More vegetation than normal is growing in the Sahara Desert (Image credit: Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images) By Devika Rao, The Week US The Sahara Desert, located in West Africa, is the largest hot desert in the world. While deserts are traditionally characterized by a dry climate with low levels of vegetation, the Sahara has been much greener than usual as of late — mainly due to climate change. From brown to green Between July and September every year, rainfall north of the equator in Africa increases due to monsoon season. Such stormy weather occurs when the tropical air from near the equator meets the hot, dry air from the north of the continent. This boundary is called the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). The ITCZ “shifts north of the equator in the Northern Hemisphere’s summer months,” and “sags south of the equator during the Southern Hemisphere’s warm months,” said CNN . However, the ITCZ “moves farther north the warmer the world gets,” Karsten Haustein, a climate researcher at Leipzig University in Germany, said to CNN. “At least, this is what most models suggest.” The boundary has pushed farther north this year than is typical, making portions of the Sahara Desert two times to six times wetter than normal. “The Northern Hemisphere, as there is more land than the Southern Hemisphere, tends to warm up more and hence it could push the ITCZ further north,” Francesco S.R. Pausata, an atmospheric science professor at the University of Quebec, said to The Washington Post . Subscribe to The Week Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives. SUBSCRIBE & SAVE Sign up for The Week’s Free Newsletters From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The […]