title: Widespread albedo decreasing and induced melting of Himalayan snow and ice in the early 21st century.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The widely distributed glaciers in the greater Himalayan region have generally experienced rapid shrinkage since the 1850s. As invaluable sources of water and because of their scarcity, these glaciers are extremely important. Beginning in the twenty-first century, new methods have been applied to measure the mass budget of these glaciers. Investigations have shown that the albedo is an important parameter that affects the melting of Himalayan glaciers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The surface albedo based on the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data over the Hindu Kush, Karakoram and Himalaya (HKH) glaciers is surveyed in this study for the period 2000-2011. The general albedo trend shows that the glaciers have been darkening since 2000. The most rapid decrease in the surface albedo has occurred in the glacial area above 6000 m, which implies that melting will likely extend to snow accumulation areas. The mass-loss equivalent (MLE) of the HKH glacial area caused by surface shortwave radiation absorption is estimated to be 10.4 Gt yr-1, which may contribute to 1.2% of the global sea level rise on annual average (2003-2009).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This work probably presents a first scene depicting the albedo variations over the whole HKH glacial area during the period 2000-2011. Most rapidly decreasing in albedo has been detected in the highest area, which deserves to be especially concerned.
authors.affiliation: National Climate Centre, China Meteorological Administration, Beijing, China; State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China; Snow-Ice-Aerosol Analyzing Laboratory, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ming
authors.affiliation: Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yaqiang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Zhencai
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Du
authors.affiliation: Interdisciplinary Mathematics Institute, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, United States of America.
authors.forename: Tong
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: Wanqin
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China; Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Cunde
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xiaobin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China; Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing, China; Snow-Ice-Aerosol Analyzing Laboratory, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Minghu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China; Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Dongqi
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, China; Snow-Ice-Aerosol Analyzing Laboratory, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D057231:Climate Change / Q000266:history*; D049674:History, 21st Century; D046448:Ice Cover; D012914:Snow