An estimated 5 billion tons of desert dust disperses into Earth’s atmosphere every year. Some of it makes its way to the roof of the world — the Himalayas.
An estimated 5 billion tons of desert dust disperses into Earth’s atmosphere every year. Some of it makes its way to the roof of the world — the Himalayas — where it warms glaciers and accelerates snowmelt, according to a new study by an international team of scientists.
Prior to the study, which is published in the journal Nature Climate Change, experts did not believe dust to be a significant driver of snowmelt in the region. Previous research focused on the effects of black carbon, which is released into the air by burning fossil fuels or biomass such as plants, trees and shrubs.
The study represents a major step toward understanding how these glaciers respond to the combination of dust, climate change and air pollution, said UCLA professor Thomas Painter, a NASA snow expert and principal investigator of the study.
“We’re really starting to understand the physical processes of snow and ice distributed across the globe,” Painter said. “There’s been such an emphasis through the last two decades on black carbon, but a heavier focus needs to come onto dust and how we can reduce dust load.”
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Image via Unsplash/Rohan Reddy.
