JERUSALEM, March 18 (Xinhua) -- A team of researchers from Israel and Switzerland has discovered that heavy rainstorms from the Atlantic Ocean are the main cause of lake filling in the northwestern Sahara today, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem said on Tuesday.
The Sahara Desert has not always been as dry as it is now, with prehistoric evidence showing the existence of wetlands. However, the exact sources of moisture for these ancient lakes have been unclear.
A new study, published in Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, combined climate science, meteorology, and hydrology to examine how intense rainfall events fill lakes.
The study found that only long-lasting, heavy rainstorms trigger these events, challenging previous beliefs about the region's climate.
The researchers studied Sebkha El-Melah, a dry lake in Algeria, and found that between 2000 and 2021, hundreds of heavy rainstorms occurred, but only six of them resulted in significant lake filling. These storms mainly were driven by precipitation systems originating from the Atlantic Ocean, rather than equatorial sources as previously believed.
The study highlighted the role of powerful storms from the Atlantic, which bring moisture into the Sahara and bypass the Atlas Mountains.
The team also suggests that future climate changes, such as global warming, could lead to more intense rainstorms, potentially filling Saharan lakes again and impacting water availability in the region.
The findings have important implications for understanding past climate changes and predicting future water resources in desert environments.
They may also help plan for the effects of climate change on ecosystems and human settlements in the Sahara. ■
