Sources of black carbon to the Himalayan–Tibetan Plateau glaciers

• Published in: Nature communications 2016-08, Vol.7 (1), p.12574-12574, Article 12574
• Main Authors: Li, Chaoliu, Bosch, Carme, Kang, Shichang, Andersson, August, Chen, Pengfei, Zhang, Qianggong, Cong, Zhiyuan, Chen, Bing, Qin, Dahe, Gustafsson, Örjan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 704/106/125; 704/172/169/824; 704/172/169/896; Aerosols; Biomass; Carbon; Environmental science; Fossil fuels; Glaciers; Humanities and Social Sciences; Hydrology; multidisciplinary; Science; Science (multidisciplinary)
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12574

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 Δ 14 C/δ 13 C 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. Black carbon accelerates melting of glaciers in the Himalayas and Tibet, yet the source of these aerosols remains enigmatic. Here, the authors use isotope fingerprinting techniques to determine the origin of black carbon preserved in glacier ice cores recovered from the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau.