Fadnavis, S., Heinold, B., Sabin, T.P. et al. (4 more authors) (2023) Air pollution reductions caused by the COVID-19 lockdown open up a way to preserve the Himalayan glaciers. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 23 (18). pp. 10439-10449. ISSN: 1680-7316
Abstract
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.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © Author(s) 2023. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) |
Date Deposited: | 01 Oct 2025 13:01 |
Last Modified: | 01 Oct 2025 13:01 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Copernicus Publications |
Identification Number: | 10.5194/acp-23-10439-2023 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:231886 |