Articles | Volume 21, issue 7
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5615-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5615-2021
Research article
 | 
13 Apr 2021
Research article |  | 13 Apr 2021

Drought-induced biomass burning as a source of black carbon to the central Himalaya since 1781 CE as reconstructed from the Dasuopu ice core

Joel D. Barker, Susan Kaspari, Paolo Gabrielli, Anna Wegner, Emilie Beaudon, M. Roxana Sierra-Hernández, and Lonnie Thompson

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Cited articles

Anchukaitis, K. J., Buckley, B. M., Cook, E. R., D'Arrigo, R. D., and Ammann, C. M.: Influence of volcanic eruptions on the climate of the Asian monsoon region, Geophys. Res. Lett., 37, 1–5, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010GL044843, 2010. 
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Baker, P. J., and Bunyavejchewin, S.: Fire behavior and fire effects across the forest landscape of continental Southeast Asia, in: Tropical Fire Ecology, Springer Praxis Books, Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-77381-8_11, 2009. 
Barker, J. D.: Dasuopu, China 210 Year Ice Core Refractory Black Carbon Data, NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, available at: https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo-search/study/32952, last access: 7 April 2021. 
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Short summary
Black carbon (BC), an aerosol that contributes to glacier melt, is important for central Himalayan hydrology because glaciers are a water source to rivers that affect 25 % of the global population in Southeast Asia. Using the Dasuopu ice core (1781–1992 CE), we find that drought-associated biomass burning is an important source of BC to the central Himalaya over a period of months to years and that hemispheric changes in atmospheric circulation influence BC deposition over longer periods.
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