Wenchang Yang edited sectionIntroduction_.tex  over 8 years ago

Commit id: 4dc807f9c4f0a4719c6fd522349dc54017051ee6

deletions | additions      

       

\section{Introduction}  East Africa has been undergoing increased frequency and intensity of droughts in recent decades, raising the question of whether the drying trend will continue in a warmer future climate as forced by anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Some studies proposed that the recent drying trend can be attributed to SST anomalies over the Indian Ocean induced by anthropogenic forcing \cite{Funk_2008, Williams_2011}, suggesting an extension of the current drying trend into the near future. However, there is a strong consensus in model projections from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) and the more recent Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5, \citet{Taylor_2012}) \cite{Taylor_2012})  that precipitation over East Africa will increase \cite{Shongwe_2011, Otieno_2013a, Otieno_2013b}, implying that the current dry conditions will be, at least partly, ameliorated in the near future.