The impact of Sahara desertification on Arctic cooling during the Holocene
Since the start of the Holocene, temperatures in the Arctic have steadily declined. This has been accredited to the orbitally forced decrease in summer insolation reconstructed over the same period. However, here we present climate modelling results from an Earth model of intermediate complexity (EM...
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Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för geologiska vetenskaper
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ftstockholmuniv:oai:DiVA.org:su-116265 2023-05-15T13:11:06+02:00 The impact of Sahara desertification on Arctic cooling during the Holocene Davies, Frazer J. Renssen, Hans Blaschek, Michael Muschitiello, Francesco 2015 application/pdf http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-116265 https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-571-2015 eng eng Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för geologiska vetenskaper Climate of the Past, 1814-9324, 2015, 11:3, s. 571-586 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-116265 doi:10.5194/cp-11-571-2015 ISI:000352159900014 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Climate Research Klimatforskning Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences Meteorologi och atmosfärforskning Article in journal info:eu-repo/semantics/article text 2015 ftstockholmuniv https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-571-2015 2023-02-23T21:41:35Z Since the start of the Holocene, temperatures in the Arctic have steadily declined. This has been accredited to the orbitally forced decrease in summer insolation reconstructed over the same period. However, here we present climate modelling results from an Earth model of intermediate complexity (EMIC) that indicate that 17–40% of the cooling in the Arctic, over the period 9–0 ka, was a direct result of the desertification that occurred in the Sahara after the termination of the African Humid Period. We have performed a suite of sensitivity experiments to analyse the impact of different combinations of forcings, including various vegetation covers in the Sahara. Our simulations suggest that over the course of the Holocene, a strong increase in surface albedo in the Sahara as a result of desertification led to a regional increase in surface pressure, a weakening of the trade winds, the westerlies and the polar easterlies, which in turn reduced the meridional heat transported by the atmosphere to the Arctic. We conclude that during interglacials, the climate of the Northern Hemisphere is sensitive to changes in Sahara vegetation type. Article in Journal/Newspaper albedo Arctic Stockholm University: Publications (DiVA) Arctic Climate of the Past 11 3 571 586 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Stockholm University: Publications (DiVA) |
op_collection_id |
ftstockholmuniv |
language |
English |
topic |
Climate Research Klimatforskning Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences Meteorologi och atmosfärforskning |
spellingShingle |
Climate Research Klimatforskning Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences Meteorologi och atmosfärforskning Davies, Frazer J. Renssen, Hans Blaschek, Michael Muschitiello, Francesco The impact of Sahara desertification on Arctic cooling during the Holocene |
topic_facet |
Climate Research Klimatforskning Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences Meteorologi och atmosfärforskning |
description |
Since the start of the Holocene, temperatures in the Arctic have steadily declined. This has been accredited to the orbitally forced decrease in summer insolation reconstructed over the same period. However, here we present climate modelling results from an Earth model of intermediate complexity (EMIC) that indicate that 17–40% of the cooling in the Arctic, over the period 9–0 ka, was a direct result of the desertification that occurred in the Sahara after the termination of the African Humid Period. We have performed a suite of sensitivity experiments to analyse the impact of different combinations of forcings, including various vegetation covers in the Sahara. Our simulations suggest that over the course of the Holocene, a strong increase in surface albedo in the Sahara as a result of desertification led to a regional increase in surface pressure, a weakening of the trade winds, the westerlies and the polar easterlies, which in turn reduced the meridional heat transported by the atmosphere to the Arctic. We conclude that during interglacials, the climate of the Northern Hemisphere is sensitive to changes in Sahara vegetation type. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Davies, Frazer J. Renssen, Hans Blaschek, Michael Muschitiello, Francesco |
author_facet |
Davies, Frazer J. Renssen, Hans Blaschek, Michael Muschitiello, Francesco |
author_sort |
Davies, Frazer J. |
title |
The impact of Sahara desertification on Arctic cooling during the Holocene |
title_short |
The impact of Sahara desertification on Arctic cooling during the Holocene |
title_full |
The impact of Sahara desertification on Arctic cooling during the Holocene |
title_fullStr |
The impact of Sahara desertification on Arctic cooling during the Holocene |
title_full_unstemmed |
The impact of Sahara desertification on Arctic cooling during the Holocene |
title_sort |
impact of sahara desertification on arctic cooling during the holocene |
publisher |
Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för geologiska vetenskaper |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-116265 https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-571-2015 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
albedo Arctic |
genre_facet |
albedo Arctic |
op_relation |
Climate of the Past, 1814-9324, 2015, 11:3, s. 571-586 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-116265 doi:10.5194/cp-11-571-2015 ISI:000352159900014 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-571-2015 |
container_title |
Climate of the Past |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
571 |
op_container_end_page |
586 |
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1766245927933181952 |