Physics – Fluid Dynamics
Scientific paper
Nov 2005
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005georl..3222706l&link_type=abstract
Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 32, Issue 22, CiteID L22706
Physics
Fluid Dynamics
32
Atmospheric Processes: Climate Change And Variability (1616, 1635, 3309, 4215, 4513), Atmospheric Processes: Land/Atmosphere Interactions (1218, 1631, 1843), Atmospheric Processes: Global Climate Models (1626, 4928), Atmospheric Processes: Regional Modeling
Scientific paper
The Sahel region of Africa underwent a pronounced interdecadal drying trend in the latter half of the 20th century. In order to investigate this drying trend, several ensembles of numerical experiments are conducted using a recently developed atmospheric general circulation model (AM2, developed at NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory). When the model is forced with the time series of observed SSTs and sea ice from 1950 to 2000, it successfully reproduces the observed interdecadal variability of Sahelian rainfall. Additional experiments are used to estimate the separate contributions to Sahel drought from SST anomalies in various ocean basins. In these, SST anomalies are applied only in the tropics, or only in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans separately. Forcing from the tropical oceans is dominant in driving the Sahelian rainfall trend. The response of Sahel rainfall to a general warming of the tropical oceans suggests a possible link to greenhouse gas-induced climate change.
Delworth Thomas L.
Lu Jian
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