Local cooling and drying induced by Himalayan glaciers under global warming
- 1National Research Council, Institute of Polar Sciences, ISP-CNR, Italy
- 2National Research Council, Water Research Institute, IRSA-CNR, Italy
- 3Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling, Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
- 4Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, 8903 Zürich, Switzerland
- 5National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100190 Beijing, China
- 6Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences, University of Turin, Grugliasco, TO, Italy
- 7Carleton University, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Ottawa, Canada
- 8Graz University of Technology, Institute of Geodesy, Graz, Austria
- 9National Research Council, Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, ISAC-CNR, Italy
- 10University of Milan, Department of Environmental Science and Policy, Milan, Italy
- 11Central Department of Environmental Science, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal
- 12Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), Austria
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 (Salerno, Guyennon, et al., 2023).
Salerno, F., Guyennon, N., et al. Local cooling and drying induced by Himalayan glaciers under global warming. Nat. Geosci. 16, 1120–1127 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-023-01331-y
How to cite: Salerno, F., Guyennon, N., Yang, K., E. Shaw, T., Lin, C., Colombo, N., Romano, E., Gruber, S., Bolch, T., Alessandri, A., Cristofanelli, P., Putero, D., Diolaiuti, G., Tartari, G., Thakuri, S., Miles, E. S., Bonomelli, S., and Pellicciotti, F.: Local cooling and drying induced by Himalayan glaciers under global warming, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-6253, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-6253, 2024.
