The Sahara has generally been contracting for the last few decades as the "greener" Sahel band expands north due to higher average rainfall (individual years va

The Sahara has generally been contracting for the last few decades as the "greener" Sahel band expands north due to higher average rainfall (individual years vary, and the effect is stronger in the west than the east). A Google search will likely list articles citing the 2018 study from UofMaryland that showed approximately a 10% increase in the Sahara's area from 1902-2012, ignoring the portions of that study that said that breaking down by decade showed a reversal in the 1980's. https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/clim/31/9/jcli-d-17-0187.1.xml https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/clim/31/9/jcli-d-... Google maps timeview has a fun animation if you search for Sahara Desert. https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse/ https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse/