Black carbon and the Himalayan cryosphere: A review

Gertler, Charles G.; Praveen, P. S.; Panday, Arnico K.; Stumm, D.; Shea, J. M.

doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2015.08.078

Cited by 95 publications

(66 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…The estimated reduction in snow albedo by dust and BC (up to 29 % of the daytime maximum value, Table 2) was higher than that reported by others for high Asia based on farmers' recordings (e.g., 1.5 to 4.6 % reported by Nair et al, 2013) and in the Himalayas (Ming et al, 2008;Kaspari et al, 2014;Gertler et al, 2016). However, although the values were relatively high, they were at the same level or lower than the estimates for an albedo reduction of 28 % by BC and 56 % by dust in clean ice samples and of 36 % by BC and 29 % by dust in aged snow samples, reported by Qu et al (2014) for surface samples from the Zhadang glacier, China.…”

Section: Snow Albedo Reductioncontrasting

confidence: 40%

“…A high concentration of aerosol has deposited on the snow surface and increased the BC content in snow over the southern edge of the Tibetan Plateau to the north of the Himalayas (Gertler et al, 2016). The southern slope of the Himalayas is relatively even more exposed to BC due to emissions from India and transport through southwesterly and westerly winds (Xu et al, 2009;Yasunari et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Concentrations and source regions of light-absorbing particles in snow/ice in northern Pakistan and their impact on snow albedo

et al. 2018

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Abstract. Black carbon (BC), water-insoluble organic carbon (OC), and mineral dust are important particles in snow and ice which significantly reduce albedo and accelerate melting. Surface snow and ice samples were collected from the Karakoram-Himalayan region of northern Pakistan during 2015 and 2016 in summer (six glaciers), autumn (two glaciers), and winter (six mountain valleys). The average BC concentration overall was 2130 ± 1560 ng g −1 in summer samples, 2883 ± 3439 ng g −1 in autumn samples, and 992 ± 883 ng g −1 in winter samples. The average waterinsoluble OC concentration overall was 1839 ± 1108 ng g −1 in summer samples, 1423 ± 208 ng g −1 in autumn samples, and 1342 ± 672 ng g −1 in winter samples. The overall concentration of BC, OC, and dust in aged snow samples collected during the summer campaign was higher than the concentration in ice samples. The values are relatively high compared to reports by others for the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau. This is probably the result of taking more representative samples at lower elevation where deposition is higher and the effects of ageing and enrichment are more marked. A reduction in snow albedo of 0.1-8.3 % for fresh snow and 0.9-32.5 % for aged snow was calculated for selected solar zenith angles during daytime using the Snow, Ice, and Aerosol Radiation (SNICAR) model. The daily mean albedo was reduced by 0.07-12.0 %. The calculated radiative forcing ranged from 0.16 to 43.45 W m −2 depending on snow type, solar zenith angle, and location. The potential source regions of the deposited pollutants were identified using spatial variance in wind vector maps, emission inventories coupled with backward air trajectories, and simple region-tagged chemical transport modeling. Central, south, and west Asia were the major sources of pollutants during the sampling months, with only a small contribution from east Asia. Analysis based on the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF-STEM) chemical transport model identified a significant contribution (more than 70 %) from south Asia at selected sites. Research into the presence and effect of pollutants in the glaciated areas of Pakistan is economically significant because the surface water resources in the country mainly depend on the rivers (the Indus and its tributaries) that flow from this glaciated area.

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Section: Snow Albedo Reductioncontrasting

confidence: 40%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Concentrations and source regions of light-absorbing particles in snow/ice in northern Pakistan and their impact on snow albedo

et al. 2018

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“…Glaciers at high altitudes are sensitive indicators of climate change and natural archives of variations in impurities' deposition (Niu et al, 2016b). The retreat of glaciers would cause an increase in the export of carbonaceous matter out of the glacial basin, which have obvious impact on livelihood of a large portion of the Earth's population (Gertler et al, 2016) and ecosystems (Li et al, 2016a), particularly for those residing downstream of the snowmelt runoff (Paudyal et al, 2016). Therefore, it is urgently needed to conduct the distribution and characteristics of WSOC in snow of glaciers on Mt.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distributions and light absorption property of water soluble organic carbon in a typical temperate glacier, southeastern Tibetan Plateau

Niu

Kang

et al. 2018

Tellus B: Chemical and Physical Meteorology

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“…It has sophisticated/complex effects on the human health and living species (Jerret et al, 2005), visibility (Park et al, 2003), atmospheric radiative balance (Bond et al, 2013;Schuckmann et al, 2016), and the surface albedo of snow and ice (Gertler et al, 2016;Kaspari et al, 2014;Niu et al, 2017a, b). Carbonaceous aerosol is an aggregate of thousands of species with various thermal, physicochemical, and optical properties (Andreae and Gelencsér, 2006;Cheng et al, 2011a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal variation and light absorption property of carbonaceous aerosol in a typical glacier region of the southeastern Tibetan Plateau

et al. 2018

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Abstract. Deposition and accumulation of light-absorbing carbonaceous aerosol on glacier surfaces can alter the energy balance of glaciers. In this study, 2 years (December 2014 to December 2016) of continuous observations of carbonaceous aerosols in the glacierized region of the Mt. Yulong and Ganhaizi (GHZ) basin are analyzed. The average elemental carbon (EC) and organic carbon (OC) concentrations were 1.51 ± 0.93 and 2.57 ± 1.32 µg m −3 , respectively. Although the annual mean OC / EC ratio was 2.45 ± 1.96, monthly mean EC concentrations during the post-monsoon season were even higher than OC in the high altitudes (approximately 5000 m a.s.l.) of Mt. Yulong. Strong photochemical reactions and local tourism activities were likely the main factors inducing high OC / EC ratios in the Mt. Yulong region during the monsoon season. The mean mass absorption efficiency (MAE) of EC, measured for the first time in Mt. Yulong, at 632 nm with a thermal-optical carbon analyzer using the filter-based method, was 6.82 ± 0.73 m 2 g −1 , comparable with the results from other studies. Strong seasonal and spatial variations of EC MAE were largely related to the OC abundance. Source attribution analysis using a global aerosol-climate model, equipped with a black carbon (BC) source tagging technique, suggests that East Asia emissions, including local sources, have the dominant contribution (over 50 %) to annual mean near-surface BC in the Mt. Yulong area. There is also a strong seasonal variation in the regional source apportionment. South Asia has the largest contribution to near-surface BC during the premonsoon season, while East Asia dominates the monsoon season and post-monsoon season. Results in this study have great implications for accurately evaluating the influences of carbonaceous matter on glacial melting and water resource supply in glacierization areas.

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Black carbon and the Himalayan cryosphere: A review

Cited by 95 publications

References 67 publications

Concentrations and source regions of light-absorbing particles in snow/ice in northern Pakistan and their impact on snow albedo

Concentrations and source regions of light-absorbing particles in snow/ice in northern Pakistan and their impact on snow albedo

Distributions and light absorption property of water soluble organic carbon in a typical temperate glacier, southeastern Tibetan Plateau

Seasonal variation and light absorption property of carbonaceous aerosol in a typical glacier region of the southeastern Tibetan Plateau

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