IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v8y2017i1d10.1038_s41467-017-02021-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Observed positive vegetation-rainfall feedbacks in the Sahel dominated by a moisture recycling mechanism

Author

Listed:
  • Yan Yu

    (University of Wisconsin-Madison
    California Institute of Technology)

  • Michael Notaro

    (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

  • Fuyao Wang

    (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

  • Jiafu Mao

    (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)

  • Xiaoying Shi

    (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)

  • Yaxing Wei

    (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)

Abstract

Classic, model-based theory of land-atmosphere interactions across the Sahel promote positive vegetation-rainfall feedbacks dominated by surface albedo mechanism. However, neither the proposed positive vegetation-rainfall feedback nor its underlying albedo mechanism has been convincingly demonstrated using observational data. Here, we present observational evidence for the region’s proposed positive vegetation-rainfall feedback on the seasonal to interannual time scale, and find that it is associated with a moisture recycling mechanism, rather than the classic albedo-based mechanism. Positive anomalies of remotely sensed vegetation greenness across the Sahel during the late and post-monsoon periods favor enhanced evapotranspiration, precipitable water, convective activity and rainfall, indicative of amplified moisture recycling. The identified modest low-level cooling and anomalous atmospheric subsidence in response to positive vegetation greenness anomalies are counter to the responses expected through the classic vegetation-albedo feedback mechanism. The observational analysis further reveals enhanced dust emissions in response to diminished Sahel vegetation growth, potentially contributing to the positive vegetation-rainfall feedback.

Suggested Citation

  • Yan Yu & Michael Notaro & Fuyao Wang & Jiafu Mao & Xiaoying Shi & Yaxing Wei, 2017. "Observed positive vegetation-rainfall feedbacks in the Sahel dominated by a moisture recycling mechanism," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-017-02021-1
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-02021-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-02021-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-017-02021-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wang, Xuanxuan & Cheng, Yongming & Liu, Liu & Niu, Qiankun & Huang, Guanhua, 2024. "Improved understanding of how irrigated area expansion enhances precipitation recycling by land–atmosphere coupling," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 299(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-017-02021-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.