Tree forest live by fog

Plants in a rare forest in the desert region of Oman have supplied themselves with seasonal fog, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists revealed.

The unusual water collection is found in a forest in the Dhofar Mountains in the south of the Middle East.

Clouds form in the forest when moist air flies from the Arabian Sea and is blocked by the mountains. Droplets of water from clouds settle on leaves and roll to the ground, where they are stored and plants will be used when the weather is drier.

This process is like when the fog wipes your clothes, explains researcher Elfatih Eltahir.

Clouds in the rare desert forest in Oman.(Photo: LiveScience)

This forest is strange in that clouds often form only in wetter conditions, where the forest can survive without the need for a thin layer of low-level mist, as they have received enough rain from high-level clouds already. The forest in Oman alone cannot survive without this essential fog.

"Without the additional water from the clouds is the ground, there will be no trees here , " Eltahir said.

Eltahir and colleagues used the device to measure precipitation on the forest canopy and the amount of water condensed below the trunk. The results show that condensate from the fog and dripping to the ground is crucial to this forest's survival.

T. An