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Dust‐rainfall feedbacks in the West African Sahel
Author(s) -
Hui Wanching Jacquie,
Cook Benjamin I.,
Ravi Sujith,
Fuentes José D.,
D'Odorico Paolo
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/2008wr006885
Subject(s) - precipitation , environmental science , atmospheric sciences , atmosphere (unit) , climatology , atmospheric instability , cloud condensation nuclei , arid , aerosol , meteorology , geology , geography , wind speed , paleontology
Dust aerosols can suppress rainfall by increasing the number of cloud condensation nuclei in warm clouds and affecting the surface radiation budget and boundary layer instability. The extent to which atmospheric dust may affect precipitation yields and the hydrologic cycle in semiarid regions remains poorly understood. We investigate the relationship between dust aerosols and rainfall in the West African Sahel where the dust‐rainfall feedback has been speculated to contribute to sustained droughts. We find that the amount of dust loadings is negatively correlated with rainfall values, suggesting that dust entrained in the atmosphere can significantly inhibit rainfall in this region.