Energy, Forest, and Indoor Air Pollution Models for Sagarmatha National Park and Buffer Zone, Nepal

Salerno, Franco; Viviano, Gaetano; Thakuri, Sudeep; Flury, Bastian; Maskey, Ramesh Kumar; Khanal, Sanjay Nath; Bhuju, Dinesh Raj; Carrer, Marco; Bhochhibhoya, Silu; Melis, Maria Teresa; Giannino, Francesco; Staiano, Anna; Cartenì, Fabrizio; Mazzoleni, Stefano; Cogo, Annalisa; Sapkota, Abja; Shrestha, Sandeep; Pandey, Rojan Kumar; Manfredi, Emanuela Chiara

doi:10.1659/mrd-journal-d-10-00027.1

Cited by 39 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 26 publications

(31 reference statements)

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“…The park area (1148 km 2 ), extending from an elevation of 2845 m at Jorsale to 8848 m a.s.l., covers the upper catchment of the Dudh Koshi river Amatya et al, 2010). Land cover classification shows that less than 10 % of the park area is forested (Salerno et al, 2010a;Bajracharya et al, 2010). The SNP is the world's highest protected area with over 30 000 tourists in 2008 (Salerno et al, 2010b(Salerno et al, , 2013.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Tracing glacier changes since the 1960s on the south slope of Mt. Everest (central Southern Himalaya) using optical satellite imagery

et al. 2014

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This contribution examines glacier changes on the south side of Mt. Everest from 1962 to 2011 considering five intermediate periods using optical satellite imagery. The investigated glaciers cover ∼ 400 km 2 and present among the largest debris coverage (32 %) and the highest elevations (5720 m) of the world. We found an overall surface area loss of 13.0 ± 3.1 % (median 0.42 ± 0.06 % a −1 ), an upward shift of 182 ± 22 m (3.7 ± 0.5 m a −1 ) in snowline altitude (SLA), a terminus retreat of 403 ± 9 m (median 6.1 ± 0.2 m a −1 ), and an increase of 17.6 ± 3.1 % (median 0.20 ± 0.06 % a −1 ) in debris coverage between 1962 and 2011. The recession process of glaciers has been relentlessly continuous over the past 50 years. Moreover, we observed that (i) glaciers that have increased the debris coverage have experienced a reduced termini retreat (r = 0.87, p < 0.001). Furthermore, more negative mass balances (i.e., upward shift of SLA) induce increases of debris coverage (r = 0.79, p < 0.001); (ii) since early 1990s, we observed a slight but statistically insignificant acceleration of the surface area loss (0.35 ± 0.13 % a −1 in 1962-1992 vs 0.43 ± 0.25 % a −1 in 1992-2011), but an significant upward shift of SLA which increased almost three times (2.2 ± 0.8 m a −1 in 1962-1992 vs 6.1 ± 1.4 m a −1 in 1992-2011). However, the accelerated shrinkage in recent decades (both in terms of surface area loss and SLA shift) has only significantly affected glaciers with the largest sizes (> 10 km 2 ), presenting accumulation zones at higher elevations (r = 0.61, p < 0.001) and along the preferable south-north direction of the monsoons. Moreover, the largest glaciers present median upward shifts of the SLA (220 m) that are nearly double than that of the smallest (119 m); this finding leads to a hypothesis that Mt. Everest glaciers are shrinking, not only due to warming temperatures, but also as a result of weakening Asian monsoons registered over the last few decades. We conclude that the shrinkage of the glaciers in south of Mt. Everest is less than that of others in the western and eastern Himalaya and southern and eastern Tibetan Plateau. Their position in higher elevations have likely reduced the impact of warming on these glaciers, but have not been excluded from a relentlessly continuous and slow recession process over the past 50 years.

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Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Tracing glacier changes since the 1960s on the south slope of Mt. Everest (central Southern Himalaya) using optical satellite imagery

et al. 2014

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“…These data are collected by direct observations from climatic and meteorological high mountain stations. The salient features of this project are access to and collection of high mountains research data in sensitive and remote areas (such as Africa and Asia, Alps, and Ande), carried out in collaboration with local and governmental institution for the aim of preserving these fragile ecosystems (Salerno et al ., ). The SHARE Geonetwork project provides: a further impetus to high mountains research, complementing other projects such as GLORIA (Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments) (Grabherr et al ., ), and the recent creation of a database for storing, processing, and sharing glaciological data in Italy (Nigrelli & Marino, ); a methodology to implement a climatological/geographical information system using open‐source tools.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implementation of a webGIS service platform for high mountain climate research: the SHARE GeoNetwork project

Locci

Melis

Dessì

et al. 2014

Geoscience Data Journal

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The implementation of a webGIS service platform dedicated to the management and sharing of climatological data acquired by high elevation stations is the core of the Station at High Altitude for Research on the Environment (SHARE) GeoNetwork project, promoted by the Ev-K2 CNR Committee. The web platform basically will provide three types of services: structured metadata archive, data and results from high-altitude environments research and projects; access to high-altitude Ev-K2 CNR stations and creation of a network of existing stations; dedicated webGIS for geo-referenced data collected during the research. High elevation environmental and territorial data and metadata are catalogued in a single integrated platform to get access to the information heritage of the SHARE project, using open-source tools: Geonetwork for the metadata catalogue and webGIS resources, and the open-source Weather and Water Database (WDB), developed by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, for the database information system implementation. The information system is designed to have a main node, with the possibility to install relocated subsystems based on the same technology, named focal point of SHARE, which will contain metadata and data connected to the main node. In this study, a new structure of metadata for the description of the climatological stations is proposed and WDB adaptation and data preprocessing are described in detail, giving code and script samples.

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“…Because of the lack of a regulation on forests conservation management, an over-consumption of firewood contributed to a progressive deforestation and consequent alteration of the hydro-geological system [8][9].…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At park level, the yearly energy deficit is around 7%, with an error of ± 5% (4,000 kWh). The really critical situation is evident at the settlement level, with the majority of settlements in energy deficit condition (even over 50%) compared to the energy demand [8][9].…”

Section: Available Resources and Energy Balancementioning

confidence: 99%

On the Possible Wind Energy Contribution for Feeding a High Altitude Smart Mini Grid

et al. 2015

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The use of renewable energy sources to increase electricity access, especially in remote areas as high mountains, is a possible contribution to poverty reduction, climate change mitigation and improved resilience. In this paper an evaluation of the wind potential of a remote area in Nepal is performed, using CFD methods and the simulation of a micro wind turbine projected by Perugia University. With an accurate analysis of wind data and air density effects it is possible to test energy production potential in areas with high average wind speed. The overall estimated production for each turbine is an interesting result and an easily exportable contribution to the perspective of sustainable development at very high altitudes and remote areas

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Energy, Forest, and Indoor Air Pollution Models for Sagarmatha National Park and Buffer Zone, Nepal

Abstract: BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

Cited by 39 publications

References 26 publications

Tracing glacier changes since the 1960s on the south slope of Mt. Everest (central Southern Himalaya) using optical satellite imagery

Tracing glacier changes since the 1960s on the south slope of Mt. Everest (central Southern Himalaya) using optical satellite imagery

Implementation of a webGIS service platform for high mountain climate research: the SHARE GeoNetwork project

On the Possible Wind Energy Contribution for Feeding a High Altitude Smart Mini Grid

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