Saharan Heat Amped Up by Climate Change

August 19, 2015

The searing Sahara Desert is getting even hotter, at a rate two to four times greater than the rest of the tropics, say scientists in a new study.

That puts it on par with the Arctic which is also exceeding the global warming average. But whereas the widely studied Arctic “amplification” melts sea ice and permafrost, the Sahara warming could be reducing the huge outflow of dust that blows off Africa and be causing big changes to regional weather — and local people.

“A lot of people live there – three million or so,” said researcher Kerry Cook of the University of Texas at Austin. “And it’s adjacent to the Sahel region, which has many more people.”

Discovery News, Aug. 17, 2015

Featuring: Kerry Cook, Professor, Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences