A drop in air pollution in India at the height of the coronavirus pandemic slowed the melting of snow in the Himalayas, a new study finds.
A drop in air pollution in India at the height of the coronavirus pandemic slowed the melting of snow in the Himalayas, a new study finds.
More than a billion people in South Asia depend on the steady melt of snow and ice in the Himalayas through the spring and summer for fresh water. But particulate pollution from cars, trucks, factories, and power plants in South Asia is wafting over the mountain range, disrupting this process. Soot darkens snow and ice, causing it to absorb more of the sun’s energy and melt faster.
Using satellite data, researchers tracked the impact on snowmelt of a two-month nationwide lockdown in India in the spring of 2020. As business came to a halt, particulate pollution dropped off, and the effect on the Himalayas was profound. The decline in pollution staved off the melting of more than 27 million metric tons of snow and ice, as compared with 2019, the study found. The results were published in the journal PNAS Nexus.
Read more at Yale Environment 360
Photo Credit: 12019 via Pixabay
