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A Hydrometeorological Perspective on the Karakoram Anomaly Using Unique Valley‐Based Synoptic Weather Observations
Author(s) -
Bashir Furrukh,
Zeng Xubin,
Gupta Hoshin,
Hazenberg Pieter
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2017gl075284
Subject(s) - hydrometeorology , anomaly (physics) , climatology , precipitation , evapotranspiration , glacier , geology , climate change , environmental science , meteorology , geography , physics , ecology , paleontology , oceanography , biology , condensed matter physics
Glaciers in the eastern Hindukush, western Karakoram, and northwestern Himalayan mountain ranges of Northern Pakistan are not responding to global warming in the same manner as their counterparts elsewhere. Their retreat rates are less than the global average, and some are either stable or growing. Various investigations have questioned the role of climatic factors in regard to this anomalous behavior, widely referred to as “The Karakoram Anomaly.” Here, for the first time, we present a hydrometeorological perspective based on five decades of synoptic weather observations collected by the meteorological network of Pakistan. Analysis of this unique data set indicates that increased regional scale humidity, cloud cover, and precipitation, along with decreased net radiation, near‐surface wind speed, potential evapotranspiration, and river flow, especially during the summer season, represent a substantial change in the energy, mass, and momentum fluxes that are facilitating the establishment of the Karakoram anomaly.