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Ecosystem dynamics and the Sahel Drought
Author(s) -
Wang Guiling,
Eltahir Elfatih A. B.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/1999gl011089
Subject(s) - ecosystem , biosphere , forcing (mathematics) , environmental science , climate change , climatology , natural (archaeology) , atmospheric sciences , ecology , geography , geology , biology , archaeology
The Sahel region in West Africa has been experiencing a persistent drought throughout the last three decades. Here, we present a new perspective on the underlying physical mechanism behind this phenomenon. We use a coupled biosphere‐atmosphere model including explicit representation of ecosystem dynamics to demonstrate that, regardless of the nature of the initial forcing, the natural response of the local grass ecosystem to the dry conditions of the late 1960s played a critical role in maintaining the drought through the following decades. The onset of the drought has been marked by a forced shift from a self‐sustaining wet climate equilibrium to a similarly self‐sustaining but dry climate equilibrium.