QUANTITY OF RAINFALL 65 



Square miles. 

 Asia — 



Mean of 85 inches 46,450 



Mean of 90 inches 92,900 



Mean of 100 inches 7,750 



Mean of 120 inches 58,100 



Mean of 170 inches 232,300 



Africa — 



Mean of 100 inches 201,300 



Mean of 1 10 inches 209,050 



Java, mean of 1 10 inches 54,200* 



Sumatra, mean of 130 inches 185,800* 



Celebes, mean of 120 inches 77,400* 



Borneo, mean of 100 inches 290,350* 



Philippines, mean of 90 inches 123,900* 



Formosa, mean of 85 inches 15,500* 



Japan, mean of 80 inches 46,450 



North America — 



Mean of 85 inches 92,900 



Mean of 90 inches 69,700 



South America — 



Mean of 100 inches 185,800 



Mean of 120 inches 1,122,700 



Mean of 130 inches 135,500 



Total area over 75 inches of rainfall annually 2,810,550 



The rainfall of Europe does not exceed 75 inches, nor does that 

 of Australia and Tasmania. The rainfall of the Antarctic ranges 

 from 25 to 50 inches, that of Greenland from 10 to 50, and that of 

 Iceland from 25 to 75 inches. 



Relation of Evaporation to Rainfall. Measurements of rainfall 

 and evaporation made in Russia have shown a steady decrease of 

 the former from the coast to the interior, and a corresponding 

 rapid increase of the evaporation. Thus at Kiev the rainfall is 53 

 cm., while the evaporation is 48 cm. At Astrakhan the precipita- 

 tion is 16, and at Petro-Alexandrovsk it is only 6 cm., while the cor- 

 responding evaporation at the two points is 74 cm. and 232 cm., re- 

 spectively. The following tahle (p. 66), compiled by Murray, 

 shows the annual rainfall and annual discharge for 33 rivers in dif- 

 ferent parts of the world, the difference between these representing 

 the mean annual amount evaporated. Over the total area of the 

 drainage basins of these rivers, comprising 13,272,000 square miles, 

 the annual evaporation amounts to about 8,000 cubic miles of water. 



* Total area of the islands. 



