This is a straw man, Malcolm -- of course site factors affect the
radiative balance at any given location on the surface of the Earth.
That was not the the question, however. The question was (more or less)
"Is there a reference to back up the contention that southwest facing
slopes generally drier than northeast facing slopes in the northern
hemisphere?" Frankly, no reference should be needed. All that is
needed an understanding of the physics involved. If you understand
that, then you can show through the math that yes, southwest facing
slopes are generally drier than northeast facing slopes in the northern
hemisphere -- outside of the tropics, at least.
Dave
On 8/15/2010 9:14 AM, malcolm McCallum wrote:
There are many factors that could mess up this logic.
1) the season.
2) the size of the boulder.
3) The aspect of the land on which the boulder lies.
4) The lattitude.
5) The climate of the area where this boulder resides.
All of these things interact, which is why the old saying that moss grows on
the North side of the tree trunk is often
found useless when tree trunks are entirely surrounded by moss or missing
moss entirely!
I would start perusing old general ecology and plant ecology books.
There should be wide spread evidence of this in reference to mountain slopes
(see hill prairies).
I also vaguely recall a paper on six-lined racerunners selecting
south-facing road cuts for burrows.
I think you need to access some old issues of bioabstracts or zoological
record as the research pubs
you are looking for very likely pre-date the 1960s and are unlikely to be
accessed by electronic sources.
Does that help?
Macolm
On Fri, Aug 13, 2010 at 11:35 AM, Mark Wilson<slugecol...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi folks,
I am looking for a reference which states
(1) that in the northern hemisphere the north side of boulders are
less exposed to the sun than the south side
and
(2) that the east side of boulders are exposed to the sun only in the
morning when temperatures tend to be cooler while west sides are
exposed during the afternoon when temperatures tend to be higher and
as a result the north and east side of boulders are likely to stay
cooler and damper longer.
Any suggestions?
Mark
--
------------------------------------------------------
David M. Lawrence | Home: (804) 559-9786
7471 Brook Way Court | Fax: (804) 559-9787
Mechanicsville, VA 23111 | Email: d...@fuzzo.com
USA | http: http://fuzzo.com
------------------------------------------------------
"All drains lead to the ocean." -- Gill, Finding Nemo
"We have met the enemy and he is us." -- Pogo
"No trespassing
4/17 of a haiku" -- Richard Brautigan
