edu.ucar.opensky::articles:18285 UCAR/NCAR - Library OpenSky Support PO Box 3000 Boulder CO 80307-3000 opensky@ucar.edu http://opensky.ucar.edu/ homepage pointOfContact 2025-12-26T02:55:31.368028 ISO 19115-2 Geographic Information - Metadata - Part 2: Extensions for Imagery and Gridded Data ISO 19115-2:2009(E) https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7j67jgq https://doi.org/10.7289/V5N014G9 https Related Dataset #1 NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) of Northern Hemisphere (NH) Snow Cover Extent (SCE), Version 1 Observed high-altitude warming and snow cover retreat over Tibet and the Himalayas enhanced by black carbon aerosols 2016-02-05T00:00:00Z publication https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7j67jgq https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-1303-2016 Xu, Yangyang author Ramanathan, V. author Washington, Warren M. author UCAR/NCAR - Library publisher Himalayan mountain glaciers and the snowpack over the Tibetan Plateau provide the headwater of several major rivers in Asia. In situ observations of snow cover extent since the 1960s suggest that the snowpack in the region have retreated significantly, accompanied by a surface warming of 2-2.5 °C observed over the peak altitudes (5000 m). Using a high-resolution ocean–atmosphere global climate model and an observationally constrained black carbon (BC) aerosol forcing, we attribute the observed altitude dependence of the warming trends as well as the spatial pattern of reductions in snow depths and snow cover extent to various anthropogenic factors. At the Tibetan Plateau altitudes, the increase in atmospheric CO₂ concentration exerted a warming of 1.7 °C, BC 1.3 °C where as cooling aerosols cause about 0.7 °C cooling, bringing the net simulated warming consistent with the anomalously large observed warming. We therefore conclude that BC together with CO₂ has contributed to the snow retreat trends. In particular, BC increase is the major factor in the strong elevation dependence of the observed surface warming. The atmospheric warming by BC as well as its surface darkening of snow is coupled with the positive snow albedo feedbacks to account for the disproportionately large role of BC in high-elevation regions. These findings reveal that BC impact needs to be properly accounted for in future regional climate projections, in particular on high-altitude cryosphere. UCAR/NCAR - Library OpenSky Support PO Box 3000 Boulder CO 80307-3000 opensky@ucar.edu http://opensky.ucar.edu/ homepage pointOfContact PDF Text theme Resource Type 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z publication Copyright 2016 Authors. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. None eng geoscientificInformation