Coastal wetland responses to a century of climate change in northern Sahara, Morocco

• Published in: Limnology and Oceanography
• Main Authors: Nogueira, Juliana, Evangelista, Heitor, Bouchaou, Lhoussaine, Moreira, Luciane, Sifeddine, Abdel, Elmouden, Ahmed, Msanda, Fouad, Caquineau, Sandrine, Briceño‐zuluaga, Francisco, Javier, Licínio, Marcus, Vinicius, Mandeng Yogo, Magloire, Mendez‐Millan, Mercedes, Cordeiro, Renato C., Knoppers, Bastiaan, Moreira-Ramírez, Manuel, Martins, Renato
• Other Authors: Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro Brasil = Rio de Janeiro State University Brazil = Université d'État de Rio de Janeiro Brésil (UERJ), Fluminense Federal University Niterói, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CZU), Université Ibn Zohr Agadir, Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique Ben Guerir (UM6P), Variabilité à long terme du climat de l'océan (VALCO), Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité), Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, Federal University of Espírito Santo
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2021
• Subjects: [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences; Lagoon Inlet; North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-03467068; https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-03467068/document; https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-03467068/file/lno.11992.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.11992

International audience Coastal wetlands are highly sensitive to changes occurring at the coastline. It is critically important to determine region-specific projections for these areas due to their specificities and vulnerabilities to climate change. This work aimed to value the impacts of recent climate changes at West Africa Sahara coastland, southern Morocco, at Khnifiss Lagoon. We have applied a combined approach using remote sensing techniques and environmental reconstructions based on high-resolution analysis of sediment cores, covering the current warm period. Remote sensing highlighted changes to the lagoon inlet, accompanied by a greater meandering character of the tidal channels. As a response, the sediment cores have recorded a predominant vegetation substitution due to changes in the tidal limit, and an increase in organic carbon accumulation was observed. For the current climatology, during positive phases of the North Atlantic Oscillation, winds reaching the coast strengthen in an east-to-west direction. In the Khnifiss Lagoon, whose inlet is dominated by the ebb tide, the intensity and direction of the winds on the coast at surface level modifies its connection to the ocean by increasing sediment transport toward the interior of the lagoon. Locally biological responses to wind intensification, and possibly sea-level rise, exemplify the lagoon sensitivity to large-scale processes. Coastal vegetated wetlands are considered to be highly dynamic environments. However, we expect a loss of the upper tidal vegetation due to boundary conditions limiting the accommodation space in this arid environment in a possible future scenario of continuously inland tidal line displacement.