Abstract
In many classical considerations about climate, its interaction with the biosphere played a dominant role. For example, (1936) described vegetation as “crystallised, visible climate” and referred to it as an indicator of climate much more accurate than our instruments. However until a few decades ago, many climate researchers doubted that vegetation could have a strong and significant impact on global climate changes besides those impacts related to modification of carbon storage and hence atmospheric CO2 concentration. Today, we are convinced that in some regions, which we call “hot spots”, vegetation also affects continent-scale atmospheric motion — North Africa is an excellent example of such a hot spot.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Braconnot P, Joussaime S, Marti O, deNoblet-Ducoudre N (1999) Synergistic feedbacks from ocean and vegetation on the African monsoon response to mid-Holocene insolation. Geophys Res Lett 26, No. 16:2481–2484
Brovkin V, Claussen M, Petoukhov V, Ganopolski A (1998) On the stability of the atmosphere-vegetation system in the Sahara/Sahel region. J G R 103(D24):31613–31624
Charney JG (1975) Dynamics of deserts and droughts in the Sahel. Quart JR Met Soc 101:193–202
Claussen M (1997) Modelling biogeophysical feedback in the African and Indian Monsoon region. Climate Dyn 13:247–257
Claussen M, Gayler V (1997) The greening of Sahara during the mid-Holocene: results of an interactive atmosphere-biome model. Global Ecology and Biogeography Letters 6:369–377
Claussen M, Kubatzki C, Brovkin V, Ganopolski A, Hoelzmann P, Pachur HJ (1999): Simulation of an abrupt change in Saharan vegetation at the end of the mid-Holocene. Geophys Res Lett 24(14)2037–2040
Doherty R, Kutzbach J, Foley J, Pollard D (2000) Fully coupled climate/dynamical vegetation model simulations over Northern Africa during the mid-Holocene. Climate Dyn 16:561–573
Ganopolski A, Kubatzki C, Claussen M, Brovkin V, Petoukhov V (1998) The influence of vegetation-atmosphere-ocean interaction on climate during the mid-Holocene. Science 280:1916–1919
Humboldt A von (1849) Ansichten der Natur. 3rd ed. J. G. Cotta, Stuttgart Tübingen, Reprint 1969. Stuttgart: P. Reclam, 20-21
Jolly D, Harrison S P, Damnati B, Bonnefille R (1998) Simulated climate and biomes of Africa during the late Quarternary: comparison with pollen and lake status data. Quat Sci Rev 17(6-7):629–657
Joussaume S, Taylor KE, Braconnot P, Mitchell JFB., Kutzbach JE, Harrison SP, Prentice IC, Broccoli AJ, Abe-Ouchi A, Bartlein PJ, Bonfiels C, Dong B, Guiot J, Herterich K, Hewit CD, Jolly D, Kim JW, Kislov A, Kitoh A, Loutre MF, Masson V, McAvaney B, McFarlane N, de Noblet N, Peltier WR, Peterschmitt JY, Pollard D, Rind D, Royer JF, Schlesinger ME, Syktus J, Thompson S, Valdes P, Vettoretti G, Webb RS, Wyputta U (1999) Monsoon changes for 6000 years ago: Results of 18 simulations from the Paleoclimate Modeling Intercomparison Project (PMIP). Geophys Res Lett 26(7):859–862
Köppen W (1936) Das geographische System der Klimate. In: Köppen W, Geiger R (eds) Handbuch der Klimatologie, Band 5, Teil C. Gebrüder Bornträger, Berlin, 44 p
Kutzbach JE, Guetter PJ (1986) The influence of changing orbital parameters and surface boundary conditions on climate simulations for the past 18000 years. J Atmos Sci 43:1726–1759
deMenocal PB, Ortiz J, Guilderson T, Adkins J, Sarnthein M, Baker L, Yarusinski M (2000) Abrupt onset and termination of the African Humid Period: Rapid climate response to gradual insolation forcing. Quat Sci Rev 19:347–361
Petit-Maire N (1990) Will greenhouse green the Sahara? Episodes 13(2):103–107
Prentice IC, Jolly D, BIOME 6000 members (2000) Mid-Holocene and glacial-maximum vegetation geography of the northern continents and Africa. J Biogeography 27:507–519
Wang G, Eltahir EAB (2000) Biosphere-atmosphere interactions over West Africa. 2. Multiple Equilibira. Q J R Meteorol Soc 126:1261–1280
Wasson RJ, Claussen M (2002) Earth system models: a test using the mid-Holocene in the Southern Hemisphere. Quat Science Rev, in press
Yu G, Harrison SP (1996) An evaluation of the simulated water balance of Eurasia and northern Africa at 6 000 y BP using lake status data. Climate Dyn 12:723–735
Zeng N, Neelin JD (2000) The role of vegetation-climate interaction and interannual variability in shaping the African savanna. J Climate, J Climate 13:2665–2670
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2002 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Claussen, M., Brovkin, V., Ganopolski, A. (2002). Africa: Greening of the Sahara. In: Steffen, W., Jäger, J., Carson, D.J., Bradshaw, C. (eds) Challenges of a Changing Earth. Global Change — The IGBP Series. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-19016-2_23
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-19016-2_23
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-62407-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-19016-2
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive