Will Sahara Desert be revived by climate change?

Archaeologists and scientists have hypothesized about 12,000 years ago, the Sahara has a rich, green beauty, not an arid desert. Does this beauty revive when global climate change is happening?

Is desertification and irreversible drought all that we envision about Africa in the face of global warming? However, new evidence draws a completely different perspective, increasing temperatures could benefit millions of Africans in the driest regions of the continent.

Goats in the Sahel desert dunes of Niger, North Africa.A large area of ​​grass in North Africa becomes remarkably green thanks to the rise in temperature, which is a real resource for people living in the driest areas of the continent.(Photo: National Geographic)

Scientists are seeing signs of the greenness of the Sahara and its surrounding areas due to the increase in rainfall . If maintained continuously, rains can bring new life and restore cultivation in areas affected by drought.

The desert's narrowing trend is due to the change of climate type. Climate prediction scientists can resemble 12,000 years ago, when the Sahara was a green steppe, not a desert like it is now.

Blue has returned to the desert

The green color of the restoration is shown in satellite imagery of the Sahel region, the semi-desert region stretching about 3,860 km on the southern border of the Sahara.

According to a new study in Biogeosciences newspaper, satellite images taken in 1982 and 2002 revealed a blue color throughout the Sahel. This study suggests that vegetation in central Chad and western Sudan has increased significantly .

According to Max Planck Institute of Meteorology scientist Martin Claussen in Hamburg (Germany), regional variation can occur because hot air is more capable of moisturizing and creating more rain. Claussen thinks that the ability of water to retain air is the determining factor.

Scheme of Sahara desert.(Photo: Internet)

Satellite images cannot distinguish the greening of plants from large trees or weeds, so there is no certainty of resurgence. However, recent ground surveys show that the change of vegetation is certain.

Stefan Kropelin is a meteorologist at the University of Cologne, Germany, who has worked at the African research center for more than two decades. He said the Western Sahara, the southwestern region of Egypt and Northern Sudan, had new plants such as lush acacia trees. Shrubs grow and grow into big dust. This is completely different from having more small grass patches.

In 2008, Kropelin visited Western Sahara, the territory being disputed by Morocco. The nomads here told Kropelin that they had never had so much rain or cattle pasture a few years ago . Previously, the Western Sahara did not have a scorpion or a grass. But now there are many camels grazing in areas where they have never grazed from hundreds or thousands of years. Many species of birds, ostriches, antelopes, even some amphibians have appeared in this area. Kropeline confirms the proliferation has continued for more than 20 years and cannot be denied.

An uncertain future

The explosion in plant growth has been predicted based on several types of climates. For example, in 2005, Reindert Haarsma, who led the research team at the Dutch Royal Meteorological Institute in De Bilt, predicted that future rainfall in Sahel would be significantly higher.

A study published in Geophysical Research Letters predicts that rainfall in the wet season from July to September will increase by 2mm / day until 2080 . According to Haarsma, satellite data also over the past decade has shown that the Sahel actually becomes greener.

Sahara desert landscape in Chad.(Photo: National Geographic)

However, he acknowledged that meteorologists are not certain about the future of Sahel under the impact of climate change. There are still some assumptions that rainfall will decrease.

Max Planck's Claussen says North Africa is the most controversial region in terms of climate change. He adds, the forecast of the impact of global warming on this region is extremely complex. Because of the large area and the unpredictable effects of high-temperature high-pressure winds - the wind that disperses the monsoon brings rain to the area. In short, half of the climate types will follow the tendency to be wetter, while the other half will be drier.