Simulation of an abrupt change in Saharan vegetation in the mid-Holocene, Geophys

• Main Authors: Martin Claussen, Claudia Kubatzki, Victor Brovkin, Andrey Ganopolski, Hans-joachim Pachur
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1999
• Subjects: Sea ice
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.473.1875; http://epic.awi.de/13567/1/Cla1999b.pdf

Abstract. Climate variability during the present inter-glacial, the Holocene, has been rather smooth in compar-ison with the last glacial. Nevertheless, there were some rather abrupt climate changes. One of these changes, the deserti cation of the Saharan and Arabian region some 4-6 thousand years ago, was presumably quite important for human society. It could have been the stimulus leading to the foundation of civilizations along the Nile, Euphrat and Tigris rivers. Here we argue that Saharan and Arabian de-serti cation was triggered by subtle variations in the Earth’s orbit which were strongly amplied by atmosphere- vegeta-tion feedbacks in the subtropics. The timing of this tran-sition, however, was mainly governed by a global interplay between atmosphere, ocean, sea ice, and vegetation. 1.