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Recent Increases in Wildfires in the Himalayas and Surrounding Regions Detected in Central Tibetan Ice Core Records
Author(s) -
You Chao,
Yao Tandong,
Xu Chao
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: atmospheres
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-8996
pISSN - 2169-897X
DOI - 10.1002/2017jd027929
Subject(s) - plateau (mathematics) , ice core , glacier , precipitation , monsoon , arid , indus , environmental science , monsoon of south asia , climatology , physical geography , climate change , glacial period , structural basin , geology , geography , oceanography , meteorology , mathematical analysis , paleontology , mathematics , geomorphology
Changes in fire activity across regions around the Tibetan Plateau are poorly understood, especially under the recent warming and drying trends. In this work, we report records of the specific fire tracer levoglucosan in a central Tibetan ice core, indicating a rapid increase in wildfires across the Himalayas and surroundings at the beginning of the 21st century. The climate system, especially precipitation changes, modulates the annual variability of wildfires in regions around the Tibetan Plateau. Decreasing premonsoon precipitation has prolonged the dry seasons across Himalayan regions affected by the Indian summer monsoon; meanwhile, increasing precipitation over the arid and semiarid Indus River Plain promotes plant growth and thereby increases biofuel availability. These trends have therefore induced increased frequencies of strong wildfires in the Himalayas and surroundings. Increasing strong wildfire events can potentially enhance black carbon deposits on Himalayan glaciers, which would impact glacial melting during the premonsoon wildfire seasons in the near future.