Sources of black carbon to the Himalayan–Tibetan Plateau glaciers

Chaoliu Li, Carme Bosch, Shichang Kang (), August Andersson, Pengfei Chen, Qianggong Zhang, Zhiyuan Cong, Bing Chen, Dahe Qin and Örjan Gustafsson ()
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Chaoliu Li: Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)
Carme Bosch: Stockholm University
Shichang Kang: CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences
August Andersson: Stockholm University
Pengfei Chen: Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)
Qianggong Zhang: Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)
Zhiyuan Cong: Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)
Bing Chen: Environmental Research Institute, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shandong University
Dahe Qin: State Key Laboratory of Cryosphere Science, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, CAS
Örjan Gustafsson: Stockholm University

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Combustion-derived black carbon (BC) aerosols accelerate glacier melting in the Himalayas and in Tibet (the Third Pole (TP)), thereby limiting the sustainable freshwater supplies for billions of people. However, the sources of BC reaching the TP remain uncertain, hindering both process understanding and efficient mitigation. Here we present the source-diagnostic Δ14C/δ13C compositions of BC isolated from aerosol and snowpit samples in the TP. For the Himalayas, we found equal contributions from fossil fuel (46±11%) and biomass (54±11%) combustion, consistent with BC source fingerprints from the Indo-Gangetic Plain, whereas BC in the remote northern TP predominantly derives from fossil fuel combustion (66±16%), consistent with Chinese sources. The fossil fuel contributions to BC in the snowpits of the inner TP are lower (30±10%), implying contributions from internal Tibetan sources (for example, yak dung combustion). Constraints on BC sources facilitate improved modelling of climatic patterns, hydrological effects and provide guidance for effective mitigation actions.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12574

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