Coupling of decreased snow accumulation and increased light-absorbing particles accelerates glacier retreat in the Tibetan Plateau

Chaoliu Li; Fangping Yan; Chao Zhang; Shichang Kang; Mukesh Rai; Hongbo Zhang; Shuai Hu; Cenlin He

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.151095

Coupling of decreased snow accumulation and increased light-absorbing particles accelerates glacier retreat in the Tibetan Plateau

Sci Total Environ. 2022 Feb 25:809:151095. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.151095. Epub 2021 Oct 21.

Authors

Chaoliu Li¹, Fangping Yan², Chao Zhang³, Shichang Kang⁴, Mukesh Rai⁴, Hongbo Zhang⁵, Shuai Hu⁶, Cenlin He⁷

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China. Electronic address: lichaoliu@nieer.ac.cn.
² State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
⁵ College of Water Resources & Civil Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
⁷ Research Applications Laboratory, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO 80301, USA.

PMID: 34688751
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.151095

Abstract

Most glaciers in the Tibetan Plateau (TP) are experiencing dramatic retreat, which is resulting in serious environmental and ecological consequences. In addition to temperature increases, increased light-absorbing particles (LAPs) and decreased precipitation were proposed to, independently, play important roles in reducing glacier accumulation. Based on investigations of effect from an extremely low precipitation event in the TP and surrounding regions caused by La Niña from October 2020 to April 2021, a new mechanism was provided. It was shown that decreased precipitation during study period leaded to both low snow accumulation and high LAP concentrations in snow on glacier surfaces in the TP. This phenomenon will strongly enhance earlier and accelerated glacier melt in this critical region and needs to be considered in future related studies.

Keywords: Black carbon; Glacier melt; La Niña; The Tibetan Plateau.

MeSH terms

Environmental Monitoring
Freezing
Ice Cover*
Snow*
Tibet