Vegetation–climate feedbacks modulate rainfall patterns in Africa under
future climate change

Wu, Minchao; Schurgers, Guy; Rummukainen, Markku; Smith, Benjamin; Samuelsson, Patrick; Jansson, Christer; Siltberg, Joe; May, Wilhelm

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-7-627-2016

Articles | Volume 7, issue 3

https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-7-627-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-7-627-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 7, issue 3

Research article

|

26 Jul 2016

Research article |

| 26 Jul 2016

Vegetation–climate feedbacks modulate rainfall patterns in Africa under future climate change

Minchao Wu, Guy Schurgers, Markku Rummukainen, Benjamin Smith, Patrick Samuelsson, Christer Jansson, Joe Siltberg, and Wilhelm May

Data sets

Public Datasets ECMWF http://apps.ecmwf.int/datasets/

CRUTS v3.23 Data Variables Climatic Research Unit https://crudata.uea.ac.uk/cru/data/hrg/cru_ts_3.23/cruts.1506241137.v3.23/

GPCP 1-Degree Daily Combination (Version 1.2) George J. Huffman http://precip.gsfc.nasa.gov/gpcp_daily_comb.html

Hadley Centre Sea Ice and Sea Surface Temperature data set (HadISST) Met Office Hadley Centre observations datasets http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadisst/

30+ Years of LAI3g and FPAR3g Data Sets climate and vegetation research group http://cliveg.bu.edu/modismisr/lai3g-fpar3g.html

Short summary

On Earth, vegetation does not merely adapt to climate but also imposes significant influences on climate with both local and remote effects. In this study we evaluated the role of vegetation in African climate with a regional Earth system model. By the comparison between the experiments with and without dynamic vegetation changes, we found that vegetation can influence climate remotely, resulting in modulating rainfall patterns over Africa.