Comments by "snuffeldjuret" (@snuffeldjuret) on "Veritasium"
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@andysykes9139 my point being that although it is great to be specific and mention what area is shrinking, it is also important to not leave out information as it is impossible to draw a conclusion without viewing the entire situation. Other than that I'll quote a guy from reddit:
"It is almost pointless to try and find out whether the Sahara is growing or shrinking, because of the sheer size of the desert (as well as demarcating what exactly constitutes 'desert'). In the late 90s to mid 2000s, the thought was that the Sahara desert was expanding southwards by a certain extent each year. This was of course somewhat exaggerated. On the other hand, so is the perception that the deserts are 'in retreat' as these articles seem to imply.
The thing is, between the late 70s to late 80s, there was a significantly dry period in the Sahel region (the transition zone between the Sahara and the savanna) which exacerbated the effects of desertification, leading to the perception in the 1990s-2000s that the desert was indeed expanding. However, over the last 15-20 years in terms of precipitation, the region has been in a comparatively very wet period. Relative to the significant drought the area previously experienced, it may seem that the deserts are in 'retreat' but arguably that is essentially what is expected in terms of how vegetation has responded (it gets a bit more complicated because some of the previous mesic vegetation has been replaced by xeric vegetation in certain areas so while it is greener, it is not quite the same)
I hope this help. I could go into more detail but this should give you an idea of how complicated it is to understand.
Source - My dissertation research has broadly to do with understanding how vegetation responds to moisture events"
Thoughts on that?
"I won't even mention the increase in sea ice!"
And again, do you mean Arctic and Antarctic sea ice put together? And do you mean it is a long term trend?
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