Abrupt changes in the African monsoon can have pronounced socioeconomic impacts on many West African countries. Evidence for both prolonged humid periods and monsoon failures have been identified throughout the late Pleistocene and early Holocene epochs^{1, 2}. In particular, drought conditions in West Africa have occurred during periods of reduced North Atlantic thermohaline circulation, such as the Younger Dryas cold event¹. Here, we use an ocean–atmosphere general circulation model to examine the link between oceanographic changes in the North Atlantic Ocean and changes in the strength of the African monsoon. Our simulations show that when North Atlantic thermohaline circulation is substantially weakened, the flow of the subsurface North Brazil Current reverses. This leads to decreased upper tropical ocean stratification and warmer sea surface temperatures in the equatorial South Atlantic Ocean, and consequently reduces African summer monsoonal winds and rainfall over West Africa. This mechanism is in agreement with reconstructions of past climate. We therefore suggest that the interaction between thermohaline circulation in the North Atlantic Ocean and wind-driven currents in the tropical Atlantic Ocean contributes to the rapidity of African monsoon transitions during abrupt climate change events.

1. Department of Oceanography, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843-3146, USA
2. Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey 08540-6649, USA
3. Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), 3730 AE, De Bilt, The Netherlands
4. Laboratory for Aero and Hydrodynamics, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CA, Delft, The Netherlands

Correspondence to: Ping Chang¹ e-mail: ping@tamu.edu

Link to abstract: http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v1/n7/abs/ngeo218.html