| Title | Black carbon and mineral dust in snow cover on the Tibetan Plateau |
| Authors | Zhang, Yulan Kang, Shichang Sprenger, Michael Cong, Zhiyuan Gao, Tanguang Li, Chaoliu Tao, Shu Li, Xiaofei Zhong, Xinyue Xu, Min Meng, Wenjun Neupane, Bigyan Qin, Xiang Sillanpaa, Mika |
| Affiliation | Chinese Acad Sci, Northwest Inst Ecoenvironm & Resources, State Key Lab Cryospher Sci, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu, Peoples R China. CAS Ctr Excellence Tibetan Plateau Earth Sci, Beijing 100101, Peoples R China. Swiss Fed Inst Technol, Inst Atmospher & Climate Sci, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland. Lanzhou Univ, Coll Earth & Environm Sci, Minist Educ, Key Lab Western Chinas Environm Syst, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu, Peoples R China. Peking Univ, Dept Environm Sci, Lab Earth Surface Proc, Beijing, Peoples R China. Lappeenranta Univ Technol, Lab Green Chem, Mikkeli 50130, Finland. Chinese Acad Sci, Northwest Inst Ecoenvironm & Resources, State Key Lab Cryospher Sci, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu, Peoples R China. Kang, SC (reprint author), CAS Ctr Excellence Tibetan Plateau Earth Sci, Beijing 100101, Peoples R China. |
| Keywords | LIGHT-ABSORBING IMPURITIES ORGANIC-CARBON HIMALAYAN GLACIERS ELEMENTAL CARBON BROWN CARBON OPTICAL-PROPERTIES ALBEDO REDUCTION RIVER-BASIN 3RD POLE CLIMATE |
| Issue Date | 2018 |
| Publisher | CRYOSPHERE |
| Citation | CRYOSPHERE. 2018, 12(2), 413-431. |
| Abstract | Snow cover plays a key role for sustaining ecology and society in mountainous regions. Light-absorbing particulates (including black carbon, organic carbon, and mineral dust) deposited on snow can reduce surface albedo and contribute to the near-worldwide melting of snow and ice. This study focused on understanding the role of black carbon and other water-insoluble light-absorbing particulates in the snow cover of the Tibetan Plateau (TP). The results found that the black carbon, organic carbon, and dust concentrations in snow cover generally ranged from 202 to 17 468 ng g(-1), 491 to 13 880 ng g(-1), and 22 to 846 mu g g(-1), respectively, with higher concentrations in the central to northern areas of the TP. Back trajectory analysis suggested that the northern TP was influenced mainly by air masses from Central Asia with some Eurasian influence, and air masses in the central and Himalayan region originated mainly from Central and South Asia. The relative biomass-burning-sourced black carbon contributions decreased from similar to 50% in the southern TP to similar to 30% in the northern TP. The relative contribution of black carbon and dust to snow albedo reduction reached approximately 37 and 15 %, respectively. The effect of black carbon and dust reduced the snow cover duration by 3.1 +/- 0.1 to 4.4 +/- 0.2 days. Meanwhile, the black carbon and dust had important implications for snowmelt water loss over the TP. The findings indicate that the impacts of black carbon and mineral dust need to be properly accounted for in future regional climate projections, particularly in the high-altitude cryosphere. |
| URI | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11897/506847 |
| ISSN | 1994-0416 |
| DOI | 10.5194/tc-12-413-2018 |
| Indexed | SCI(E) |
| Appears in Collections: | 环境科学与工程学院 地表过程分析与模拟教育部重点实验室 |
