Wildfire events have recently shown a rapid increase in frequency and scale due to the warmer present-day climate;however,their potential effects on the cryosphere are difficult to assess.Catastrophic wildfires in Aus...Wildfire events have recently shown a rapid increase in frequency and scale due to the warmer present-day climate;however,their potential effects on the cryosphere are difficult to assess.Catastrophic wildfires in Australia during 2019–2020 emitted large amounts of light-absorbing particles(LAPs)to the atmosphere.Satellite observations indicate that these LAPs caused unprecedented snow-darkening of glaciers in New Zealand through long-range transport and deposition,with their effects lasting for up to three months in January–March 2020,influencing>90%of total glacier/snow and leading to a mean broadband snow-reflectance reduction of 0.08±0.03.This snow darkening accelerated snowmelt by~0.41±0.2 cm day–1 during the southern summer,equivalent to that caused by a~1.8°C increase in air temperature.This indicates the significant impact of the 2019–2020 Australian wildfires on the hydrologic cycle in New Zealand,exceeding that of the local climate warming of~1.5°C since the preindustrial period.Wildfire-induced snow darkening is not limited to New Zealand.Future projections of wildfire incidence indicate widespread effects of snow darkening on the global cryosphere.展开更多
基金This research was supported by the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars(42025102)the Foundation for Innovative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of China(41521004)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(42075061 and 41975157).
文摘Wildfire events have recently shown a rapid increase in frequency and scale due to the warmer present-day climate;however,their potential effects on the cryosphere are difficult to assess.Catastrophic wildfires in Australia during 2019–2020 emitted large amounts of light-absorbing particles(LAPs)to the atmosphere.Satellite observations indicate that these LAPs caused unprecedented snow-darkening of glaciers in New Zealand through long-range transport and deposition,with their effects lasting for up to three months in January–March 2020,influencing>90%of total glacier/snow and leading to a mean broadband snow-reflectance reduction of 0.08±0.03.This snow darkening accelerated snowmelt by~0.41±0.2 cm day–1 during the southern summer,equivalent to that caused by a~1.8°C increase in air temperature.This indicates the significant impact of the 2019–2020 Australian wildfires on the hydrologic cycle in New Zealand,exceeding that of the local climate warming of~1.5°C since the preindustrial period.Wildfire-induced snow darkening is not limited to New Zealand.Future projections of wildfire incidence indicate widespread effects of snow darkening on the global cryosphere.
