Stable glaciers in Karakoram due to unique seasonal cycle?
Nature Geoscience
2014년10월13일

Most snow and rain in the Karakoram area of the high-mountain region of Asia falls during the winter months, whereas in nearby mountain ranges, monsoon-driven summer precipitation dominates, finds a study published online in Nature Geoscience. The Karakoram region has been noted for its anomalously stable glaciers, and the findings suggest that these unusual annual snow- and rainfall patterns may be protecting Karakoram glaciers from mass loss in a changing climate.
Sarah Kapnick and colleagues used high-resolution climate model simulations covering the period from 1861 to 2100, as well as observations, to analyse the seasonal cycle of snow- and rainfall in the Karakoram range. For comparison, they also studied two nearby regions of high-mountain Asia where glaciers are losing mass. They find that in the Karakoram most precipitation falls as snow between December and May. Moreover, in their projections for the twenty-first century, there is little change in total precipitation each year in response to climate change. In contrast, in the nearby mountain ranges, where monsoon-driven summer precipitation dominates, overall snowfall is projected to decline over the next century whereas rainfall will increase.
doi: 10.1038/ngeo2269
리서치 하이라이트
-
3월4일
Environment: Reservoirs account for more than half of water storage variabilityNature
-
3월2일
Evolution: Neanderthals may have heard just like usNature Ecology & Evolution
-
3월2일
Geoscience: Earth’s atmosphere may return to low-levels of oxygen in one billion yearsNature Geoscience
-
2월26일
Environment: Shifting from small to medium plastic bottles could reduce PET wasteScientific Reports
-
2월24일
Environment: European forests more vulnerable to multiple threats as climate warmsNature Communications
-
2월11일
Environment: Global CFC-11 emissions in declineNature