The past, present and future of African dust
International audience African dust emission and transport exhibits variability on diurnal to decadal timescales and is known to influence processes such as Amazon productivity, Atlantic climate modes, regional atmospheric composition and radiative balance and precipitation in the Sahel. To elucidat...
Published in: | Nature |
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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HAL CCSD
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Online Access: | https://insu.hal.science/insu-01295141 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature17149 |
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[PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-AO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics [physics.ao-ph] [SDU.STU.CL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Climatology |
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[PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-AO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics [physics.ao-ph] [SDU.STU.CL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Climatology Evan, Amato T. Flamant, Cyrille Gaetani, Marco Guichard, Françoise The past, present and future of African dust |
topic_facet |
[PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-AO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics [physics.ao-ph] [SDU.STU.CL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Climatology |
description |
International audience African dust emission and transport exhibits variability on diurnal to decadal timescales and is known to influence processes such as Amazon productivity, Atlantic climate modes, regional atmospheric composition and radiative balance and precipitation in the Sahel. To elucidate the role of African dust in the climate system, it is necessary to understand the factors governing its emission and transport. However, African dust is correlated with seemingly disparate atmospheric phenomena, including the El Niño/Southern Oscillation, the North Atlantic Oscillation, the meridional position of the intertropical convergence zone, Sahelian rainfall8 and surface temperatures over the Sahara Desert, all of which obfuscate the connection between dust and climate. Here we show that the surface wind field responsible for most of the variability in North African dust emission reflects the topography of the Sahara, owing to orographic acceleration of the surface flow. As such, the correlations between dust and various climate phenomena probably arise from the projection of the winds associated with these phenomena onto an orographically controlled pattern of wind variability. A 161-year time series of dust from 1851 to 2011, created by projecting this wind field pattern onto surface winds from a historical reanalysis, suggests that the highest concentrations of dust occurred from the 1910s to the 1940s and the 1970s to the 1980s, and that there have been three periods of persistent anomalously low dust concentrations—in the 1860s, 1950s and 2000s. Projections of the wind pattern onto climate models give a statistically significant downward trend in African dust emission and transport as greenhouse gas concentrations increase over the twenty-first century, potentially associated with a slow-down of the tropical circulation. Such a dust feedback, which is not represented in climate models, may be of benefit to human and ecosystem health in West Africa via improved air quality and increased rainfall6. This ... |
author2 |
Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO - UC San Diego) University of California San Diego (UC San Diego) University of California (UC)-University of California (UC) TROPO - LATMOS Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS) Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Centre national de recherches météorologiques (CNRM) Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP) Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3) Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3) Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) ANR (Agence Nationale de la Recherche ANR-10-LABX-0018,L-IPSL,LabEx Institut Pierre Simon Laplace (IPSL): Understand climate and anticipate future changes(2010) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Evan, Amato T. Flamant, Cyrille Gaetani, Marco Guichard, Françoise |
author_facet |
Evan, Amato T. Flamant, Cyrille Gaetani, Marco Guichard, Françoise |
author_sort |
Evan, Amato T. |
title |
The past, present and future of African dust |
title_short |
The past, present and future of African dust |
title_full |
The past, present and future of African dust |
title_fullStr |
The past, present and future of African dust |
title_full_unstemmed |
The past, present and future of African dust |
title_sort |
past, present and future of african dust |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://insu.hal.science/insu-01295141 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature17149 |
genre |
North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
op_source |
ISSN: 0028-0836 EISSN: 1476-4687 Nature https://insu.hal.science/insu-01295141 Nature, 2016, 531 (7595), pp.493-495. ⟨10.1038/nature17149⟩ |
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info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1038/nature17149 insu-01295141 https://insu.hal.science/insu-01295141 doi:10.1038/nature17149 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature17149 |
container_title |
Nature |
container_volume |
531 |
container_issue |
7595 |
container_start_page |
493 |
op_container_end_page |
495 |
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1800757874759041024 |
spelling |
ftuniparissaclay:oai:HAL:insu-01295141v1 2024-06-02T08:11:39+00:00 The past, present and future of African dust Evan, Amato T. Flamant, Cyrille Gaetani, Marco Guichard, Françoise Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO - UC San Diego) University of California San Diego (UC San Diego) University of California (UC)-University of California (UC) TROPO - LATMOS Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS) Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Centre national de recherches météorologiques (CNRM) Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP) Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3) Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3) Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) ANR (Agence Nationale de la Recherche ANR-10-LABX-0018,L-IPSL,LabEx Institut Pierre Simon Laplace (IPSL): Understand climate and anticipate future changes(2010) 2016-03 https://insu.hal.science/insu-01295141 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature17149 en eng HAL CCSD Nature Publishing Group info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1038/nature17149 insu-01295141 https://insu.hal.science/insu-01295141 doi:10.1038/nature17149 ISSN: 0028-0836 EISSN: 1476-4687 Nature https://insu.hal.science/insu-01295141 Nature, 2016, 531 (7595), pp.493-495. ⟨10.1038/nature17149⟩ [PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-AO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics [physics.ao-ph] [SDU.STU.CL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Climatology info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2016 ftuniparissaclay https://doi.org/10.1038/nature17149 2024-05-07T04:00:54Z International audience African dust emission and transport exhibits variability on diurnal to decadal timescales and is known to influence processes such as Amazon productivity, Atlantic climate modes, regional atmospheric composition and radiative balance and precipitation in the Sahel. To elucidate the role of African dust in the climate system, it is necessary to understand the factors governing its emission and transport. However, African dust is correlated with seemingly disparate atmospheric phenomena, including the El Niño/Southern Oscillation, the North Atlantic Oscillation, the meridional position of the intertropical convergence zone, Sahelian rainfall8 and surface temperatures over the Sahara Desert, all of which obfuscate the connection between dust and climate. Here we show that the surface wind field responsible for most of the variability in North African dust emission reflects the topography of the Sahara, owing to orographic acceleration of the surface flow. As such, the correlations between dust and various climate phenomena probably arise from the projection of the winds associated with these phenomena onto an orographically controlled pattern of wind variability. A 161-year time series of dust from 1851 to 2011, created by projecting this wind field pattern onto surface winds from a historical reanalysis, suggests that the highest concentrations of dust occurred from the 1910s to the 1940s and the 1970s to the 1980s, and that there have been three periods of persistent anomalously low dust concentrations—in the 1860s, 1950s and 2000s. Projections of the wind pattern onto climate models give a statistically significant downward trend in African dust emission and transport as greenhouse gas concentrations increase over the twenty-first century, potentially associated with a slow-down of the tropical circulation. Such a dust feedback, which is not represented in climate models, may be of benefit to human and ecosystem health in West Africa via improved air quality and increased rainfall6. This ... Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation Archives ouvertes de Paris-Saclay Nature 531 7595 493 495 |