Tropical Indo-Pacific SST influences on vegetation variability in eastern Africa

Abstract Mechanisms by which tropical Pacific and Indian Ocean sea surface temperatures (SST) influence vegetation in eastern Africa have not been fully explored. Here, we use a suite of idealized Earth system model simulations to elucidate the governing processes for eastern African interannual veg...

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Autores principales:	In-Won Kim, Malte F. Stuecker, Axel Timmermann, Elke Zeller, Jong-Seong Kug, So-Won Park, Jin-Soo Kim
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/6b686cce1502425580fd2f09a643cb3e
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:6b686cce1502425580fd2f09a643cb3e2021-12-02T15:45:27ZTropical Indo-Pacific SST influences on vegetation variability in eastern Africa10.1038/s41598-021-89824-x2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/6b686cce1502425580fd2f09a643cb3e2021-05-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-89824-xhttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Mechanisms by which tropical Pacific and Indian Ocean sea surface temperatures (SST) influence vegetation in eastern Africa have not been fully explored. Here, we use a suite of idealized Earth system model simulations to elucidate the governing processes for eastern African interannual vegetation changes. Our analysis focuses on Tanzania. In the absence of ENSO-induced sea surface temperature anomalies in the Tropical Indian Ocean (TIO), El Niño causes during its peak phase negative precipitation anomalies over Tanzania due to a weakening of the tropical-wide Walker circulation and anomalous descending motion over the Indian Ocean and southeastern Africa. Resulting drought conditions increase the occurrence of wildfires, which leads to a marked decrease in vegetation cover. Subsequent wetter La Niña conditions in boreal winter reverse the phase in vegetation anomalies, causing a gradual 1-year-long recovery phase. The 2-year-long vegetation decline in Tanzania during an ENSO cycle can be explained as a double-integration of the local rainfall anomalies, which originate from the seasonally-modulated ENSO Pacific-SST forcing (Combination mode). In the presence of interannual TIO SST forcing, the southeast African precipitation and vegetation responses to ENSO are muted due to Indian Ocean warming and the resulting anomalous upward motion in the atmosphere.In-Won KimMalte F. StueckerAxel TimmermannElke ZellerJong-Seong KugSo-Won ParkJin-Soo KimNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-8 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q In-Won Kim Malte F. Stuecker Axel Timmermann Elke Zeller Jong-Seong Kug So-Won Park Jin-Soo Kim Tropical Indo-Pacific SST influences on vegetation variability in eastern Africa
description	Abstract Mechanisms by which tropical Pacific and Indian Ocean sea surface temperatures (SST) influence vegetation in eastern Africa have not been fully explored. Here, we use a suite of idealized Earth system model simulations to elucidate the governing processes for eastern African interannual vegetation changes. Our analysis focuses on Tanzania. In the absence of ENSO-induced sea surface temperature anomalies in the Tropical Indian Ocean (TIO), El Niño causes during its peak phase negative precipitation anomalies over Tanzania due to a weakening of the tropical-wide Walker circulation and anomalous descending motion over the Indian Ocean and southeastern Africa. Resulting drought conditions increase the occurrence of wildfires, which leads to a marked decrease in vegetation cover. Subsequent wetter La Niña conditions in boreal winter reverse the phase in vegetation anomalies, causing a gradual 1-year-long recovery phase. The 2-year-long vegetation decline in Tanzania during an ENSO cycle can be explained as a double-integration of the local rainfall anomalies, which originate from the seasonally-modulated ENSO Pacific-SST forcing (Combination mode). In the presence of interannual TIO SST forcing, the southeast African precipitation and vegetation responses to ENSO are muted due to Indian Ocean warming and the resulting anomalous upward motion in the atmosphere.
format	article
author	In-Won Kim Malte F. Stuecker Axel Timmermann Elke Zeller Jong-Seong Kug So-Won Park Jin-Soo Kim
author_facet	In-Won Kim Malte F. Stuecker Axel Timmermann Elke Zeller Jong-Seong Kug So-Won Park Jin-Soo Kim
author_sort	In-Won Kim
title	Tropical Indo-Pacific SST influences on vegetation variability in eastern Africa
title_short	Tropical Indo-Pacific SST influences on vegetation variability in eastern Africa
title_full	Tropical Indo-Pacific SST influences on vegetation variability in eastern Africa
title_fullStr	Tropical Indo-Pacific SST influences on vegetation variability in eastern Africa
title_full_unstemmed	Tropical Indo-Pacific SST influences on vegetation variability in eastern Africa
title_sort	tropical indo-pacific sst influences on vegetation variability in eastern africa
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/6b686cce1502425580fd2f09a643cb3e
work_keys_str_mv	AT inwonkim tropicalindopacificsstinfluencesonvegetationvariabilityineasternafrica AT maltefstuecker tropicalindopacificsstinfluencesonvegetationvariabilityineasternafrica AT axeltimmermann tropicalindopacificsstinfluencesonvegetationvariabilityineasternafrica AT elkezeller tropicalindopacificsstinfluencesonvegetationvariabilityineasternafrica AT jongseongkug tropicalindopacificsstinfluencesonvegetationvariabilityineasternafrica AT sowonpark tropicalindopacificsstinfluencesonvegetationvariabilityineasternafrica AT jinsookim tropicalindopacificsstinfluencesonvegetationvariabilityineasternafrica
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Tropical Indo-Pacific SST influences on vegetation variability in eastern Africa

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