Why We Find Rainforests in Unexpected Places

As someone from Scotland I never thought I'd find anyone actively looking for more rain

Being from Mazandaran, Iran I confuse a lot of people talking about how I used to hike in the rainforest as a child.

Iran’s geography always finds a way to amaze me.

fun little note to point out, the Valdivian and Magellanic forests sit just below the Atacama desert, the dryest desert on earth. crazy just how much of an effect the wind direction can have on an environment

The reason for the pixelated Caspian Sea is simple: In earth system science, precipitation maps are usually gathered from the output of numerical climate models (mostly atmospheric models but sometimes also coupled atmosphere-ocean-cryosphere models). These models deploy grids on which the calculation of the governing equations is performed. Missing data can then lead to these pixelated artefacts! Another reason is the interpolation of precipitation data onto a regular grid. Again, missing data can then lead to some artefacts. I hope this helps!

I actually travelled to Northern Iran. It was amazing to go from dry mountainous terrain to dense lush rainforests.

As a Costa Rican, I find it incredible how much we take for granted to be able to hike every weekend in so many different and beautiful rainforests at such a relatively short distance. Seeing in this video how rare this is makes me want to protect them even more

Iceland really is surprisingly the biggest example of human terraforming we have managed, any picture I have ever seen of iceland was without forest and trees, just barren moslands (Beautiful, no question) - but to learn that it was once a forest country and we barred the entirety of iceland was mindblowing.

The rainforests of Tasmania and Victoria are home to the tallest species of flowering plant (Eucalyptus Regnans) which rival the height of the redwoods of North America.

Portland, OR resident here. It's not the rocky mountains that causes such a harsh rain shadow, it's the cascade mountain range which is completely separate. Once you get over the cascade mountains it's all suddenly desert in eastern Oregon/Washington. While the temp does drop lower here than say in tropical rainforests, the temp rarely goes below freezing and also rarely gets hot unless you're at high elevations. Moderate is the correct definition, hence temperate rainforest.

I grew up in the West Highlands of Scotland and even in the rest of Scotland no one knows that we have rainforest! It’s truly beautiful and rich in plant life but sadly lacking in wildlife. It’s so sad that so many artificial timber forests dominate the landscape

Thank you for mentioning Colchic forest. It rarely drops below zero there, and it has been this way throughout the last ice age. That’s why it became home for many endemic broadleaf evergreen trees and shrubs, such as boxwood and yew. Technically, it is sub-tropical rainforest, very unusual for its latitude.

Whats cool about Chile is, that there are regions where it hasn't rained in decades in the Atacama desert while the Southern part of the Country recieves more rain than any other place. It has the dryest and the rainiest place outside of Antarctica.

The place you forgot about are Azores and Madeira islands. There are even Fern Trees that grow there.

I went to southwestern Ireland back in 2015, and found a small area of temperate rainforest. There were old oak trees that were completely covered in moss and such and everything was so densely packed. Very beautiful.

I live in Victoria, in southern Australia. It’s mostly eucalypt forests, but the little pockets of temperate rainforests are stunning. Fun fact, we have the world’s tallest moss growing in some of them.

It's hard to imagine that Antarctica was ever a heavily forested landmass.

I think the Japanese temperate rainforests deserve a mention too, they're quite beautiful and distinct from every other temperate rainforest on Earth

Northern Georgian here. The Appalachian Temperature Rainforest is one of the coolest natural environments I’ve personally experienced. I’ve spent many a summer weekend hiking and camping in it, and it is a beautiful environment. It’s cool to see other people talking about it, because in general it’s existence is almost unknown.

I had a forestry prof at the British Columbia Institute of Technology who worked as a logging consultant in the Iranian rainforest. He gave a lecture one day with photos he’d managed to escape with—massive hemlocks and true firs that wouldn’t look out of place on the West Coat of BC, or “Great Bear Rainforest.” Yes, we students were surprised to learn that a rainforest actually existed in a country otherwise known for its extreme, inhospitable and sometimes deadly deserts. But we were more enthralled by his story of escape when the Islamic Fundamentalist Revolution happened, American embassy personnel were taken hostage, and militants swept across the country. He was out on a mountain side when the radio cackled and he was instructed to return to camp immediately. Not unaware of the social tumult in the more populated areas for Iran, he wondered if he was to be arrested, detained and/or deported, or imprisoned and executed. As it turned out, he and other foreign forest workers were told to pack quickly and get on some helicopters to be lifted directly and immediately out for the country. All he could salvage were some clothes and his camera —where he saved his roll of photos of these massive Iranian rainforest stands. Pretty cool, man. Otherwise, all the logging equipment was abandoned and lost.