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      Sources of black carbon to the Himalayan–Tibetan Plateau glaciers

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          Abstract

          Combustion-derived black carbon (BC) aerosols accelerate glacier melting in the Himalayas and in Tibet (the Third Pole (TP)), thereby limiting the sustainable freshwater supplies for billions of people. However, the sources of BC reaching the TP remain uncertain, hindering both process understanding and efficient mitigation. Here we present the source-diagnostic Δ 14C/δ 13C compositions of BC isolated from aerosol and snowpit samples in the TP. For the Himalayas, we found equal contributions from fossil fuel (46±11%) and biomass (54±11%) combustion, consistent with BC source fingerprints from the Indo-Gangetic Plain, whereas BC in the remote northern TP predominantly derives from fossil fuel combustion (66±16%), consistent with Chinese sources. The fossil fuel contributions to BC in the snowpits of the inner TP are lower (30±10%), implying contributions from internal Tibetan sources (for example, yak dung combustion). Constraints on BC sources facilitate improved modelling of climatic patterns, hydrological effects and provide guidance for effective mitigation actions.

          Abstract

          Black carbon accelerates melting of glaciers in the Himalayas and Tibet, yet the source of these aerosols remains enigmatic. Here, the authors use isotope fingerprinting techniques to determine the origin of black carbon preserved in glacier ice cores recovered from the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau.

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          Global and regional climate changes due to black carbon

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            Bounding the role of black carbon in the climate system: A scientific assessment

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              Different glacier status with atmospheric circulations in Tibetan Plateau and surroundings

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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Nat Commun
                Nat Commun
                Nature Communications
                Nature Publishing Group
                2041-1723
                23 August 2016
                2016
                : 7
                : 12574
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) , Beijing 100101, China
                [2 ]CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences , Beijing 100101, China
                [3 ]Department of Environmental Science and Analytical Chemistry; The Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University , Stockholm 10691, Sweden
                [4 ]State Key Laboratory of Cryosphere Science, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, CAS , Lanzhou 730000, China
                [5 ]University of CAS , Beijing 100049, China
                [6 ]Environmental Research Institute, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shandong University , Jinan 250100, China
                Author notes
                Author information
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7545-5611
                Article
                ncomms12574
                10.1038/ncomms12574
                4996979
                27552223
                bee2d4d1-17a7-4f71-a028-8e6e208c38b5
                Copyright © 2016, The Author(s)

                This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

                History
                : 31 December 2015
                : 14 July 2016
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