HR: 1340h
AN: A43B-0050    [Abstracts]
TI: The Impacts of African Deforestation on the Regional and Global Hydroclimate
AU: * Werth, D
EM: werth@duke.edu
AF: Duke University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering 121 Hudson Hall, Durham, NC 27708 United States
AU: Avissar, R
EM: avissar@duke.edu
AF: Duke University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering 121 Hudson Hall, Durham, NC 27708 United States
AB: Using a global climate model (GCM), we simulate the effects of deforestation of West Africa, looking specifically at the local and remote precipitation changes caused by such a land use change. We observe a strong local effect, with a large reduction in African precipitation during the dry season, and little change during either of the two rainy seasons. The effects of African deforestation extend throughout the Tropics, and also reach into the mid-latitudes. The remote effect is caused by the African geopotential changes due to the alterations in sensible and latent heat fluxes released in the atmosphere at the ground surface as a result of the massive land-cover change.
DE: 1833 Hydroclimatology
DE: 1854 Precipitation (3354)
DE: 1878 Water/energy interactions
DE: 1620 Climate dynamics (3309)
DE: 0315 Biosphere/atmosphere interactions
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting