Diagnosing the roles of vegetation, surface albedo, and presence of lakes and wetlands on dust emission and feedbacks during the mid-Holocene

Abstract:

During the early to mid-Holocene North Africa was much wetter and the Saharan desert was replaced with savannah vegetation with numerous lakes and wetlands. Correspondingly dust fluxes in the eastern North Atlantic were much lower compared to modern. This period is considered an analogue for dust free conditions. It is uncertain whether dust acts as a positive or negative feedback on the hydrological cycle, and the underlying surface albedo has a strong impact on the shortwave dust radiative effect. Here we examine the roles of vegetation, surface albedo, and lake/wetland coverage on dust emissions and the resulting dust-climate feedbacks using a fully coupled climate model with an interactive dust model. Preliminary results show that the addition of lakes and wetlands reduces dust emissions over North Africa, and enhances evaporation and precipitation by more than 50%.