ocean than on land.
https://youtu.be/EecQs11p4Ss?si=mOiDiQUYn3-njI1l
To further elucidate this fact, let’s take a brief look at how rain is “made”
What causes rain?
As the air rises, it expands and cools. This phenomenon is called condensation. The condensation of water vapour results in the formation of clouds. These clouds are carried away with the help of wind and when they become heavy they fall down in the form of rain. This does not mean the clouds are carried away from one region to another, it’s just within the said area.
We checked the statistics of rain that occurs both on land and on oceans globally, we found that of the global rainfall amount, 77 percent of precipitation falls over oceans and 23 percent over land which further proves his point. This was culled from Quora network.
In simpler analysis, this means that because water evaporates back to the sky, condenses to form water vapor and then falls back as rain, it is only logical for this evaporation to take place where water is readily abundant. Also, where is water more abundant than in oceans? The ocean is a sure and consistent supplier of unlimited water for evaporation.
It is also expedient to mention that coastal areas, i.e. lands that are located close to oceans receive more rainfall than lands far from water bodies. Here is why.
Dr. Phanibhusan Ghosh of the research school of the University of Calcutta states “Coastal belts, mangroves, mudflats, and inland forests help form clouds through aerosols containing various particles and chemicals. These particles act as cloud condensation nuclei, influenced by temperature differences between land and ocean, leading to higher precipitation. Proximity to water sources also affects precipitation rates, with coastal deserts like the Namib receiving more moisture than inland deserts like the Taklamakan. Although precipitation seems higher over land, the ocean receives more rainfall annually due to tropical storms, which lose intensity before reaching land.”
This can also be easily seen using desert areas as a case study. There’s barely any rainfall in the desert because there’s barely anyplace to evaporate water droplets from to create rainfall, such desert areas like Antarctica (a polar desert) barely have any rainfall because it barely gets any sun that can cause evaporation. @masteringknowledge gives a better analysis on YouTube.
https://youtu.be/7JsHZWuKZMw?si=wnk0Y_jKcmvaH9I6
Albinitio, @renoomokri is actually right in his statement.
Verdict- True, it does rain more in oceans as well as coastal regions than on land.
