Is Sahara Turning Green? Rare Weather Shift Adds Vegetation To 'Driest Place On Earth'

Satellites captured images of the desert showing plant life growth in the southern Sahara region after storms moved when they shouldn’t.

While the rain has brought vegetation, it has also caused catastrophic flooding, in the area.

Source : Pixabay

In a rare occurrence, the Sahara Desert in the continent of Africa saw an influx of rain which brought green bloom to various parts of the desert. In the ‘driest place on Earth’, has never seen any precipitation all year round. However, satellites captured images of the desert showing plant life growth in the southern Sahara region after storms moved when they shouldn’t, according to a CNN report. 

Comparing current vegetation over Africa with a year ago ...

Recent unusual rain over the southern Sahara Desert has resulted in a noticeable change in greenery. pic.twitter.com/4agN8TuD5k

— Dr. Mathew Barlow (@MathewABarlow) September 12, 2024

While the rain has brought vegetation, it has also caused catastrophic flooding, in the area. As per the CNN report, scientists suggest that such extreme weather events may become increasingly common as the climate crisis accelerates. 

In the equator in Africa, rainfall in the north increases from July through September after the West African Monsoon begins. This phenomenon, marked by an increase in stormy weather, occurs when moist, tropical air from near the equator meets hot, dry air from the northern portion of the continent. This area would be known as the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). During the Northern Hemisphere’s summer months, the ITCZ shifts north of the equator. 

However, most of it is at the south of the equator during the Southern Hemisphere’s warm months. 

Since mid-July, the Intertropical Convergence Zone shifted farther north than usual, pushing storms into regions of the southern Sahara, including parts of Niger, Chad, northern Libya, and Sudan, as per data from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Prediction Center.

Consequently, these parts of the Sahara Desert are anywhere from twice as wet to more than six times wetter than they should be, reported CNN. 

According to Karsten Haustein, a climate researcher at Leipzig University in Germany, there are two likely causes of this strange shift to the north. Transitioning from El Nino to La Nina has influenced how far north this zone has moved this summer Haustein said. El Nino – a natural climate pattern marked by warmer than average ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific leading to drier than normal conditions in wet portions of West and Central Africa. 

On the other hand, La Nina has the opposite effect.

“The Intertropical Convergence Zone, which is the reason for (Africa’s) greening, moves farther north the warmer the world gets,” Haustein explained as per CNN. Haustein said that this is what “most models suggest.”