Lockdowns Cut South Asia Smog. They Could Fill Reservoirs, Too. (nytimes.com) 13
Cleaner skies over South Asia that resulted from pandemic lockdowns last year likely affected the timing of snowmelt in the Indus River basin of Pakistan and India, researchers reported on Monday. From a report: The lockdowns cut emissions of soot and other pollutants, as people drove less and the generation of electricity, largely from coal, was reduced. That meant less soot was deposited on snow, where it absorbs sunlight, emits heat and causes faster melting. The cleaner snow in 2020 reflected more sunlight and did not melt as fast, the researchers said. In all, that delayed runoff into the Indus River of more than than one and a half cubic miles of melt water, they calculated, similar to the volume of some of the largest reservoirs in the United States. More than 300 million people depend on the Indus for water, much of which starts as snow in the high peaks of the Karakoram and other mountain ranges.
Timing of melt water runoff in the spring and summer can be crucial for managing water supplies over time. In many parts of the world, climate change has affected this timing, with warmer temperatures and a shift to more rain and less snow causing more snow to melt sooner. Slower runoff can thus be beneficial, helping managers of reservoirs store more water and maintain a steady flow over the year. Ned Bair, a snow hydrologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the lead researcher, said that while they could not prove conclusively that the pandemic was the reason for the timing delay, "it seems unlikely that anything else would have led to that." India imposed a nationwide lockdown in late March last year that continued through early May. Several studies showed rapid improvements in air quality in that period, particularly in and around Delhi, which is notorious for having some of the most unhealthy air in the world.
Timing of melt water runoff in the spring and summer can be crucial for managing water supplies over time. In many parts of the world, climate change has affected this timing, with warmer temperatures and a shift to more rain and less snow causing more snow to melt sooner. Slower runoff can thus be beneficial, helping managers of reservoirs store more water and maintain a steady flow over the year. Ned Bair, a snow hydrologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the lead researcher, said that while they could not prove conclusively that the pandemic was the reason for the timing delay, "it seems unlikely that anything else would have led to that." India imposed a nationwide lockdown in late March last year that continued through early May. Several studies showed rapid improvements in air quality in that period, particularly in and around Delhi, which is notorious for having some of the most unhealthy air in the world.
Soot (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3)
"The cleaner snow in 2020 reflected more sunlight and did not melt as fast"
Longer periods of snow increase Earth's albedo and that affects global warming. At this point, global warming is not a narrative.
Re: (Score:2)
At this point, global warming is not a narrative.
It is in the next paragraph. But the argument seems to be that less soot goes a long way toward compensating for warmer temperatures, less snow and more rain. Good. Now we know what to fix.
Damn! I thought the science was done.
Re: (Score:2)
At this point, global warming is not a narrative.
You didn't read the whole summary. It quickly moved the narrative back to AGW, although soot should be the primary focus.
Circled back (Score:2)
Glad they got AGW back into the story -- people reading the article were getting the wrong impression.
Wut? (Score:1)
one and a half cubic miles of water
What? You don't measure volume with miles, even in the back-asswords USA measuring units.
Re: (Score:2)
one and a half cubic miles of water
What? You don't measure volume with miles, even in the back-asswords USA measuring units.
This is /. so I'm waiting for someone to give the volume in Library of Congresses ...
Re: (Score:2)
That is false, plenty of old geology and geophysics texts do it. Google the phrase and see.
Vaccines (Score:1)
I hear... (Score:2)
I hear lockdowns will let bald people grow their hair again.
Next steps (Score:2)
Clearly global lockdowns are working to save humanity from the climate crisis. We should remain in lockdown until such a time that the world is crisis-free, for our own good.