Local cooling and drying induced by Himalayan glaciers under global warming

Salerno F, Guyennon N, Yang K, Shaw T, Lin C, Colombo N, Romano E, Gruber S, Bolch T, Alessandri A, Cristofanelli P, Putero D, Diolaiuti G, Tartari G, Verza G, Thakuri S, Balsamo G, Miles ES, Pellicciotti F. 2023. Local cooling and drying induced by Himalayan glaciers under global warming. Nature Geoscience. 16, 1120–1127.

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Journal Article | Published | English

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Author
Salerno, Franco; Guyennon, Nicolas; Yang, Kun; Shaw, ThomasISTA ; Lin, Changgui; Colombo, Nicola; Romano, Emanuele; Gruber, Stephan; Bolch, Tobias; Alessandri, Andrea; Cristofanelli, Paolo; Putero, Davide
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Abstract
Understanding the response of Himalayan glaciers to global warming is vital because of their role as a water source for the Asian subcontinent. However, great uncertainties still exist on the climate drivers of past and present glacier changes across scales. Here, we analyse continuous hourly climate station data from a glacierized elevation (Pyramid station, Mount Everest) since 1994 together with other ground observations and climate reanalysis. We show that a decrease in maximum air temperature and precipitation occurred during the last three decades at Pyramid in response to global warming. Reanalysis data suggest a broader occurrence of this effect in the glacierized areas of the Himalaya. We hypothesize that the counterintuitive cooling is caused by enhanced sensible heat exchange and the associated increase in glacier katabatic wind, which draws cool air downward from higher elevations. The stronger katabatic winds have also lowered the elevation of local wind convergence, thereby diminishing precipitation in glacial areas and negatively affecting glacier mass balance. This local cooling may have partially preserved glaciers from melting and could help protect the periglacial environment.
Publishing Year
Date Published
2023-12-04
Journal Title
Nature Geoscience
Acknowledgement
This work was carried out within the framework of the EV-K2-CNR and Nepal Academy of Science and Technology. K.Y. was supported by the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program (grant no. 2019QZKK0206). N.C. was supported by the project NODES, which has received funding from the MUR–M4C2 1.5 of PNRR funded by the European Union - NextGeneration EU (Grant agreement no. ECS00000036). T.E.S. has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant no. 101026058. F.P. has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme grant no. 772751, RAVEN, ‘Rapid mass losses of debris-covered glaciers in High Mountain Asia’ and has been supported by the SNSF grant ‘High-elevation precipitation in High Mountain Asia’ (grant no. 183633). A.A. was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement no. 101004156 (CONFESS project) and by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation program under grant agreement no. 101081193 (OptimESM project). We thank H. Wehrli for valuable comments and suggestions and J. Giannitrapani for the graphic support. We thank A. Da Polenza and K. Bista of EV-K2-CNR for believing that studying the high elevations is relevant for the whole globe.
Volume
16
Page
1120-1127
ISSN
eISSN
IST-REx-ID

Cite this

Salerno F, Guyennon N, Yang K, et al. Local cooling and drying induced by Himalayan glaciers under global warming. Nature Geoscience. 2023;16:1120-1127. doi:10.1038/s41561-023-01331-y
Salerno, F., Guyennon, N., Yang, K., Shaw, T., Lin, C., Colombo, N., … Pellicciotti, F. (2023). Local cooling and drying induced by Himalayan glaciers under global warming. Nature Geoscience. Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-023-01331-y
Salerno, Franco, Nicolas Guyennon, Kun Yang, Thomas Shaw, Changgui Lin, Nicola Colombo, Emanuele Romano, et al. “Local Cooling and Drying Induced by Himalayan Glaciers under Global Warming.” Nature Geoscience. Springer Nature, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-023-01331-y.
F. Salerno et al., “Local cooling and drying induced by Himalayan glaciers under global warming,” Nature Geoscience, vol. 16. Springer Nature, pp. 1120–1127, 2023.
Salerno F, Guyennon N, Yang K, Shaw T, Lin C, Colombo N, Romano E, Gruber S, Bolch T, Alessandri A, Cristofanelli P, Putero D, Diolaiuti G, Tartari G, Verza G, Thakuri S, Balsamo G, Miles ES, Pellicciotti F. 2023. Local cooling and drying induced by Himalayan glaciers under global warming. Nature Geoscience. 16, 1120–1127.
Salerno, Franco, et al. “Local Cooling and Drying Induced by Himalayan Glaciers under Global Warming.” Nature Geoscience, vol. 16, Springer Nature, 2023, pp. 1120–27, doi:10.1038/s41561-023-01331-y.
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