climate change could make sahel wet study
Last Updated : GMT 09:40:38
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle
Last Updated : GMT 09:40:38
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle

Climate change could make Sahel wet: study

Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle

Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicleClimate change could make Sahel wet: study

The Sahel is one of Africa's driest regions
Paris - AFP

 Climate change could transform one of Africa's driest regions, the Sahel, into a very wet one, a study showed Wednesday. But this is not necessarily good news.

While there would be more water for farming and grazing, the region may also face devastating storms and floods for which it is completely unprepared.

"The sheer size of the change is mindboggling," said Anders Levermann from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) who co-authored the study in the journal Earth System Dynamics.

"Once the temperature approaches the threshold, the rainfall regime could shift within just a few years," he said in a statement.

Levermann and his team used computer simulations to project the Sahel's climate future.

They found that beyond 1.5 to 2.0 degrees Celsius of global warming over pre-industrial levels, the region's rainfall will change. This is also the warming ceiling targeted in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

"Although this tipping point is potentially beneficial, the change could be so big it would be a major adaptation challenge for an already troubled region," said a PIK statement.

The real-life impacts are hard to predict.

In April, a different study said the Sahel has seen a three-fold increase since 1982 in destructive rainstorms that bring misery rather than relief.

The researchers found that destructive storms known to meteorologists as "mesoscale convective systems" (MCS) grew in frequency from about 24 per rainy season in the early 1980s, to about 81 today.

The rainy season lasts from about June to September.

- Caught between drought and flood -

In the Sahel, MCS events are "some of the most explosive storms in the world", the researchers said.

These storms supply about 90 percent of the region's rainfall -- but more tempests do not equate to more water. Water from violent storms tends to run off and not filter into the soil where crops can benefit.

It also washes away nutrient-holding agricultural soil in a region still recovering from a historic 20-year drought between the 1970s and 1990s.

"The enormous change that we might see would clearly pose a huge adaptation challenge to the Sahel," Levermann said of the future.

"From Mauritania and Mali in the west to Sudan and Eritrea in the east, more than 100 million people are potentially affected that already now are confronted with a multifold of instabilities, including war."

As the tipping point approaches, the Sahel may experience years of "hard-to-handle variability" between drought and flood, he said.

"The dimension of the change calls for urgent action."

source: AFP

themuslimchronicle
themuslimchronicle

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

climate change could make sahel wet study climate change could make sahel wet study

 



Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle

GMT 09:23 2017 Wednesday ,19 April

1105 food baskets distributed in Yemen

GMT 09:35 2018 Monday ,08 January

Trump marijuana policy reversal stokes fears

GMT 11:09 2017 Saturday ,16 December

Russia poses risk to undersea cables: UK defense chief

GMT 09:56 2017 Thursday ,02 November

Digital subscriber gains rev up NY Times profit

GMT 01:38 2016 Thursday ,29 December

Iraqi President meets Kuwaiti Foreign Minister

GMT 17:37 2017 Tuesday ,21 February

Le Pen refuses to wear veil, fails to meet with Mufti

GMT 01:48 2016 Monday ,13 June

Pioneering solar pilots 'make sci-fi a reality'

GMT 18:45 2016 Wednesday ,21 December

Several Qaeda militants killed in drone strike

GMT 07:28 2018 Thursday ,11 January

As US freezes aid, Pakistan dismisses economic fears

GMT 11:14 2017 Sunday ,12 March

My video is flagrant but smashed the charts

GMT 09:21 2018 Wednesday ,10 January

unveils London boutique and appoints MG Empower

GMT 07:48 2018 Thursday ,04 January

L’Oréal Professionnel unveils Alexa

GMT 07:41 2017 Saturday ,19 August

Brief tourism impact from Spain attacks

GMT 00:02 2017 Friday ,22 December

UK-Iranian prisoner could be released

GMT 21:53 2016 Tuesday ,14 June

Israeli tech second only to Silicon Valley

GMT 00:25 2017 Friday ,27 October

Ex-HSBC executive can face US extradition: UK court

GMT 07:44 2017 Wednesday ,20 September

Iran asks award-winning film-maker to report to prosecutor

GMT 10:34 2017 Saturday ,11 November

Politics free? Even country music awards poke Trump

GMT 07:59 2017 Sunday ,17 December

Embassy in London marks Accession, National Days
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle
 
 Themuslimchronicle Facebook,themuslimchronicle facebook  Themuslimchronicle Twitter,themuslimchronicle twitter Themuslimchronicle Rss,themuslimchronicle rss  Themuslimchronicle Youtube,themuslimchronicle youtube  Themuslimchronicle Youtube,themuslimchronicle youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2023 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2023 ©

muslimchronicle muslimchronicle muslimchronicle muslimchronicle
themuslimchronicle themuslimchronicle themuslimchronicle
themuslimchronicle
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle