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Abstract:
The Third Pole (TP) region has experienced rapid warming and cryospheric shrinkage, as well as significant atmospheric pollution intrusion from the surrounding heavy polluted regions. In order to investigate impacts of atmospheric pollution on cryospheric change, a coordinated monitoring network and research program on Atmospheric Pollution and Cryospheric Change (APCC) over the TP region has been continuously operated during the last decade. The monitoring network includes multidisciplinary observations for atmospheric aerosol, glaciers and snow cover. Based on the APCC program, new knowledge has been achieved. Atmospheric aerosols from South Asia can be transported across the Himalayas into the inland TP mainly in the troposphere via southwest winds during non-monsoon seasons. As an important light-absorbing impurity, BC in the glacier surface varies dramatically due to its enrichment during glacier melt. The large BC-in-snow radiative forcings and associated snow albedo feedback contribute to approximately 20% of the total glacier melt and a reduction in the duration of the snow cover by several days in the TP. Meanwhile, increasing BC aerosol over South Asia since 21st century causes a decrease in summer precipitation over the southern TP, indirectly resulting in 11.0% glacier deficit mass balance. Such changes will impact the water resource in downstream regions. Other pollutants, such as mercury, brown carbon and microplastics, and their potential impacts on cryospheric melt will be focused by the APCC program.
