Rainforests are living emeralds which adorn our world with rare beauty and natural wonders. They are a product of planetary processes and are—in turn—contributors to the water and carbon cycles on which all life depends. Tropical rainforests are the result of the unique climatic conditions found between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, in the regions north and south of Earth’s equator. Here, constant heat and humidity allow trees and plants to grow year round, without seasonal time-outs. Vast columns of hot air rise and condense out as rain, resulting in annual rainfall of 80 to 400 inches: annual temperatures average over 80 degrees Fahrenheit. And so the tropics are garlanded with trees, plants, animals and insects, uniquely adapted to these conditions.

GEOsystem is the place to explore rainforests around our planet. It provides information about precipitation, the size and location of forests in different nations, and what’s the same and what varies between regions. It offers maps of all Earth’s rainforests, temperate and tropical, with key facts on each, and more detailed background on South America, the Amazon and the research sites from which our real time video interactions originate.