After the last ice age, the Sahara desert was transformed into an oasis of life. Full of green vegetation in the middle of the dunes and lakes in the arid caverns, this area experienced a complete display of nature.
Nearly nine million square kilometers of North Africa turned green. Spectacular animals such as hippos, elephants, antelopes, etc., were attracted by these beautiful landscapes. Thriving pastures and large shrubs highlighted the lush paradise of which no trace remains today. Now the Sahara desert is hostile terrain.
Few species can be seen among its sandy dunes. Tiny insects and some reptiles have found an ideal home in it, but other huge species decided to go to less complex places to survive. However, this evolutionary change on earth raises a disturbing question: could the Sahara desert re-emerge as a green oasis? In time it is possible that yes, the Sahara could be green again.
According to Kathleen Johnson, associate professor of Earth systems at the University of California, Earth changes orbital rotation every 23,000 years. This means that when the Sahara was green, the rotation was different.
The result of this rotation was the African Humid Period, a phenomenon that could be repeated. However, Johnson says that it is difficult to predict this, because greenhouse gas emissions have unbalanced the planet’s climate.
For this reason, it is not clear whether the Sahara desert could ever be green again. It is possible that the tilt of the Earth thousands of years ago caused an oasis. Today, despite the fact that for 8,000 years ago the planet began to tiltit is not known for sure if this will make any difference for the African zone.
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How does the rotation of the Earth affect the Sahara desert?
The origin of all changes on the planet lies in its relationship with the universe. Earth’s rotation is changed by gravitational interactions with the moon and other massive planets. This constant relation of energies and masses produces periodic changes in the orb.
One of these changes is «wobble,» explains Peter de Menocal, director of the Center for Climate and Life at the Earth Observatory in Columbia. The wobble is the change in Earth’s tilt that brings the northern hemisphere closer to the sun in the summer every 23,000 years.
This transformation generates the right climates for the green Sahara to be reborn. But nothing lasts forever, and this desert oasis abruptly disappears. It is said that the completion of the green cycle of the Sahara desert took only 200 years.
The change in solar radiation was the cause, and the landscape suddenly changed. But this does not mean that the green Sahara will never return. The next summer insolation maximum in the northern hemispherewhich will fuel the growth of vegetation in the desert, could occur within about 10,000 years.
This period is completely predictable, the only thing that is not known for sure is whether climate change will affect this cycle. Meanwhile, the generations of today and the next 10,000 years will not see it with their own eyes. It will be the human beings of the future who witness (or not) the transformation of the Sahara desert. We can only imagine a space full of life and nature.
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