TY  - JOUR
AU  - Fadnavis, Suvarna
AU  - Heinold, Bernd
AU  - Sabin, T. P.
AU  - Kubin, Anne
AU  - Huang, Katty
AU  - Rap, Alexandru
AU  - Müller, Rolf
TI  - Air pollution reductions caused by the COVID-19 lockdown open up a way to preserve the Himalayan glaciers
JO  - Atmospheric chemistry and physics
VL  - 23
IS  - 18
SN  - 1680-7316
CY  - Katlenburg-Lindau
PB  - EGU
M1  - FZJ-2023-04484
SP  - 10439 - 10449
PY  - 2023
AB  - The rapid melting of glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalayas (HKH) during recent decades poses an alarming threat to water security for larger parts of Asia. If this melting persists, the entirety of the Himalayan glaciers are estimated to disappear by end of the 21st century. Here, we assess the influence of the spring 2020 COVID-19 lockdown on the HKH, demonstrating the potential benefits of a strict emission reduction roadmap. Chemistry–climate model simulations, supported by satellite and ground measurements, show that lower levels of gas and aerosol pollution during lockdown led to changes in meteorology and to a reduction in black carbon in snow (2 %–14 %) and thus a reduction in snowmelt (10 %–40 %). This caused increases in snow cover (6 %–12 %) and mass (2 %–20 %) and a decrease in runoff (5 %–55 %) over the HKH and Tibetan Plateau, ultimately leading to an enhanced snow-equivalent water (2 %–55 %). We emphasize the necessity for immediate anthropogenic pollution reductions to address the hydro-climatic threat to billions of people in southern Asia.
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:001161805100001
DO  - DOI:10.5194/acp-23-10439-2023
UR  - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/1018014
ER  -