Asset Details
Do you wish to reserve the book?
Amazonian biomass burning enhances tropical Andean glaciers melting
Hey, we have placed the reservation for you!
By the way, why not check out events that you can attend while you pick your title.
Oops! Something went wrong.
Looks like we were not able to place the reservation. Kindly try again later.
Are you sure you want to remove the book from the shelf?
Amazonian biomass burning enhances tropical Andean glaciers melting
Do you wish to request the book?
Amazonian biomass burning enhances tropical Andean glaciers melting
Please be aware that the book you have requested cannot be checked out. If you would like to checkout this book, you can reserve another copy
We have requested the book for you!
Your request is successful and it will be processed during the Library working hours. Please check the status of your request in My Requests.
Oops! Something went wrong.
Looks like we were not able to place your request. Kindly try again later.
Journal Article
Amazonian biomass burning enhances tropical Andean glaciers melting
2019
Overview
The melting of tropical glaciers provides water resources to millions of people, involving social, ecological and economic demands. At present, these water reservoirs are threatened by the accelerating rates of mass loss associated with modern climate changes related to greenhouse gas emissions and ultimately land use/cover change. Until now, the effects of land use/cover change on the tropical Andean glaciers of South America through biomass burning activities have not been investigated. In this study, we quantitatively examine the hypothesis that regional land use/cover change is a contributor to the observed glacier mass loss, taking into account the role of Amazonian biomass burning. We demonstrated here, for the first time, that for tropical Andean glaciers, a massive contribution of black carbon emitted from biomass burning in the Amazon Basin does exist. This is favorable due to its positioning with respect to Amazon Basin fire hot spots and the predominant wind direction during the transition from the dry to wet seasons (Aug-Sep-Oct), when most fire events occur. We investigated changes in Bolivian Zongo Glacier albedo due to impurities on snow, including black carbon surface deposition and its potential for increasing annual glacier melting. We showed that the magnitude of the impact of Amazonian biomass burning depends on the dust content in snow. When high concentration of dust is present (e.g. 100 ppm of dust), the dust absorbs most of the radiation that otherwise would be absorbed by the BC. Our estimations point to a melting factor of 3.3 ± 0.8% for black carbon, and 5.0 ± 1.0% for black carbon in the presence of low dust content (e.g. 10 ppm of dust). For the 2010 hydrological year, we reported an increase in runoff corresponding to 4.5% of the annual discharge during the seasonal peak fire season, which is consistent with our predictions.
