Role of forests in maintaining a water balance in the territory of Belarus

The article analyzes the relationship between the forest cover and the amount of summer rainfalls in Belarus. We found that the spatial structure of the long-term precipitation field in Belarus is largely explained by the spatial features of its forest cover. In particular, the high forest cover in summer time provides 5–15 % more rain falls than that without forest. We also showed that the extremely dry period from 2014 to 2015 led to a significant transformation of the summer rainfall field. As a result, the field becomes almost the mirror opposite to the summer air temperature field. This indicates the important role of local evaporation in the formation of precipitation in the summer months. The important conclusion of the results is that additional forest stands are needed to prevent a further decrease in the level of surface and ground waters in Belarus. We also need to increase the use of agroforestry techniques in crop cultivation.