Dust as a tipping element: The Bodélé Depression, Chad
Résumé
Dust plays a vital role in climate and biophysical feedbacks in the Earth system. One source of dust, the Bodé lé Depression in Chad, is estimated to produce about half the mineral aerosols emitted from the Sahara, which is the world's largest source. By using a variety of new remote sensing data, regional modeling, trajectory models, chemical analyses of dust, and future climate simulations, we investigate the current and past sensitivity of the Bodé lé. We show that minor adjustments to small features of the atmospheric circulation, such as the Bodé lé Low-Level Jet, could profoundly alter the behavior of this feature. Dust production during the mid-Holocene ceased completely from this key source region. Although subject to a great deal of uncertainty, some simulations of the 21st century indicate the potential for a substantial increase in dust production by the end of the century in comparison with current values. mineral aerosol ͉ regional climate model ͉ low-level jet