The Sahara Desert is expanding: new study
3/29/2018 12:00:00 PM
The Sahara Desert has expanded by about 10 percent since 1920, according to a new study by University of Maryland scientists. The research is the first to assess century-scale changes to the boundaries of the world's largest desert and suggests that other deserts could be expanding as well. The study was published in the Journal of Climate.
This satellite-derived image shows the three regions in North Africa: the Sahara, the Sahel, and the Sudan. The Saharan
desert covers the northern, top part of the continent,. The Sahel, a semi-arid belt of barren, sandy and rock-strewn land,
stretches across the African continent between the Sahara and the Sudan, which is the greener, more fertile southern
portion in this image [Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio]
Deserts are typically defined by low average annual rainfall—usually 100 millimeters (less than 4 inches) of rain per year or less. The researchers analyzed rainfall data recorded throughout Africa from 1920 to 2013 and found that the Sahara, which occupies much of the northern part of the continent, expanded by 10 percent during this period when looking at annual trends.
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https://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-sahara-desert-is-expanding-new-study.html#RqFlTIfb8OAIKxRL.99
