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Himalayan glaciers threatened by frequent wildfires

Nature Geoscience volume 15, pages 956–957 (2022)Cite this article

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On September 19 and October 9, 2016, two ice collapses occurred on the northern slope of Mt. Ronti, in the Garhwal Himalayas near Chamoli in India. A much larger ice–rock avalanche-induced landslide occurred at the same location on February 7, 2021, releasing 25 x 106 m3 of rock and ice debris and killing up to 200 people1. Ice–rock avalanches of a similar magnitude also occurred in October 2018 and March 2021, in the Sedongpu valley, southeastern Tibetan Plateau, China2. The glacier-related hazard is expected to increase due to the direct consequences of climate changes such as temperature and precipitation anomalies1,2,3,4, but there are other indirect consequences too: we argue that black carbon emissions from more frequent wildfires in the region may further destabilize Himalayan glaciers and need to be considered in hazard assessments.

The Himalayas, with an average elevation higher than 5,000 m above sea level, are often called ‘the roof of the world’. Himalayan glaciers cover an area exceeding 33,000 km2 (Fig. 1), accounting for more than 30% of Tibetan Plateau glaciers5. As a substantial component of the Asian Water Tower4,5,6, Himalayan glacier melt is an important water resource for the Indus–Ganges River Plain during the non-monsoon season, supporting more than 500 million people6. Since the 1990s, the Himalayas has experienced warming at twice the global mean rate5,7, particularly in winter or cold season. Since then, Himalayan glaciers have undergone an accelerating melt rate, represented as an earlier onset of melt season, higher snowline, and greater mass loss4,5. These changes have caused more frequent glacier-related hazards in recent years1,3,5.

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Fig. 1: Changes in glacier mass loss and vegetation fires in the Himalayas during 2003–2021.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program (2019QZKK0103, 2019QZKK0201), the Youth Innovation Promotion Association Chinese Academy of Sciences (2020071, Chao You), and Chongqing University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Environment and Ecology, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China

    Chao You

  2. CMA Earth System Modeling and Prediction Centre (CEMC), China Meteorological Administration, Beijing, China

    Chao Xu

  3. Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Chao Xu

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  1. Chao You
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  2. Chao Xu
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Correspondence to Chao You or Chao Xu.

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Nature Geoscience thanks Shichang Kang and Binod Pokharel for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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You, C., Xu, C. Himalayan glaciers threatened by frequent wildfires. Nat. Geosci. 15, 956–957 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-01076-0

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