Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Himalayan glaciers threatened by frequent wildfires

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

Subjects

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.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

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

References

  1. Shugar, D. H. et al. Science 373, 300–306 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Zhao, C. et al. Cryosphere 16, 1333–1340 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Shukla, T. & Sen, I. S. Science 372, 232–234 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Yao, T. et al. Nat. Rev. Earth Env 3, 618–632 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Yao, T. D. et al. Nat. Clim. Change 2, 663–667 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Immerzeel, W. W. et al. Nature 577, 364–369 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Pepin, N. C. et al. Rev. Geophys. 60, e2020RG000730 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Li, C. et al. Nat. Commun 7, 12574 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Xu, B. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 106, 22114–22118 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Kang, S. et al. Natl Sci. Rev. 6, 796–809 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Zhang, Y. et al. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos. 122, 6915–6933 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Vadrevu, K. P. et al. Atmos. Environ. 47, 241–251 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. You, C., Yao, T. D. & Xu, C. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos. 123, 3285–3291 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. You, C. et al. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos. 121, 8701–8711 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Katzenberger, A., Schewe, J., Pongratz, J. & Levermann, A. Earth Syst. Dynam. 12, 367–386 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Jain, P., Castellanos-Acuna, D., Coogan, S. C. P., Abatzoglou, J. T. & Flannigan, M. D. Nat. Clim. Change 12, 63–70 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. World Glacier Monitoring Service (wgms, 20220); https://wgms.ch/

  18. Modis Active Fire and Burned Area Products (MODIS, 2022); https://www.modis-fire.umd.edu/

  19. National Tibetan Plateau/Third Pole Environment Data Center (TPDC, 2022); http://data.tpdc.ac.cn/en/

  20. Randolph Glacier Inventory - A Dataset of Global Glacier Outlines, Version 6 (NSIDC, 2022); https://nsidc.org/data/nsidc-0770/versions/6

Download references

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.

Author information

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

Authors
  1. Chao You
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Chao Xu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Chao You or Chao Xu.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

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

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

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

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-01076-0

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing