Abstract
Melt water from snow and glaciers in High Mountain Asia provide a major source of water for millions of inhabitants in the downstream low lying plains. This densely populated region also hosts some of the largest areas of irrigated land in the world. Not only is the water from High Mountain Asia important as a source of irrigation water, the irrigation itself might also change the regional, and even global, climate by increasing atmospheric moisture and by cooling the surface through evapotranspiration. We explore the effect of irrigation in the region on the synoptic climate patterns in High Mountain Asia using the WRF regional climate model. By studying the changes in the energy balance, temperatures and precipitation, we assess how the changes in irrigation patterns may have contributed to the observed trends in mountain climates and associated glacier mass balances. Initial results show that the intensifying irrigation during the last decades causes an increase in summer snowfall in the mountains in Central Karakoram and Kunlun Shan, which are the regions where slight positive mass balances have been observed in recent years. A moisture tracking model confirms that the irrigated areas are a significant moisture source for summer precipitation in High Mountain Asia. These results thus suggest that irrigation may significantly influence glaciers in High Mountain Asia, especially in the regions of observed anomalous mass balance.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication status | Published - 2017 |
| Event | AGU Fall Meeting 2017 - New Orleans, United States Duration: 11 Dec 2017 → 15 Dec 2017 https://fallmeeting.agu.org/2017/# |
Conference
| Conference | AGU Fall Meeting 2017 |
|---|---|
| Abbreviated title | AGU Fall Meeting 2017 |
| Country/Territory | United States |
| City | New Orleans |
| Period | 11/12/17 → 15/12/17 |
| Internet address |
