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Do the western Himalayas defy global warming?
Author(s) -
Yadav Ram R.,
Park WonKyu,
Singh Jayendra,
Dubey Bhasha
Publication year - 2004
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 - 10.1029/2004gl020201
Subject(s) - northern hemisphere , climatology , forcing (mathematics) , environmental science , latitude , deforestation (computer science) , climate change , atmospheric sciences , global warming , geography , geology , oceanography , geodesy , computer science , programming language
Observational records and reconstructions from tree rings reflect premonsoon (March to May) temperature cooling in the western Himalaya during the latter part of the 20th century. A rapid decrease of minimum temperatures at around three times higher rate, as compared to the rate of increase in maximum temperatures found in local climate records is responsible for the cooling trend in mean premonsoon temperature. The increase of the diurnal temperature range is attributed to large scale deforestation and land degradation in the area and shows the higher influence of local forcing factors on climate in contrast to the general trend found in higher latitudes of the northern Hemisphere.