| 1. |
- Pausata, Francesco S. R., et al.
(författare)
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The Greening of the Sahara : Past Changes and Future Implications
- 2020
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Ingår i: One Earth. - : ELSEVIER. - 2590-3330 .- 2590-3322. ; 2:3, s. 235-250
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the future, the Sahara and Sahelian regions could experience more rainfall than today as a result of climate change. Wetter periods, termed African humid periods, occurred in the past and witnessed a mesic landscape in place of today's hyperarid and semiarid environment. Such large past changes raise the question of whether the near future might hold in store similar environmental transformations, particularly in view of the growing human-induced climate, land-use, and land-cover changes. In the last decades, geoengineering initiatives (in the form of active re-greening projects of the Sahara and Sahel) have been proposed and could have significant effects on the climate of the region. Here, we synthesize the literature on past and projected changes in the hydroclimate of the Sahelian-Saharan region and the associated feedbacks. We further address the current state of knowledge concerning Saharan and Sahelian afforestation projects and their consequences. Our review underscores the importance of vegetation in land-atmosphere-ocean feedback processes and the far-field impacts of northern African ecosystem changes.
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| 2. |
- Tierney, Jessica E., et al.
(författare)
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Rainfall regimes of the Green Sahara
- 2017
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Ingår i: Science Advances. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 2375-2548. ; 3:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- During the Green Sahara period (11,000 to 5000 years before the present), the Sahara desert received high amounts of rainfall, supporting diverse vegetation, permanent lakes, and human populations. Our knowledge of rainfall rates and the spatiotemporal extent of wet conditions has suffered from a lack of continuous sedimentary records. We present a quantitative reconstruction of western Saharan precipitation derived from leaf wax isotopes in marine sediments. Our data indicate that the Green Sahara extended to 31 degrees N and likely ended abruptly. We find evidence for a prolonged pause in Green Sahara conditions 8000 years ago, coincident with a temporary abandonment of occupational sites by Neolithic humans. The rainfall rates inferred from our data are best explained by strong vegetation and dust feedbacks; without these mechanisms, climate models systematically fail to reproduce the Green Sahara. This study suggests that accurate simulations of future climate change in the Sahara and Sahel will require improvements in our ability to simulate vegetation and dust feedbacks.
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