SHOOT: Warming means that air can hold more moisture. If it is on average hotter, some forests may die out, creating a hothouse effect. Good for grasslands, bad for forests. Still, it is good to see that the periphery of the world's largest desert is beginning to sport a green verge. Good for Africa's prospects perhaps.
Emerging evidence is painting a very different scenario, one in which rising temperatures could benefit millions of Africans in the driest parts of the continent.
Scientists are now seeing signals that the Sahara desert and surrounding regions are greening due to increasing rainfall.
If sustained, these rains could revitalize drought-ravaged regions, reclaiming them for farming communities.
This desert-shrinking trend is supported by climate models, which predict a return to conditions that turned the Sahara into a lush savanna some 12,000 years ago.
The green shoots of recovery are showing up on satellite images of regions including the Sahel, a semi-desert zone bordering the Sahara to the south that stretches some 2,400 miles (3,860 kilometers).
The study suggests huge increases in vegetation in areas including central Chad and western Sudan.
"The water-holding capacity of the air is the main driving force," Claussen said.
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clipped from news.nationalgeographic.com
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