Open Access“Late-stage” deforestation enhances storm trends in coastal West Africa
Author(s) -
Christopher M. Taylor,
Cornelia Klein,
Douglas J. Parker,
F. Gerard,
V. S. Semeena,
Emma J. Barton,
Bethan L. Harris
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.2109285119
Subject(s) - deforestation (computer science) , storm , climatology , mesoscale meteorology , environmental science , climate change , tropics , geography , geology , oceanography , ecology , meteorology , computer science , biology , programming language
Significance Tropical deforestation tends to increase regional air temperatures, but its impacts on rainfall are more complex. The conventional picture, based largely on studies over Amazonia, is that storm frequency can increase over small, deforested areas but is reduced when the landscape is predominantly deforested. This study examines Southern West Africa, a coastal region that has little remaining intact forest. Here, the ongoing patchy deforestation increases the frequency of afternoon storms locally. Deforestation appears especially effective at triggering storms near the coast, where temperature-sensitive sea breezes dominate, and rapidly urbanizing populations are vulnerable to flood risk. Our results emphasize dynamical processes over moisture limitation and are highly relevant for many tropical deforestation hotspots, which, unlike Amazonia, are located near the coastline.