Can The Sahara Desert Turn Green After Flooding?

Written by Kelechi Deca

Something to Think About!

What is the Likelihood of the Sahara Desert Turning Green After Flooding?

And what are the consequences for Africa in particular, and the world in general?

Let us take a dive into this thing.

A pioneering study sheds new light on the Sahara Desert in a way never before envisioned. The research, published in Nature Communications, showed periodic wet phases in the Sahara were driven by changes in Earth’s orbit around the Sun and were suppressed during the ice ages.

The Study claims that in the last 800,000 years, the Sahara has periodically turned green, with savannahs, rivers, lakes and water-dependent animals over history. This happens every 21,000 years. The study believes the reason is due to the earth wobbling, changing its orbit.’

Lead author Dr Edward Armstrong, a climate scientist at the University of Helsinki and University of Bristol, said: “The cyclic transformation of the Sahara Desert into savannah and woodland ecosystems is one of the most remarkable environmental changes on the planet.

“Our study is one of the first climate modelling studies to simulate the African Humid Periods with comparable magnitude to what the palaeoclimate observations indicate, revealing why and when these events occurred.”

With the developments across the Sahara in the last few months, it appears we are the generation so favoured to witness that tremendous once in a lifetime shift. But this time, it appears that climate change may be the culprit. In the months of August and September 2024, the Sahara has unusually experienced over 500 per cent of rainfall, same as August. This is why we’re having pockets of flooding in parts of Chad, Libya, Niger, Algeria and Nigeria. Two days ago, huge rivers and lakes were all over the Desert.

Unfortunately, in nature, everything is connected, thus the greening of the Sahara Desert is not something to celebrate about. This is because when the Sahara receives more rainfall, other regions receive little.

Research shows that the Sahara Desert helps in cooling the earth. Its light-coloured sand helps to reflect incoming sun’s rays back to space. This reduces the amount of radiation coming to the earth. It also helps to balance the heat on earth. If the Sahara Desert becomes green, its consequences will be significant.

The Sahara Desert is at least 4.6 million years old, according to research that analyzed dust from the Sahara that blew over to the Canary Islands. This age estimate matches what is found in deep-sea sediments. The Sahara’s age has been controversial, with estimates ranging from thousands of years to over five million years old. The Sahara’s climate has experienced short- and medium-term oscillations between drier and more humid conditions since the Pliocene.

The Sahara’s aridification began around 7 to 11 million years ago when the Arabian Peninsula replaced the western arm of the Tethys Sea. This replaced water with land, which reflects less sunlight and altered precipitation patterns.

What does these hold for us, especially Africa south of the Sahara.

Nature can be unpredictable, and it has been holding no prisoner in the last few months across the world.

Kelechi Deca is Consultant, Innovation and Growth at Clean Technology Hub.