Black carbon and dust alter the response of mountain snow cover under climate change

Réveillet, Marion; Dumont, Marie; Gascoin, Simon; Lafaysse, Matthieu; Nabat, Pierre; Ribes, Aurélien; Nheili, Rafife; Tuzet, François; Ménégoz, Martin; Morin, Samuel; Picard, Ghislain; Ginoux, Paul

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-32501-y

Cited by 45 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…The projected cleaner snow will help alleviate future snowpack loss induced by warmer climates, especially over the TP. This is consistent with a recent study 30 showing that BC deposition decrease since the 1980s has moderated the influence of climate change in the decline of snow cover over the French Alps and the Pyrenees. The compensating effects of decreasing BC will also contribute to the shift in snowmelt timing and substantially influence melt water runoff 30 .…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…This is consistent with a recent study 30 showing that BC deposition decrease since the 1980s has moderated the influence of climate change in the decline of snow cover over the French Alps and the Pyrenees. The compensating effects of decreasing BC will also contribute to the shift in snowmelt timing and substantially influence melt water runoff 30 . Considering the important role of the TP in Asia's freshwater supply 26 , the increased SWE due to cleaner snow will be beneficial for the municipal, hydropower 31 and agricultural 32 sectors in Asian regions as well as vegetation growth 33 and animal survival 34 .…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

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A cleaner snow future mitigates Northern Hemisphere snowpack loss from warming

Hao

Bisht

Wang

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Light-absorbing particles (LAP) such as black carbon and dust deposited on seasonal snowpack can result in snow darkening, earlier snowmelt, and regional climate change. However, the future deposition and surface radiative forcing of LAP in snow and their contributions to snowpack change remain unclear. Here, using Earth System Model simulations, we show significant reduction in black carbon deposition in the future. The reduced deposition decreases the December-May average LAP-induced radiative forcing in snow over the Northern Hemisphere from 1.3 W m-2 during 1995-2014 to 0.65 W m-2 and 0.49 W m-2 by 2081-2100 under the SSP126 and SSP585 scenarios, respectively. The reduced black carbon contamination in snow over the Tibetan Plateau will alleviate future snowpack loss due to climate change by 52.1±8.0% and 8.0±1.1% for the two scenarios. Our findings highlight a cleaner snow future and its benefits for future water availability from snowmelt.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

A cleaner snow future mitigates Northern Hemisphere snowpack loss from warming

Hao

Bisht

Wang

et al. 2022

Preprint

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“…In mountain areas for instance, and those affected by intense tourism activities, it represents the largest energy source for heating, which emissions, intensified by temperature inversions and topography, result in high pollution episodes and additional environmental impacts (e.g., [33][34][35]). Moreover, wood burning is one of the largest sources of black carbon [36], and its deposition in snow, along with dust, has been estimated to be responsible of advanced snowmelt of around 17 days on average in mountain areas such as the Alps and Pyrenees [37], with subsequent impact on mountain ecosystems, water resources and society.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High-Resolution Emissions From Wood Burning in Norway - The Effect of Cabin Emissions

López-Aparicio¹,

Grythe²,

Markelj³

2022

Preprint

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Emissions from wood burning for heating in secondary homes or cabins is an important aspect for the development of high-resolution emission inventories in specific areas. Norway is used as case study as the national wood consumption for heating in cabins is around 20% of the total. Our study shows first a method to estimate emissions from cabins based on traffic data to derive cabin occupancy, which combined with heating need allows for the spatial and temporal distribution of emissions. The combination of residential (RWC) and cabin wood combustion (CWC) emissions shows large spatial and temporal differences, and a temporally “cabin population” can in areas be orders of magnitude larger than the registered population. While RWC emissions have been steadily reduced, CWC have kept relatively constant or even increased, which results on an increase in the cabin share to total heating emissions up to 25-35%. When comparing with regional emissions inventories, our study shows that the gradient between rural and urban areas is not well represented in regional emissions inventories, which resembles a population-based distribution and does not allocate emissions in cabin municipalities. At last, our study shows that CWC emissions may become an increasing environmental concern as higher densification trends in mountain areas are observed.

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“…Dust is also responsible for a darkening of snow-and ice-covered surfaces, which enhances the melting rates, leading to earlier meltwater runoff and the exposition of bare soil to the atmosphere (e.g. Skiles et al, 2018;He and He, 2022;Réveillet et al, 2022). Despite the episodic nature of dust outbreaks, a single event can have a major impact on snow cover duration.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance, the dust deposition event that occurred in March 2018 over Eastern Europe led to a shortening of the snow cover duration by 12 to 30 days (Dumont et al, 2020). Such an effect strongly depends on the deposited dust mass and the dust optical properties (Réveillet et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial variability of Saharan dust deposition revealed through a citizen science campaign

Dumont

Gascoin

Réveillet

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Abstract. Saharan dust outbreaks have profound effects on ecosystems, climate, human health and the cryosphere in Europe. However, the spatial deposition pattern of Saharan dust is poorly known due to a sparse network of ground measurements. Following the extreme dust deposition event of February 2021 across Europe, a citizen science campaign was launched to sample dust on snow over the Pyrenees and the European Alps. This somewhat improvised campaign triggered wide interest since 152 samples were collected in the snow in the Pyrenees, the French Alps and the Swiss Alps in less than four weeks. An analysis of the samples showed a large variability in the dust properties and amount. We found a decrease in the deposited mass and particle sizes with distance from the source along the transport path. This spatial trend was also evident in the elemental composition of the dust as the iron mass fraction decreased from 11 % in the Pyrenees to 2 % in the Swiss Alps. At the local scale, we found a higher dust mass on south facing slopes, in agreement with estimates from high-resolution remote sensing data. This unique dataset, which resulted from the collaboration of several research laboratories and citizens, is provided as an open dataset to benefit a large community and enable further scientific investigations.

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Black carbon and dust alter the response of mountain snow cover under climate change

Cited by 45 publications

References 69 publications

A cleaner snow future mitigates Northern Hemisphere snowpack loss from warming

A cleaner snow future mitigates Northern Hemisphere snowpack loss from warming

High-Resolution Emissions From Wood Burning in Norway - The Effect of Cabin Emissions

Spatial variability of Saharan dust deposition revealed through a citizen science campaign

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