On the cause of abrupt vegetation collapse in North Africa during the Holocene: climate variability vs. vegetation feedback

Zhengyu Liu; Yi Wang; Robert Gallimore; Michael Notaro; I. Colin Prentice

doi:10.1029/2006GL028062

On the cause of abrupt vegetation collapse in North Africa during the Holocene: climate variability vs. vegetation feedback

Zhengyu Liu^*, Yi Wang, Robert Gallimore, Michael Notaro, I. Colin Prentice

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

90 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The abrupt desertification over the northern Africa in the mid-Holocene is studied in both a complex and a simple coupled climate-vegetation model. In contrast to the previous mechanism that relies on strong positive vegetation-climate feedback and the resulted multiple equilibria, we propose a new mechanism in which the abrupt desertification is caused by low frequency climate variability, rather than a positive vegetation-climate feedback. The implication of this new mechanism to modelling and observation is also discussed.

Original language	English
Article number	L22709
Pages (from-to)	1-6
Number of pages	6
Journal	Geophysical Research Letters
Volume	33
Issue number	22
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1029/2006GL028062
Publication status	Published - 28 Nov 2006
Externally published	Yes

Access to Document

10.1029/2006GL028062

Cite this

@article{6481a6065b6a4d06807930f795375dbf,

title = "On the cause of abrupt vegetation collapse in North Africa during the Holocene: climate variability vs. vegetation feedback",

abstract = "The abrupt desertification over the northern Africa in the mid-Holocene is studied in both a complex and a simple coupled climate-vegetation model. In contrast to the previous mechanism that relies on strong positive vegetation-climate feedback and the resulted multiple equilibria, we propose a new mechanism in which the abrupt desertification is caused by low frequency climate variability, rather than a positive vegetation-climate feedback. The implication of this new mechanism to modelling and observation is also discussed.",

author = "Zhengyu Liu and Yi Wang and Robert Gallimore and Michael Notaro and Prentice, \{I. Colin\}",

year = "2006",

month = nov,

day = "28",

doi = "10.1029/2006GL028062",

language = "English",

volume = "33",

pages = "1--6",

journal = "Geophysical Research Letters",

issn = "0094-8276",

publisher = "John Wiley \& Sons",

number = "22",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - On the cause of abrupt vegetation collapse in North Africa during the Holocene

T2 - climate variability vs. vegetation feedback

AU - Liu, Zhengyu

AU - Wang, Yi

AU - Gallimore, Robert

AU - Notaro, Michael

AU - Prentice, I. Colin

PY - 2006/11/28

Y1 - 2006/11/28

N2 - The abrupt desertification over the northern Africa in the mid-Holocene is studied in both a complex and a simple coupled climate-vegetation model. In contrast to the previous mechanism that relies on strong positive vegetation-climate feedback and the resulted multiple equilibria, we propose a new mechanism in which the abrupt desertification is caused by low frequency climate variability, rather than a positive vegetation-climate feedback. The implication of this new mechanism to modelling and observation is also discussed.

AB - The abrupt desertification over the northern Africa in the mid-Holocene is studied in both a complex and a simple coupled climate-vegetation model. In contrast to the previous mechanism that relies on strong positive vegetation-climate feedback and the resulted multiple equilibria, we propose a new mechanism in which the abrupt desertification is caused by low frequency climate variability, rather than a positive vegetation-climate feedback. The implication of this new mechanism to modelling and observation is also discussed.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/34548565714

U2 - 10.1029/2006GL028062

DO - 10.1029/2006GL028062

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:34548565714

SN - 0094-8276

VL - 33

SP - 1

EP - 6

JO - Geophysical Research Letters

JF - Geophysical Research Letters

IS - 22

M1 - L22709

ER -

On the cause of abrupt vegetation collapse in North Africa during the Holocene: climate variability vs. vegetation feedback

Abstract

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this