Assessing the Response of Himalayas to Climate Change
The Himalayas are the source of livelihood to millions of population in Asia. The previous studies emphasized the need for long-term climate change assessment of the Himalayan cryosphere to improve the understanding of the regional cryosphere processes, especially in the climate model. Therefore, the present study aims to assess the dynamics of air temperature, precipitable water vapor (PWV), rainfall, cloud fraction (CF), cloud base height (CBH), and evapotranspiration (ET) in the Himalayas using ERA 5 reanalysis datasets of the period 1980-2020. The Theil Sen slope estimator is used to assess the trends in the variables. The findings show warming at an average rate of 0.37oC/decade while precipitation is declining (-0.14 mm/decade). CBH, CF, ET and PWV are rising at the rate of 30 m/decade, 0.00042/decade, 0.0072 mm/decade and 0.13 mm/decade respectively. The emerging changes in the region lead to profound impacts on the ecosystem of the region and challenge its sustainability. However, the study suggests the need to explore the effects of all these factors in detail with finer resolution data to improve the understanding of its spatial dynamics over the region.
Mots clés : Climate Change|Himalayas|Cryosphere Processes|Sustainability
A102860SR