Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Mid-Holocene West African monsoon rainfall enhanced in EC-Earth simulation with dynamic vegetation feedback
Stockholm University, Faculty of Science, Department of Physical Geography. Stockholm University, Faculty of Science, The Bolin Centre for Climate Research (together with KTH & SMHI). Stockholm University, Faculty of Science, Department of Meteorology .ORCID iD: 0000-0002-2409-4035
Stockholm University, Faculty of Science, Department of Physical Geography. Stockholm University, Faculty of Science, Department of Meteorology . Stockholm University, Faculty of Science, The Bolin Centre for Climate Research (together with KTH & SMHI).ORCID iD: 0000-0002-9137-2883
Number of Authors: 22024 (English)In: Climate Dynamics, ISSN 0930-7575, E-ISSN 1432-0894, Vol. 62, p. 7001-7017Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Proxy records have shown that the Mid-Holocene was a period of humid conditions across West Africa, with an enhanced West African Monsoon (WAM) and vegetated conditions in areas currently characterized by desert, often referred to as the Green Sahara. However, General Circulation Models regularly struggle with recreating this strengthened Mid-Holocene monsoon in West Africa. Vegetation feedbacks has long been viewed as an essential process modulating the monsoon variability in West Africa, and simulations using prescribed vegetation to recreate a Green Sahara have shown a strengthened WAM and increased rainfall. However, simulations with prescribed vegetation in Sahara represent an idealized vegetation cover and do not take any environmental heterogeneity into account. Furthermore, this only represents a one-directional forcing by the vegetation on the climate rather than the full vegetation feedback. To address this, we have simulated the Mid-Holocene (similar to 6 ka) climate using the Earth System Model EC-Earth3-Veg. The results show that coupled dynamic vegetation reproduces an apparent enhancement of the WAM, with the summer rainfall in the Sahel region increasing by 15% compared to simulations with a prescribed modern vegetation cover. Vegetation feedbacks enhance the warming of the Sahara region, deepens the Sahara Heat Low, results in increased rainfall and strengthens monsoonal flow across West Africa. However, the enhancement is still below what can be viewed in proxy reconstructions, highlighting the role of model limitation and biases and the importance of investigating other processes, such as the interactive aerosol-albedo feedback.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2024. Vol. 62, p. 7001-7017
Keywords [en]
West African Monsoon, EC-Earth, Green Sahara, Mid-Holocene, Dynamic vegetation
National Category
Climate Science
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:su:diva-231233DOI: 10.1007/s00382-024-07262-7ISI: 001226609800001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85193287048OAI: oai:DiVA.org:su-231233DiVA, id: diva2:1872466
Available from: 2024-06-18 Created: 2024-06-18 Last updated: 2025-02-21Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Publisher's full textScopus

Authority records

Berntell, EllenZhang, Qiong

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Berntell, EllenZhang, Qiong
By organisation
Department of Physical GeographyThe Bolin Centre for Climate Research (together with KTH & SMHI)Department of Meteorology
In the same journal
Climate Dynamics
Climate Science

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

doi
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
urn-nbn
Total: 426 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf