Oceans linked to Sahel droughtThe droughts, in which over a million people are thought to have died, were initially blamed on human degradation of the local environment... The study looked at the Pacific - in particular the effect of the El Nino phenomenon and the effect on the Sahel rainfall - Atlantic, and Indian oceans. It was found that the Indian Ocean was a powerful indicator of the level of precipitation in the Sahel over the long term, while the Pacific affected seasonal rainfall... There were broadly two hypotheses to explain what happened in this semiarid region of Africa. One blamed the drought on changes brought about by human land use... The other hypothesis focused on temperature changes in the global oceans as the main culprit behind the drought... It is hoped that, with such a link established, the model can now be used to predict future rainfall in the Sahel. This could be crucial in giving time to plan for any forthcoming drought.