Does the High Elevation Climate along Mt. Everest can be Represented by Lower Elevation Stations?

Climate change studies of the high mountain areas of the central Himalayan region are mostly represented by the meteorological stations of the lower elevation. Therefore, to validate the climatic linkages, daily observational climate data from five automated weather stations (AWS) at elevations ranging from 2660 m to 5600 m on the southern slope of Mt. Everest were examined. Despite variations in the means and distribution of daily, 5-day, 10-day, and monthly temperature and precipitation between stations located at a higher elevation and their corresponding lower elevation, temperature records in the different elevations are highly correlated. In contrast, the precipitation data shows a comparatively weaker correlation. The slopes of the regression model (0.82–1.13) with (R2>0.74) for higher altitude (5050 m and 5600 m) throughout the year, 0.83–1.12 (R2>0.68) except late monsoon season for the station at 4260 m and 5050 m asl indicated the similar variability of the temperature between those stations. Similarly, Namche (3570 m) temperature changes by 0.81–1.32°C per degree change in corresponding lower elevation Lukla station (2660 m), except for monsoon season. However, inconsistent variation was observed between the station with a large altitudinal difference (2940 m) at Lukla and Kala Patthar (5600 m). In general, climate records from corresponding lower elevation can be used to quantitatively assess climatic information of the high elevation areas on the southern slope of Mt. Everest. However, corrections are necessary when absolute values of climatic factors are considered, especially in snow cover and snow-free areas. This study will be beneficial for understanding the high-altitude climate change and impact studies.

Download Full-text

Impact of Climate Change on Water Availability and Food Security of Nepal

Hydro Nepal Journal of Water Energy and Environment ◽

10.3126/hn.v11i1.7206 ◽

2012 ◽

pp. 59-63

Author(s):

Roshan Kumar Mehta ◽

Shree Chandra Shah

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Crop Production ◽

Climatic Factors ◽

Monsoon Season ◽

Groundwater Table ◽

Maximum Temperature ◽

Aquatic Life ◽

Temperature And Precipitation ◽

Average Maximum ◽

Water Scarce

The increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere is widely believed to be causing climate change. It affects agriculture, forestry, human health, biodiversity, and snow cover and aquatic life. Changes in climatic factors like temperature, solar radiation and precipitation have potential to influence agrobiodiversity and its production. An average of 0.04°C/ year and 0.82 mm/year rise in annual average maximum temperature and precipitation respectively from 1975 to 2006 has been recorded in Nepal. Frequent droughts, rise in temperature, shortening of the monsoon season with high intensity rainfall, severe floods, landslides and mixed effects on agricultural biodiversity have been experienced in Nepal due to climatic changes. A survey done in the Chitwan District reveals that lowering of the groundwater table decreases production and that farmers are attracted to grow less water consuming crops during water scarce season. The groundwater table in the study area has lowered nearly one meter from that of 15 years ago as experienced by the farmers. Traditional varieties of rice have been replaced in the last 10 years by modern varieties, and by agricultural crops which demand more water for cultivation. The application of groundwater for irrigation has increased the cost of production and caused severe negative impacts on marginal crop production and agro-biodiversity. It is timely that suitable adaptive measures are identified in order to make Nepalese agriculture more resistant to the adverse impacts of climate change, especially those caused by erratic weather patterns such as the ones experienced recently.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/hn.v11i1.7206 Hydro Nepal Special Issue: Conference Proceedings 2012 pp.59-63

Download Full-text

Climatic records and linkage along an altitudinal gradient in the southern slope of Nepal Himalaya

Journal of Nepal Geological Society ◽

10.3126/jngs.v53i0.23804 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 53 ◽

pp. 47-56 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Binod Dawadi

Keyword(s):

Regression Models ◽

Similar Rate ◽

High Mountain ◽

Climate Data ◽

Southern Slope ◽

Nepal Himalaya ◽

Lower Elevation ◽

Similar Range ◽

Weather Stations ◽

Highly Correlated

To validate the climatic linkages under different topographic conditions, observational climate data at four automated weather stations (AWS) in different elevations, ranging from 130 m asl. to 5050 m asl., on the southern slope of the Nepal Himalayas was examined. the variation of means and distribution of daily, 5-days, 10-days, and monthly average/sum of temperature/ precipitation between the stations in the different elevation was observed. Despite these differences, the temperatures records are consistent in different altitudes, and highly correlated to each other while the precipitation data shows comparatively weaker correlation. The slopes (0.79-1.18) with (R2 >0.64) in the regression models for high Mountain to high Himalaya except in November and 0.56-1.14 (R2 >0.50) for mid-hill and high Mountain except January, December, June indicate the similar rate of fluctuation of temperature between the stations in the respective region. These strong linkages and the similar range of fluctuation of temperature in the different elevation indicate the possibilities of their use of lower elevation temperature data to represent the higher elevation sites for paleoclimatic calibration. However, the associations of precipitation between the stations at the different elevation are not as strong as the temperature due to heterogeneous topographical features and steep altitudinal contrast.

Download Full-text

Effect of Nutrient Addition on the Productivity and Species Richness of Grassland Along With an Elevational Gradient in Tajikistan

Frontiers in Plant Science ◽

10.3389/fpls.2021.765077 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Lian-Lian Fan ◽

Okhonniyozov Mekrovar ◽

Yao-Ming Li ◽

Kai-Hui Li ◽

Xue-Xi Ma ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Species Richness ◽

Elevational Gradient ◽

Significant Negative Correlation ◽

High Elevation ◽

High Mountain ◽

Nutrient Inputs ◽

Mountain Areas ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Precipitation And Temperature

Grasslands provide key resource for the millions of people who are dependent on livestock in Tajikistan. Productivity and species richness (SR) are important characteristics of grassland ecosystems and are greatly affected by nutrient inputs. The effect that climate change might have on these characteristics remains unclear. Here, an in situ nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilization experiment was conducted at four sites along with an elevational gradient (650, 1,100, 1,250, and 2,000 m) in western Tajikistan over 2 years (2018 and 2019) to examine the influences of nutrient availability and climate change on aboveground biomass (AGB) and SR; precipitation and temperature were also considered to analyze the responses. It demonstrated that enrichment with N, P, and their combinations significantly increased AGB along with an elevational gradient (p < 0.05). AGB increased as the concentrations of nutrients added increased. The maximum AGB, which was 2-fold higher compared with control, was observed when 90 kg N ha–1year–1 and 30 kg P ha–1year–1 were added. In addition, nitrogen addition alone stimulated greater AGB than P addition, although no significant difference was observed between these two treatments. Enrichment with N, P, and their combination had no significant effect on SR; however, SR significantly changed at different elevation. Elevation had direct effect on precipitation and temperature, which, in turn, resulted in variation in AGB and SR. Moreover, both nutrient and elevation had significant effect on AGB and SR, but there was no interaction effect of them. AGB and SR interacted with significant negative correlation. In the high-elevation area, plants grew better in the warmer year (2018); this indicates that grasslands in high mountain areas in Tajikistan might have higher productivity as the climate warms, which will positively affect the economic development of the country.

Download Full-text

Effects of climatic factors on the net primary productivity in the source region of Yangtze River, China

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-020-80494-9 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Zhe Yuan ◽

Yongqiang Wang ◽

Jijun Xu ◽

Zhiguang Wu

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Primary Productivity ◽

Yangtze River ◽

Net Primary Productivity ◽

Climatic Factors ◽

Source Region ◽

Primary Reason ◽

Vegetation Types ◽

Temperature And Precipitation ◽

Increasing Trend

AbstractThe ecosystem of the Source Region of Yangtze River (SRYR) is highly susceptible to climate change. In this study, the spatial–temporal variation of NPP from 2000 to 2014 was analyzed, using outputs of Carnegie–Ames–Stanford Approach model. Then the correlation characteristics of NPP and climatic factors were evaluated. The results indicate that: (1) The average NPP in the SRYR is 100.0 gC/m2 from 2000 to 2014, and it shows an increasing trend from northwest to southeast. The responses of NPP to altitude varied among the regions with the altitude below 3500 m, between 3500 to 4500 m and above 4500 m, which could be attributed to the altitude associated variations of climatic factors and vegetation types; (2) The total NPP of SRYR increased by 0.18 TgC per year in the context of the warmer and wetter climate during 2000–2014. The NPP was significantly and positively correlated with annual temperature and precipitation at interannual time scales. Temperature in February, March, May and September make greater contribution to NPP than that in other months. And precipitation in July played a more crucial role in influencing NPP than that in other months; (3) Climatic factors caused the NPP to increase in most of the SRYR. Impacts of human activities were concentrated mainly in downstream region and is the primary reason for declines in NPP.

Download Full-text

Climate Change Influences Basidiome Emergence of Leaf-Cutting Ant Cultivars

Journal of Fungi ◽

10.3390/jof7110912 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (11) ◽

pp. 912

Author(s):

Rodolfo Bizarria ◽

Pepijn W. Kooij ◽

Andre Rodrigues

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Climate Change Scenarios ◽

Nest Architecture ◽

Historical Records ◽

Climate Data ◽

Temperature And Precipitation ◽

Data Analyses ◽

Symbiotic Mutualism ◽

Leaf Cutting

Maintaining symbiosis homeostasis is essential for mutualistic partners. Leaf-cutting ants evolved a long-term symbiotic mutualism with fungal cultivars for nourishment while using vertical asexual transmission across generations. Despite the ants’ efforts to suppress fungal sexual reproduction, scattered occurrences of cultivar basidiomes have been reported. Here, we review the literature for basidiome occurrences and associated climate data. We hypothesized that more basidiome events could be expected in scenarios with an increase in temperature and precipitation. Our field observations and climate data analyses indeed suggest that Acromyrmex coronatus colonies are prone to basidiome occurrences in warmer and wetter seasons. Even though our study partly depended on historical records, occurrences have increased, correlating with climate change. A nest architecture with low (or even the lack of) insulation might be the cause of this phenomenon. The nature of basidiome occurrences in the A. coronatus–fungus mutualism can be useful to elucidate how resilient mutualistic symbioses are in light of climate change scenarios.

Download Full-text

Climate change will impact the protective effect of forests against rockfall

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-246 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Christine Moos ◽

Antoine Guisan ◽

Randin Christophe ◽

Lischke Heike

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Protective Effect ◽

Natural Disturbance ◽

High Elevation ◽

Swiss Alps ◽

Protective Capacity ◽

Forest Modelling ◽

Mountain Areas ◽

Protective Function ◽

Extreme Climate

In mountain areas, forests play a crucial role in protecting people and assets from natural hazards, such as rockfall. Their protective effect is strongly influenced by their structure and state, which are expected to be affected by climate change. More frequent drought events, but also changing natural disturbance regimes, may lead to abrupt diebacks of contemporary species followed by a slow reforestation. In this study, we investigated how a changing climate can affect the protective capacity of mountain forests against rockfall. We therefore combined dynamic forest modelling with a detailed rockfall risk analysis at three case study sites in the Western Swiss Alps. Future forest development was simulated for a moderate and an extreme climate scenario for 200 years with the dynamic forest model TreeMig (Lischke et al., 2006). We then calculated rockfall risk for different forest states based on three-dimensional rockfall simulations with RockyFor3D (Dorren 2016). First results indicate that both at high elevation near the tree line (1500-2200 m a.s.l.) as well as at lower elevations (500-1000 m a.s.l.), increasing drought can lead to diebacks of trees and a reduction of tree density and diameters resulting in a substantial loss of the protective function. Depending on the speed of migration of other, more drought tolerant species, this loss can be partially compensated, but a permanent reduction of the protective effect is to be expected at least for an extreme climate scneario due to a reduced basal area of the forest.

Download Full-text

Climate change and landscape-use patterns influence recent past distribution of giant pandas

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2020.0358 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 287 (1929) ◽

pp. 20200358

Author(s):

Junfeng Tang ◽

Ronald R. Swaisgood ◽

Megan A. Owen ◽

Xuzhe Zhao ◽

Wei Wei ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Large Scale ◽

Climatic Factors ◽

Ailuropoda Melanoleuca ◽

Seasonal Temperature ◽

Negative Consequences ◽

Giant Pandas ◽

Use Patterns ◽

Changing Climate ◽

Temperature And Precipitation

Climate change is one of the most pervasive threats to biodiversity globally, yet the influence of climate relative to other drivers of species depletion and range contraction remain difficult to disentangle. Here, we examine climatic and non-climatic correlates of giant panda ( Ailuropoda melanoleuca ) distribution using a large-scale 30 year dataset to evaluate whether a changing climate has already influenced panda distribution. We document several climatic patterns, including increasing temperatures, and alterations to seasonal temperature and precipitation. We found that while climatic factors were the most influential predictors of panda distribution, their importance diminished over time, while landscape variables have become relatively more influential. We conclude that the panda's distribution has been influenced by changing climate, but conservation intervention to manage habitat is working to increasingly offset these negative consequences.

Download Full-text

Quantifying parameter uncertainty in a large-scale glacier evolution model using Bayesian inference: application to High Mountain Asia

Journal of Glaciology ◽

10.1017/jog.2019.91 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 66 (256) ◽

pp. 175-187 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

David R. Rounce ◽

Tushar Khurana ◽

Margaret B. Short ◽

Regine Hock ◽

David E. Shean ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mass Balance ◽

Parameter Uncertainty ◽

Large Scale ◽

Evolution Model ◽

Model Parameters ◽

High Mountain ◽

Climate Data ◽

Temperature And Precipitation ◽

Model Parameter Uncertainty ◽

Geodetic Mass Balance

AbstractThe response of glaciers to climate change has major implications for sea-level change and water resources around the globe. Large-scale glacier evolution models are used to project glacier runoff and mass loss, but are constrained by limited observations, which result in models being over-parameterized. Recent systematic geodetic mass-balance observations provide an opportunity to improve the calibration of glacier evolution models. In this study, we develop a calibration scheme for a glacier evolution model using a Bayesian inverse model and geodetic mass-balance observations, which enable us to quantify model parameter uncertainty. The Bayesian model is applied to each glacier in High Mountain Asia using Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. After 10,000 steps, the chains generate a sufficient number of independent samples to estimate the properties of the model parameters from the joint posterior distribution. Their spatial distribution shows a clear orographic effect indicating the resolution of climate data is too coarse to resolve temperature and precipitation at high altitudes. Given the glacier evolution model is over-parameterized, particular attention is given to identifiability and the need for future work to integrate additional observations in order to better constrain the plausible sets of model parameters.

Download Full-text

Prediction of Plant Phenological Shift under Climate Change in South Korea

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12219276 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (21) ◽

pp. 9276

Author(s):

Ha Kyung Lee ◽

So Jeong Lee ◽

Min Kyung Kim ◽

Sang Don Lee

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Prunus Persica ◽

Climatic Factors ◽

Cherry Tree ◽

Rcp Scenarios ◽

Temperature And Precipitation ◽

Prunus Yedoensis ◽

Forsythia Koreana ◽

The Difference ◽

Phenological Shift

Information on the phenological shift of plants can be used to detect climate change and predict changes in the ecosystem. In this study, the changes in first flowering dates (FFDs) of the plum tree (Prunus mume), Korean forsythia (Forsythia koreana), Korean rosebay (Rhododendron mucronulatum), cherry tree (Prunus yedoensis), and peach tree (Prunus persica) in Korea during 1920–2019 were investigated. In addition, the changes in the climatic factors (temperature and precipitation) and their relationship with the FFDs were analyzed. The changes in the temperature and precipitation during the January–February–March period and the phenological shifts of all research species during 1920–2019 indicate that warm and dry spring weather advances the FFDs. Moreover, the temperature has a greater impact on this phenological shift than precipitation. Earlier flowering species are more likely to advance their FFDs than later flowering species. Hence, the temporal asynchrony among plant species will become worse with climate change. In addition, the FFDs in 2100 were predicted based on representative concentration pathway (RCP) scenarios. The difference between the predicted FFDs of the RCP 4.5 and RCP 6.0 for 2100 was significant; the effectiveness of greenhouse gas policies will presumably determine the degree of the plant phenological shift in the future. Furthermore, we presented the predicted FFDs for 2100.

Download Full-text

Indices for daily temperature and precipitation based on quality controlled and homogenized data in Madagascar

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-19970 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Luc Yannick Andréas Randriamarolaza ◽

Enric Aguilar ◽

Oleg Skrynyk

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Missing Data ◽

Extreme Temperature ◽

Maximum Temperature ◽

Daily Minimum Temperature ◽

Daily Maximum Temperature ◽

Climate Indices ◽

Low Density ◽

Climate Data ◽

Temperature And Precipitation

Madagascar is an Island in Western Indian Ocean Region. It is mainly exposed to the easterly trade winds and has a rugged topography, which promote different local climates and biodiversity. Climate change inflicts a challenge on Madagascar socio-economic activities. However, Madagascar has low density station and sparse networks on observational weather stations to detect changes in climate. On average, one station covers more than 20 000 km2 and closer neighbor stations are less correlated. Previous studies have demonstrated the changes on Madagascar climate, but this paper contributes and enhances the approach to assess the quality control and homogeneity of Madagascar daily climate data before developing climate indices over 1950 &#8211; 2018 on 28 synoptic stations. Daily climate data of minimum and maximum temperature and precipitation are exploited.Firstly, the quality of daily climate data is controlled by INQC developed and maintained by Center for Climate Change (C3) of Rovira i Virgili University, Spain. It ascertains and improves error detections by using six flag categories. Most errors detected are due to digitalization and measurement.Secondly, daily quality controlled data are homogenized by using CLIMATOL. It uses relative homogenization methods, chooses candidate reference series automatically and infills the missing data in the original data. It has ability to manage low density stations and low inter-station correlations and is tolerable for missing data. Monthly break points are detected by CLIMATOL and used to split daily climate data to be homogenized.Finally, climate indices are calculated by using CLIMIND package which is developed by INDECIS* project. Compared to previous works done, data period is updated to 10 years before and after and 15 new climate indices mostly related to extremes are computed. On temperature, significant increasing and decreasing decade trends of day-to-day and extreme temperature ranges are important in western and eastern areas respectively. On average decade trends of temperature extremes, significant increasing of daily minimum temperature is greater than daily maximum temperature. Many stations indicate significant decreasing in very cold nights than significant increasing in very warm days. Their trends are almost 1 day per decade over 1950 &#8211; 2018. Warming is mainly felt during nighttime and daytime in Oriental and Occidental parts respectively. In contrast, central uplands are warming all the time but tropical nights do not appear yet. On rainfall, no major significant findings are found but intense precipitation might be possible at central uplands due to shortening of longest wet period and occurrence of heavy precipitation. However, no influence detected on total precipitation which is still decreasing over 1950 - 2018. Future works focus on merging of relative homogenization methodologies to ameliorate the results.-------------------*INDECIS is a part of ERA4CS, an ERA-NET initiated by JPI Climate, and funded by FORMAS (SE), DLR (DE), BMWFW (AT), IFD (DK), MINECO (ES), ANR (FR) with co-funding by the European Union (Grant 690462).

Download Full-text