Definition of "pluvial" []

• Of or relating to rain; rainy. (adjective)
• Geology Marked or formed by abundant rainfall: pluvial periods; a pluvial lake. (adjective)
• Geology An extended period of abundant rainfall, especially such a period of the Pleistocene Epoch. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The Quaternary period – which covers most of the recent period of vacillation between ice ages and pluvial ages – is the exception rather than the rule."
• "The northern parts of the hotspot in Ecuador and the Colombian Chocó are characterized by extremely wet or pluvial forests that receive eight meters of annual rainfall and have a diversity per hectare of as many as 300 tree species."
• "Overall, a warmer climate is very likely to lead to a shift toward a more pluvial runoff regime as a greater proportion of the annual precipitation falls as rain rather than snow; the magnitude of the peak of spring snowmelt declines; thawing permafrost increases near-surface storage and reduces runoff peaks; and a more active groundwater system augments base flows."