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WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH, VOL. 44, W05202, doi:10.1029/2008WR006885, 2008

Dust-rainfall feedbacks in the West African Sahel

Wanching Jacquie Hui

Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
Department of Meteorology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA


Benjamin I. Cook

NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, New York, USA


Sujith Ravi

Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA


José D. Fuentes

Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA


Paolo D'Odorico

Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA


Abstract

Dust aerosols can suppress rainfall by increasing the number of cloud condensation nuclei in warm clouds and affecting the surface radiation budget and boundary layer instability. The extent to which atmospheric dust may affect precipitation yields and the hydrologic cycle in semiarid regions remains poorly understood. We investigate the relationship between dust aerosols and rainfall in the West African Sahel where the dust-rainfall feedback has been speculated to contribute to sustained droughts. We find that the amount of dust loadings is negatively correlated with rainfall values, suggesting that dust entrained in the atmosphere can significantly inhibit rainfall in this region.

Received 31 January 2008; accepted 10 April 2008; published 14 May 2008.

Keywords: feedback; aerosols; rainfall suppression; atmospheric dust; dust emissions; desertification.

Index Terms: 1854 Hydrology: Precipitation (3354); 0305 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Aerosols and particles (0345, 4801, 4906); 1631 Global Change: Land/atmosphere interactions (1218, 1843, 3322); 3311 Atmospheric Processes: Clouds and aerosols.

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Citation: Hui, W. J., B. I. Cook, S. Ravi, J. D. Fuentes, and P. D'Odorico (2008), Dust-rainfall feedbacks in the West African Sahel, Water Resour. Res., 44, W05202, doi:10.1029/2008WR006885.