Stability of the vegetation–atmosphere system in the early Eocene climate

Abstract

Abstract. We explore the stability of the atmosphere–vegetation system in the warm, almost ice-free early Eocene climate and in the interglacial, pre-industrial climate by analysing the dependence of the system on the initial vegetation cover. The Earth system model of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology is initialised with either dense forests or bare deserts on all continents. Starting with desert continents, an extended desert remains in Central Asia in early Eocene climate. Starting with dense forest coverage, this desert is much smaller because the initially dense vegetation cover enhances water recycling in Central Asia relative to the simulation with initial deserts. With a smaller Asian desert, the Asian monsoon is stronger than in the case with a larger desert. The stronger Asian monsoon shifts the global tropical circulation leading to coastal subtropical deserts in North and South America which are significantly larger than with a large Asian desert. This result indicates a global teleconnection of the vegetation cover in several regions. In present-day climate, a bi-stability of the atmosphere–vegetation system is found for Northern Africa only. A global teleconnection of bi-stabilities in several regions is absent highlighting that the stability of the vegetation–atmosphere system depends on climatic and tectonic boundary conditions.