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Science 19 July 1991:
Vol. 253. no. 5017, pp. 299 - 300
DOI: 10.1126/science.253.5017.299
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Articles

Expansion and Contraction of the Sahara Desert from 1980 to 1990

COMPTON J. TUCKER 1, HAROLD E. DREGNE 2, and WILBUR W. NEWCOMB 1

1 Laboratory for Terrestrial Physics, National Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771
2 International Center for Arid and Semi-Arid Land Studies, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409

Data from polar-orbiting meteorological satellites have been used to determine the extent of the Sahara Desert and to document its interannual variation from 1980 to 1990. The Sahara Desert ranged from 8,633,000 square kilometers in 1980 to 9,982,000 square kilometers in 1984. The greatest annual north-south latitudinal movement of the southern Saharan boundary was 110 kilometers from 1984 to 1985 and resulted in a decrease in desert area of 724,000 square kilometers.

Submitted on February 12, 1991
Accepted on May 15, 1991


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