Articles | Volume 19, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-277-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-277-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
01 Feb 2023
Research article |
| 01 Feb 2023
| 01 Feb 2023
Using data and models to infer climate and environmental changes during the Little Ice Age in tropical West Africa
Anne-Marie Lézine
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat, Expérimentation et Approche numérique/IPSL, Sorbonne Université – CNRS-IRD-MNHN, 4 Place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France
Maé Catrain
Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat, Expérimentation et Approche numérique/IPSL, Sorbonne Université – CNRS-IRD-MNHN, 4 Place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France
Julián Villamayor
Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat, Expérimentation et Approche numérique/IPSL, Sorbonne Université – CNRS-IRD-MNHN, 4 Place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France
Department of Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate, Institute of Physical Chemistry Rocasolano, CSIC, Madrid, Spain
Myriam Khodri
Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat, Expérimentation et Approche numérique/IPSL, Sorbonne Université – CNRS-IRD-MNHN, 4 Place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France
Related authors
María Fernanda Sánchez Goñi, Stéphanie Desprat, Anne-Laure Daniau, Frank C. Bassinot, Josué M. Polanco-Martínez, Sandy P. Harrison, Judy R. M. Allen, R. Scott Anderson, Hermann Behling, Raymonde Bonnefille, Francesc Burjachs, José S. Carrión, Rachid Cheddadi, James S. Clark, Nathalie Combourieu-Nebout, Colin. J. Courtney Mustaphi, Georg H. Debusk, Lydie M. Dupont, Jemma M. Finch, William J. Fletcher, Marco Giardini, Catalina González, William D. Gosling, Laurie D. Grigg, Eric C. Grimm, Ryoma Hayashi, Karin Helmens, Linda E. Heusser, Trevor Hill, Geoffrey Hope, Brian Huntley, Yaeko Igarashi, Tomohisa Irino, Bonnie Jacobs, Gonzalo Jiménez-Moreno, Sayuri Kawai, A. Peter Kershaw, Fujio Kumon, Ian T. Lawson, Marie-Pierre Ledru, Anne-Marie Lézine, Ping Mei Liew, Donatella Magri, Robert Marchant, Vasiliki Margari, Francis E. Mayle, G. Merna McKenzie, Patrick Moss, Stefanie Müller, Ulrich C. Müller, Filipa Naughton, Rewi M. Newnham, Tadamichi Oba, Ramón Pérez-Obiol, Roberta Pini, Cesare Ravazzi, Katy H. Roucoux, Stephen M. Rucina, Louis Scott, Hikaru Takahara, Polichronis C. Tzedakis, Dunia H. Urrego, Bas van Geel, B. Guido Valencia, Marcus J. Vandergoes, Annie Vincens, Cathy L. Whitlock, Debra A. Willard, and Masanobu Yamamoto
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 9, 679–695, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-679-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-679-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
The ACER (Abrupt Climate Changes and Environmental Responses) global database includes 93 pollen records from the last glacial period (73–15 ka) plotted against a common chronology; 32 also provide charcoal records. The database allows for the reconstruction of the regional expression, vegetation and fire of past abrupt climate changes that are comparable to those expected in the 21st century. This work is a major contribution to understanding the processes behind rapid climate change.
C. Hély, A.-M. Lézine, and APD contributors
Clim. Past, 10, 681–686, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-681-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-681-2014, 2014
María Fernanda Sánchez Goñi, Stéphanie Desprat, Anne-Laure Daniau, Frank C. Bassinot, Josué M. Polanco-Martínez, Sandy P. Harrison, Judy R. M. Allen, R. Scott Anderson, Hermann Behling, Raymonde Bonnefille, Francesc Burjachs, José S. Carrión, Rachid Cheddadi, James S. Clark, Nathalie Combourieu-Nebout, Colin. J. Courtney Mustaphi, Georg H. Debusk, Lydie M. Dupont, Jemma M. Finch, William J. Fletcher, Marco Giardini, Catalina González, William D. Gosling, Laurie D. Grigg, Eric C. Grimm, Ryoma Hayashi, Karin Helmens, Linda E. Heusser, Trevor Hill, Geoffrey Hope, Brian Huntley, Yaeko Igarashi, Tomohisa Irino, Bonnie Jacobs, Gonzalo Jiménez-Moreno, Sayuri Kawai, A. Peter Kershaw, Fujio Kumon, Ian T. Lawson, Marie-Pierre Ledru, Anne-Marie Lézine, Ping Mei Liew, Donatella Magri, Robert Marchant, Vasiliki Margari, Francis E. Mayle, G. Merna McKenzie, Patrick Moss, Stefanie Müller, Ulrich C. Müller, Filipa Naughton, Rewi M. Newnham, Tadamichi Oba, Ramón Pérez-Obiol, Roberta Pini, Cesare Ravazzi, Katy H. Roucoux, Stephen M. Rucina, Louis Scott, Hikaru Takahara, Polichronis C. Tzedakis, Dunia H. Urrego, Bas van Geel, B. Guido Valencia, Marcus J. Vandergoes, Annie Vincens, Cathy L. Whitlock, Debra A. Willard, and Masanobu Yamamoto
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 9, 679–695, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-679-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-679-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
The ACER (Abrupt Climate Changes and Environmental Responses) global database includes 93 pollen records from the last glacial period (73–15 ka) plotted against a common chronology; 32 also provide charcoal records. The database allows for the reconstruction of the regional expression, vegetation and fire of past abrupt climate changes that are comparable to those expected in the 21st century. This work is a major contribution to understanding the processes behind rapid climate change.
C. Hély, A.-M. Lézine, and APD contributors
Clim. Past, 10, 681–686, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-681-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-681-2014, 2014
Related subject area
Subject: Continental Surface Processes | Archive: Terrestrial Archives | Timescale: Centennial-Decadal
Early Holocene cold snaps and their expression in the moraine record of the eastern European Alps
A multi-proxy perspective on millennium-long climate variability in the Southern Pyrenees
Impact of maximum borehole depths on inverted temperature histories in borehole paleoclimatology
Sandra M. Braumann, Joerg M. Schaefer, Stephanie M. Neuhuber, Christopher Lüthgens, Alan J. Hidy, and Markus Fiebig
Clim. Past, 17, 2451–2479, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2451-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2451-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Glacier reconstructions provide insights into past climatic conditions and elucidate processes and feedbacks that modulate the climate system both in the past and present. We investigate the transition from the last glacial to the current interglacial and generate beryllium-10 moraine chronologies in glaciated catchments of the eastern European Alps. We find that rapid warming was superimposed by centennial-scale cold phases that appear to have influenced large parts of the Northern Hemisphere.
M. Morellón, A. Pérez-Sanz, J. P. Corella, U. Büntgen, J. Catalán, P. González-Sampériz, J. J. González-Trueba, J. A. López-Sáez, A. Moreno, S. Pla-Rabes, M. Á. Saz-Sánchez, P. Scussolini, E. Serrano, F. Steinhilber, V. Stefanova, T. Vegas-Vilarrúbia, and B. Valero-Garcés
Clim. Past, 8, 683–700, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-683-2012, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-683-2012, 2012
H. Beltrami, J. E. Smerdon, G. S. Matharoo, and N. Nickerson
Clim. Past, 7, 745–756, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-7-745-2011, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-7-745-2011, 2011
Cited articles
African Pollen Database: Welcome to the new African Pollen Database web site, https://africanpollendatabase.ipsl.fr, last access: 24 January 2023.
Aguiar, L., Garneau, M., Lézine, A.-M., and Maugis, P.: Evolution de la
nappe des sables quaternaires dans la région des Niayes du Sénégal (1958–1994): relation avec le climat et les impacts
anthropiques, Sécheresse, 21, 1–8, https://doi.org/10.1684/sec.2010.0237, 2010.
Aumont, O., Éthé, C., Tagliabue, A., Bopp, L., and Gehlen, M.:
PISCES-v2: an ocean biogeochemical model for carbon and ecosystem studies,
Geosci. Model Dev., 8, 2465–2513, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-2465-2015, 2015.
Ballouche, A.: Dynamique des paysages végétaux sahélo-soudaniens
et pratiques agro-pastorales à l'Holocène : exemples au Burkina
Faso, Bull. Asso. Géogr. Français, 75, 191–200, 1998.
Bertaux, J., Sifeddine, A., Schwartz, D., Vincens, A., and Elenga, H.:
Enregistrement sédimentologique de la phase sèche d'Afrique Equatoriale c. 3000 BP par la spectromérie IR dans les lacs Sinnda et
Kitina (Sud Congo), in: Dynamique à long terme des écosystèmes
forestiers intertropicaux, ORSTOM, Paris, 213–215, ISBN 92-3-203753-X, 1998.
Boucher, O., Servonnat, J., Albright, A.L., Aumont, O., Balkanski, Y.,
Bastrikov, V., Bekki, S., Bonnet, R., Bony, S., Bopp, L., Braconnot, P., Brockmann, P., Cadule, P., Caubel, A., Cheruy, F., Codron, F., Cozic, A., Cugnet, D., D'Andrea, F., Davini, P., de Lavergne, C., Denvil, S., Deshayes, J., Devilliers, M., Ducharne,A., Dufresne, J. L., Dupont, E., Éthé, C., Fairhead, L., Falletti, L., Flavoni, S., Foujols, M. A., Gardoll, S., Gastineau, G., Ghattas, J., Grandpeix, J. Y., Guenet, B., Guez, L. E., Guilyardi, E., Guimberteau, M., Hauglustaine, D., Hourdin, F., Idelkadi, A., Joussaume, S., Kageyama, M., Khodri, M., Krinner, G., Lebas, N., Levavasseur, G., Lévy, C., Li, L., Lott, F., Lurton, T., Luyssaert, S., Madec, G., Madeleine, J. B., Maignan, F., Marchand, M., Marti, O., Mellul, L., Meurdesoif, Y., Mignot, J., Musat, I., Ottlé, C., Peylin, P., Planton, Y., Polcher, J., Rio, C., Rochetin, N., Rousset, C., Sepulchre, P., Sima, A., Swingedouw, D., Thiéblemont, R., Traore, A. K., Vancoppenolle, M., Vial, J., Vialard, J., Viovy, N., and Vuichard, N.: Presentation and evaluation of the IPSL-CM6A-LR climate model, J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst., 12, e2019MS002010, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019MS002010, 2020.
Boucher, O., Servonnat, J., Albright, A. L., Aumont, O., Balkanski, Y., Bastrikov, V., Bekki, S., Bonnet, R., Bony, S., Bopp, L., Braconnot, P., Brockmann, P., Cadule, P., Caubel, A., Cheruy, F., Codron, F., Cozic, A., Cugnet, D., D'Andrea, F., Davini, P., de Lavergne, C., Denvil, S., Deshayes, J., Devilliers, M., Ducharne, A., Dufresne, J. L., Dupont, E., Éthé, C., Fairhead, L., Falletti, L., Flavoni, S., Foujols, M. A., Gardoll, S., Gastineau, G., Ghattas, J., Grandpeix, J. Y., Guenet, B., Guez, L. E., Guilyardi, E., Guimberteau, M., Hauglustaine, D., Hourdin, F., Idelkadi, A., Joussaume, S., Kageyama, M., Khodri, M., Krinner, G., Lebas, N., Levavasseur, G., Lévy, C., Li, L., Lott, F., Lurton, T., Luyssaert, S., Madec, G., Madeleine, J. B., Maignan, F., Marchand, M., Marti, O., Mellul, L., Meurdesoif, Y., Mignot, J., Musat, I., Ottlé, C., Peylin, P., Planton, Y., Polcher, J., Rio, C., Rochetin, N., Rousset, C., Sepulchre, P., Sima, A., Swingedouw, D., Thiéblemont, R., Traore, A. K., Vancoppenolle, M., Vial, J., Vialard, J., Viovy, N., and Vuichard, N.: Presentation and evaluation of the IPSL-CM6A-LR climate model, IPSL [code], https://doi.org/10.14768/35339a29-61e8-4dea-9f8e-1c40f5699d99, 2023.
Brncic, T. M., Willis, K. J., Harris, D. J., and Washington, R.: Culture or
climate? The relative influences of past processes on the composition of the
lowland Congo rainforest, Philos. T. Roy. Soc. B, 362, 229–242, https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2006.1982, 2007.
Brncic, T. M., Willis, K. J., Harris, D. J., Telfer, M. W., and Bailey, R. M.: Fire and climate change impacts on lowland forest composi-tion in northern Congo during the last 2580 years from palaeoeco-logical analyses of a seasonally flooded swamp, Holocene, 19, 79–89, https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683608098954, 2009.
Carré, M., Azzoug, M., Zaharias, P., Camara, A., Cheddadi, R., Chevalier, M., Fiorillo, D., Gaye, A. T., Janicot, S., Khodri, M., Lazar, A., Lazareth, C. E., Mignot, J., Mitma Garcia, N., Patris, N., Perrot, O., and Wade, M.: Modern drought conditions in western Sahel unprecedented in the past 1600 years, Clim. Dynam., 52, 1949–1964, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-018-4311-3, 2019.
Catrain, M.: Le Petit Age de Glace en Afrique équatoriale: apport de
l'étude palynologique des sédiments du lac de Petpenoun, Cameroun,
Unpublished MS Thesis, University of Paris Saclay, 2021.
Coquery-Vidrovitch, C.: Écologie et histoire en Afrique noire, Histoire,
économie et société, 483–504, https://www.jstor.org/stable/23612564 (last access: 24 January 2023), 1997.
Demenocal, P., Ortiz, J., Guilderson, T., Adkins, J., Sarnthein, M., Baker,
L., and Yarusinsky, M.: Abrupt onset and termination of the African Humid
Period: rapid climate responses to gradual insolation forcing, Quaternary Sci. Rev., 19, 347–361, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-3791(99)00081-5, 2000.
Descroix, L., Diogue Niang, A., Panthou, G., Bosdian, A., Sane, Y., Dacosta,
H., Malam Abdou, M., Vandervaere, J. P., and Quantin, G.: Evolution récente de la pluviométrie en Afrique de l'Ouest à travers deux
regions: la Sénégambie et le bassin du Niger moyen, Climatologie, 12,
25–43, 2015.
Deser, C., Alexander, M. A., Xie, S. P., and Phillips, A. S.: Sea surface temperature variability: Patterns and mechanisms, Annu. Rev. Mar. Sci., 2, 115–143, https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-marine-120408-151453, 2010.
d'Orgeval, T., Polcher, J., and de Rosnay, P.: Sensitivity of the West African hydrological cycle in ORCHIDEE to infiltration processes, Hydrol.
Earth Syst. Sci., 12, 1387–1401, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-12-1387-2008, 2008.
Elenga, H.: Végétation et climat du Congo depuis 24 000 ans B.P.:
analyse palynologique de séquences sédimentaires du Pays Bateke et
du littoral, PhD Thesis, Aix-Marseille III, 1992.
Elenga, H., Schwartz, D., Vincens, A., Bertaux, J., de Namur, C., Martin, L., Wirrmann, D., and Servant, M.: Diagramme pollinique holocène du lac Kitina (Congo): mise en évidence de changements paléobotaniques et
paléoclimatiques dans le massif forestier du Mayombe, Série 2a, C. R. Acad. Sci., 323, 403–410, 1996.
Fang, S. W., Khodri, M., Timmreck, C., Zanchettin, D., and Jungclaus, J.: Disentangling internal and external contributions to Atlantic multidecadal variability over the past millennium, Geophys. Res. Lett., 48, e2021GL095990, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL095990, 2021.
Fofana, C. A. K., Sow, E., and Lézine, A.-M.: The Senegal River during the last millennium, Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol., 275, 104175,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2020.104175, 2020.
Folland, C. K., Palmer, T. N., and Parker, D. E.: Sahel rainfall and worldwide sea temperatures, 1901–85, Nature, 320, 602–607, https://doi.org/10.1038/320602a0, 1986.
Gadgil, S.: The monsoon system: Land–sea breeze or the ITCZ?, J. Earth Syst. Sci., 127, 1, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-017-0916-x, 2018.
Gallego, D., Ordóñez, P., Ribera, P., Peña-Ortiz, C., and
García-Herrera, R.: An instrumental index of the West African Monsoon back to the nineteenth century, Q. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc., 141, 3166–3176, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.2601, 2015.
Giannini, A., Saravanan, R., and Chang, P.: Oceanic forcing of Sahel rainfall on interannual to interdecadal time scales, Science, 302, 1027–1030, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1089357, 2003.
Holmes, J. A., Allen, M. J., Street-Perrott, F. A., Ivanovich, M., Perrott,
R. A., and Waller, M. P.: Late Holocene palaeolimnology of Bal Lake, northern
Nigeria, a multidisciplinary study, Palaeogeogr. Palaeocl., 148, 169–185, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-0182(98)00182-5, 1999.
Hourdin, F., Rio, C., Grandpeix, J. Y., Madeleine, J. B., Cheruy, F., Rochetin, N., Jam, A., Musat, I., Idelkadi, A., Fairhead, L., Foujols, M. A., Mellul, L., Traore, A. K., Dufresne, J. L., Boucher, O., Lefebvre, M. P.,
Millour, E., Vignon, E., Jouhaud, J., Diallo, F. B., Lott, F., Gastineau, G.,
Caubel, A., Meurdesoif, Y., and Ghattas, J.: LMDZ6A: the atmospheric component of the IPSL climate model with improved and better tuned physics,
J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst., 12, e2019MS001892, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019MS001892, 2020.
IGCMG: IPSLCM6 configuration, http://forge.ipsl.jussieu.fr/igcmg_doc/wiki/Doc/Config/IPSLCM6, last access: 24 January 2023.
Jungclaus, J. H., Bard, E., Baroni, M., Braconnot, P., Cao, J., Chini, L. P., Egorova, T., Evans, M., Gonzalez-Rouco, J. F., Goose, H., Hurtt, G. C., Joos, F., Kaplan, J. O., Khodri, M., Goldewijk, K. K., Krivova, N., LeGrance, A. N., Lorenz, S. J., Luterbacher, J., Man, W., Maucock, A. C., Mainshausen, M., Moberg, A., Muscheler, R., Nehbass-Ahles, C., Otto-Bliesner, B. I., Phipps, S. J., Pongratz, J., Rozanov, E., Schmidt, G. A., Schmidet, H., Schmutz, W., Schurer, A., Shapiro, A. I., Sigl, M., Smerdon, J. E., Solanki, S. K., Timmreck, C., Toohey, M., Usoskin, I. G., Wagner, S., Wu, C. J., Yeo, K. L., Zanchettin, D., Zhang, Q., and Zorita, E.: The PMIP4 contribution to CMIP6 – Part 3: The last millennium, scientific objective, and experimental design for the PMIP4 past1000 simulations, Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 4005–4033, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-4005-2017, 2017.
Kageyama, M., Albani, S., Braconnot, P., Harrison, S. P., Hopcroft, P. O.,
Ivanovic, R. F., Lambert, F., Marti, O., Peltier, W. R., Peterschmitt, J. Y.,
Roche, D. M., Tarasov, L., Zhang, X., Brady, E. C., Haywood, A. M., LeGrande,
A. N., Lunt, D. J., Mahowald, N. M., Mikolajewicz, U., Nisancioglu, K. H.,
Otto-Bliesner, B. L., Renssen, H., Tomas, R. A., Zhang, Q., Abe-Ouchi, A.,
Bartlein, P. J., Cao, J., Li, Q., Lohmann, G., Ohgaito, R., Shi, X., Volodin, E., Yoshida, K., Zhang, X., and Zheng, W.: The PMIP4 contribution to CMIP6 – Part 4: Scientific objectives and experimental design of the PMIP4-CMIP6 Last Glacial Maximum experiments and PMIP4 sensitivity experiments, Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 4035–4055, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-4035-2017, 2017.
Kanamitsu, M., Ebisuzaki, W., Woollen, J., Yang, S.-K., Hnilo, J. J., Fiorino, M., and Potter, G. L.: NCEP-DOE AMIP-II Reanalysis (R-2), B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 83, 1631–1643, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-83-11-1631, 2002.
Kucharski, F., Molteni, F., King, M. P., Farneti, R., Kang, I. S., and Feudale, L.: On the need of intermediate complexity general circulation models: A “SPEEDY” example, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 94, 25–30,
https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-11-00238.1, 2013.
Lawrence, D. M., Hurtt, G. C., Arneth, A., Brovkin, V., Calvin, K. V., Jones, A. D., Jones, C. D., Lawrence, P. J., de Noblet-Ducoudré, N., Pongratz, J., Seneviratne, S. I., and Shevliakova, E.: The Land Use Model Intercomparison Project (LUMIP) contribution to CMIP6: rationale and
experimental design, Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 2973–2998,
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-2973-2016, 2016.
Lebamba, J., Vincens, A., Lézine, A.-M., Marchant, R., and Buchet, G.: Forest-savannah dynamics on the Adamawa plateau (Central Cameroon) during the “African humid period” termination: A new high-resolution pollen record from Lake Tizong, Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol., 235, 129–139,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2016.10.001, 2016.
Le Borgne, J.: Un exemple d'invasion polaire sur la région mauritano-sénégalaise, Ann. Géogr., 489, 521–548, 1979.
Lenton, T. M.: Early warning of climate tipping points, Nat. Clim. Change, 1, 201–209, https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1143, 2011.
Lézine, A. M.: Late Quaternary vegetation and climate of the Sahel, Quatern. Res., 32, 317–334, https://doi.org/10.1016/0033-5894(89)90098-7, 1989.
Lézine, A. M., Zheng, W., Braconnot, P., and Krinner, G.: Late Holocene plant and climate evolution at Lake Yoa, northern Chad: pollen data and climate simulations, Clim. Past, 7, 1351–1362, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-7-1351-2011,
2011.
Lézine, A. M., Holl, A., Lebamba, J., Vincens, A., Assi-Khaudjis, C., Février, L., and Sultan, E.: Temporal relationship between Holocene human occupation and vegetation change along the northwestern margin of the Central African rainforest, C. R. Géosci., 345, 327–335,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crte.2013.03.001, 2013.
Lézine, A. M., Lemonnier, K., and Fofana, C. A. K.: Sahel environmental
variability during the last millennium: insight from a pollen, charcoal and
algae record from the Niayes area, Senegal, Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol., 271,
104103, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2019.104103, 2019.
Lézine, A.-M., Izumi, K., and Achoundong, G.: Mbi Crater (Cameroon) illustrates the relations between mountain and lowland forests over the past 15,000 years in western equatorial Africa, Quatern. Int., https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2020.12.014, in press, 2020.
Lézine, A. M., Lemonnier, K., Waller, M. P., Bouimetarhan, I., Dupont, L., and APD contributors: Changes in the West African Landscape at the end of
the African Humid Period, Palaeoecol. Africa, 35, 65–83,
https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003162766-6, 2021.
Lézine, A.-M., Catrain, M., Villamayor, J., and Khodri, M.: Using data and model to infer climate and environmental changes during the Little Ice Age in tropical West Africa, Zenodo [data set], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7003853, 2022.
Lurton, T., Balkanski, Y., Bastrikov, V., Bekki, S., Bopp, L., Braconnot, P., Braconnot, P., Brockmann, P., Cadule, P. , Contoux, C., Cozic, A., Cugnet, D., Ethé, C., Foujols, M. A., Ghattas, J., Hauglustaine, D., Hu, R. M., Kageyama, M., Khodri, M., Lebas, N., Levavasseur, N., Marchand, M., Ottlé, C., Paylin, P., Sima, A., Szopa, S., Thiéblemeont, R., Vuichard, N., and Boucher, O.: Implementation of the CMIP6 Forcing Data in the IPSL‐CM6A‐LR Model, J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst., 12, e2019MS001940, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019MS001940, 2020.
Maley, J. and Vernet, R.: Peuples et évolution climatique en Afrique
nord-tropicale, de la fin du Néolithique à l'aube de l'époque
moderne, Afriques, Débats, Méthodes et Terrains d'Histoire, OpenEdition, ISSN 2108-6796, https://doi.org/10.4000/afriques.1209, 2013.
Matthes, K., Funke, B., Andersson, M. E., Barnard, L., Beer, J., Charbonneau, P., Clilverd, M. A., Dudok de Wit, T., Haberreiter, M., Hendry, A., Jackman, C. H., Kretzschmar, M., Kruschke, T., Kunze, M., Langematz, U., Marsh, D. R., Maycock, A. C., Misios, S., Rodger, C. J., Scaife, A. A., Seppälä, A., Shangguan, M., Sinnhuber, M., Tourpali, K., Usoskin, I., van de Kamp, M., Verronen, P. T., and Versick, S.: Solar forcing for CMIP6 (v3.2), Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 2247–2302, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-2247-2017, 2017.
McPhaden, M. J., Zebiak, S. E., and Glanz, M. H.: ENSO as an integrating concept in earth science, Science, 314, 1740–1745, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1132588, 2006.
Meinshausen, M., Vogel, E., Nauels, A., Lorbacher, K., Meinshausen, N.,
Etheridge, D. M., Fraser, P. J., Montzka, S. A., Rayner, P. J., Trudinger, C. M., Krummel, P. B., Beyerle, U., Canadell, J. G., Daniel, J. S., Enting, I. G., Law, R. M., Lunder, C. R., O'Doherty, S., Prinn, R. G., Reimann, S., Rubino, M., Velders, G. J. M., Vollmer, M. K., Wang, R. H. J., and Weiss, R.: Historical greenhouse gas concentrations for climate modelling (CMIP6), Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 2057–2116, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-2057-2017, 2017.
Mohino, E., Janicot, S., and Bader, J.: Sahel rainfall and decadal to
multi-decadal sea surface temperature variability, Clim. Dynam., 37, 419–440, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-010-0867-2, 2011.
Mulitza, S., Heslop, D., Pittauerova, D., Fischer, H. W., Meyer, I., Stuut,
J. B., Zabel, M., Mollenhauer, G., Collins, J. A., Kuhnert, H., and Schulz,
M.: Increase in African dust flux at the onset of commercial agriculture in
the Sahel region, Nature, 466, 226–228, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09213, 2010.
Nash, D.J., De Cort, G., Chase, B. M., Verschuren, D., Nicholson, S. E.,
Shanahan, T. M., Asrat, A., Lézine, A. M., and Grab, S. W.: African
hydroclimatic variability during the last 2000 years, Quaternary. Sci. Rev.,
154, 1–22, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.10.012, 2016.
Ngomanda, A., Jolly, D., Bentaleb, I., Chepstow-Lusty, A., M'voubou Makaya,
Maley, J., Fontune, M., Oslisly, R., and Rabenkogo, N.: Lowland forest response to hydrological changes during the last 1500 years in Gabon, Western
Equatorial Africa, Quatern. Res., 60, 411–425, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2008.12.002, 2007.
Nguetsop, V. F., Servant-Vildary, S., Servant, M., and Roux, M.: Long and
short-time scale climatic variability in the last 5500 years in Africa according to modern and fossil diatoms from Lake Ossa (Western Cameroon),
Global Planet. Change, 72, 356–367, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2010.01.011,
2010.
Nguetsop, V. F., Bentaleb, I., Favier, C., Martin, C., Bietrix, S., Giresse,
P., Servant-Vildary, M., and Servant, M.: Past environmental and climatic
changes during the last 7200 cal yr BP in Adamawa plateau (Northern-Cameroun) based on fossil diatoms and sedimentary carbon isotopic
records from Lake Mbalang, Clim. Past, 7, 1371–1393,
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-7-1371-2011, 2011.
Nguetsop, V. F., Bentaleb, I., Favier, C., Bietrix, S., Martin, C.,
Servant-Vildary, S., and Servant, M.: A late Holocene palaeoenvironmental
record from Lake Tizong, northern Cameroon using diatom and carbon stable
isotope analyses, Quaternary. Sci. Rev., 72, 49–62,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.04.005, 2013.
Nicholson, S. E.: Climatic variations in the Sahel and other African regions
during the past five centuries, J. Arid Environ., 1, 3–24,
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-1963(18)31750-6, 1978.
Nicholson, S. E.: The nature of rainfall fluctuations in subtropical West
Africa, Mon.Weather Rev., 108, 473–487,
https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0493(1980)108<0473:TNORFI>2.0.CO;2, 1980.
Nicholson, S. E.: The West African Sahel: A review of recent studies on the
rainfall regime and its interannual variability, Intern. Scholar. Res. Not.,
Hindawi Publishing Corporation, ISRN Meteorology, 453521
https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/453521, 2013.
Nicholson, S. E., Klotter, D., and Dezfuli, A. K.: Spatial reconstruction of
semi-quantitative precipitation fields over Africa during the nineteenth
century from documentary evidence and gauge data, Quatern. Res., 78, 13–23,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2012.03.012, 2012.
Pham-Duc, B., Sylvestre, F., Papa, F., Frappart, F., Bouchez, C., and
Crétaux, J. F.: The Lake Chad hydrology under current climate change, Nat. Sci. Rep., 10, 5498, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-62417-w, 2020.
Reynaud-Farrera, I., Maley, J., and Wirrmann, D.: Végétation et climat dans les forêts du Sud-Ouest Cameroun depuis 4770 ans BP: analyse pollinique des sédiments du Lac Ossa, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, 322, 749–755, 1996.
Rodríguez-Fonseca, B., Mohino, E., Mechoso, C. R., Caminade, C., Biasutti, M., Gaetani, M., Garcia-Serrano J., Vizy, E. K., Cook, K., Xue, Y.
K., Polo, I., Losada, T., Druyan, L., Fontaine, B., Bader, J., Doblas-Reyes, F. J., Goddard, L., Janicot, S., Arribas, A., Lau, W., Colman, A., Vellinga, M., Rowell, D. P., Kucharski, F., and Voldoire, A.: Variability and predictability of West African droughts: a review on the role of sea surface
temperature anomalies, J. Climate, 28, 4034–4060,
https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-14-00130.1, 2015.
Rousset, C., Vancoppenolle, M., Madec, G., Fichefet, T., Flavoni, S.,
Barthélemy, A., Benshila, R., Chanut, J., Lévy, C., Masson, S., and
Vivier, F.: The louvain-la-neuve sea ice model LIM3.6: global and regional
capabilities, Geosci. Model. Dev., 8, 2991–3005, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-2991-2015, 2015.
Salzmann, U. and Hoelzmann, P.: The Dahomey Gap: an abrupt climatically induced rain forest fragmentation in West Africa during the late Holocene,
Holocene, 15, 190–199, https://doi.org/10.1191/0959683605hl799rp, 2005.
Schefuß, E., Schouten, S., and Schneider, R. R.: Climatic controls on
central African hydrology during the past 20,000 years, Nature, 437, 1003–1006, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03945, 2005.
Shanahan, T. M., Overpeck, J. T., Anchukaitis, K. J., Beck, J. W., Cole, J. E., Dettman, D. L., Peck, J. A.,Scholz, A., and King, J. W.: Atlantic forcing of persistent drought in West Africa, Science, 324, 377–380,
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1166352, 2009.
Street-Perrott, F. A., Holmes, J. A., Waller, M. P., Allen, M. J., Barber, N. G. H., Fothergill, P. A., Harkness, D. D., Ivanovich, M., Kroon, D., and
Perrott, R. A.: Drought and dust deposition in the West African Sahel: a
5500-year record from Kajemarum Oasis, northeastern Nigeria, Holocene, 10, 293–302, https://doi.org/10.1191/095968300678141274, 2000.
Toohey, M. and Sigl, M.: Volcanic stratospheric sulfur injections and aerosol optical depth from 500 BCE to 1900 CE, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 9, 809–831, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-809-2017, 2017.
Tovar, C., Harris, D. J., Breman, E., Brncic, T., and Willis, K. J.: Tropical
monodominant forest resilience to climate change in Central Africa: A
Gilbertiodendron dewevrei forest pollen record over the past 2,700 years, J.
Veg. Sci., 30, 575–586, https://doi.org/10.1111/jvs.12746, 2019.
Villamayor, J., Mohino, E., Khodri, M., Mignot, J., and Janicot, S.: Atlantic control of the late nineteenth-century Sahel humid period, J. Climate, 31, 8225–8240, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-18-0148.1, 2018.
Vincens, A., Schwartz, D., Bertaux, J., Elenga, H., and de Namur, C.: Late
Holocene climatic changes in western equatorial Africa inferred from pollen
from Lake Sinnda, southern Congo, Quatern. Res., 50, 34–45,
https://doi.org/10.1006/qres.1998.1979, 1998.
Vincens, A., Schwartz, D., Elenga, H., Reynaud-Farrera, I., Alexandre, A.,
Bertaux, J., Mariotti, A., Martin, L., Meunier, J. D., Nguetsop, F., Servant,
M., Servant-Vildary, S., and Wirrmann, D.: Forest response to climate changes in Atlantic Equatorial Africa during the last 4000 years BP and inheritance on the modern landscapes, J. Biogeogr., 26, 879–885,
https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2699.1999.00333.x, 1999.
Vincens, A., Buchet, G., and Servant, M.: Vegetation response to the “African Humid Period” termination in Central Cameroon (7∘ N) – new pollen insight from Lake Mbalang, Clim. Past, 6, 281–294, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-6-281-2010, 2010.
Waller, M. P., Street-Perrott, F. A., and Wang, H.: Holocene vegetation history of the Sahel: pollen, sedimentological and geochemical data from Jikariya Lake, north-eastern Nigeria, J. Biogeogr., 34, 1575–1590,
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2007.01721.x, 2007.
Wang, H., Holmes, J. A., Street-Perrott, F. A., Waller, M. P., and Perrott, R. A.: Holocene environmental change in the West African Sahel: sedimentological and mineral-magnetic analyses of lake sediments from Jikariya Lake, northeastern Nigeria, J. Quaternary Sci., 23, 449–460, https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.1154, 2008.
White, F.: The vegetation of Africa, UNESCO, Paris, ISBN 9231019554, 1983.
Short summary
Data and climate simulations were used to discuss the West African Little Ice Age (LIA). We show a clear opposition between a dry Sahel–savannah zone and a humid equatorial sector. In the Sahel region, the LIA was characterized by a gradual drying trend starting in 1250 CE after two early warning signals since 1170 CE. A tipping point was reached at 1800 CE. Drying events punctuated the LIA, the largest of which dated to ca. 1600 CE and was also recorded in the savannah zone.
Data and climate simulations were used to discuss the West African Little Ice Age (LIA). We show...
