The subject of climate change in the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and Himalayas has taken on increasing importance because of the availability of water resources from their mountain glaciers (Immerzeel et al 2010). Many of the glaciers over these regions have been retreating, while some are advancing and stable (Yao et al 2004, Scherler et al 2011). Other studies report that some glaciers in the Himalayas show acceleration of their shrinkage (e.g., Fujita and Nuimura 2011). However, the causes of glacier melting are still difficult to grasp because of the complexity of climatic change and its influence on glacier issues. Despite this, it is vital that we pursue further study to enable future predictions of glacier changes.

The paper entitled 'Climate and glacier change in southwestern China during the past several decades' by Li et al (2011) provided carefully analyzed, quality controlled, long-term data on atmospheric temperature and precipitation during the period 1961–2008. The data were obtained from 111 Chinese stations. The researchers performed systematic analyses of temperature and precipitation over the whole southwestern Chinese domain. They discussed those changes in terms of other meteorological components such as atmospheric circulation patterns, radiation and altitude difference, and then showed how these factors could contribute to climate and glacier changes in the region.

Air temperature and precipitation are strongly associated with glacier mass balance because of heat balance and the addition of mass when it snows. Temperature warming trends over many places in southwestern China were unequivocally dominant in all seasons and at higher altitudes. This indicates that the heat contribution to the glaciers has been increasing. On the other hand, precipitation has a wider variability in time and space. It is more difficult to clearly understand the effect of precipitation on the climate and glacier melting characteristics in the whole of southwestern China as a collective view. However, the precipitation patterns in southwestern China are probably modulated by climate feedbacks through many factors. Precipitation seasonality may also affect the climatic sensitivity of glacier mass balance (Fujita 2008).

In addition to the authors' main focus above, other factors, also probably directly and indirectly, influence the climate and glacier mass balance changes. Those factors are:

(a) The debris-covered effect which heats (if it is thin) or insulates (if it is thick) the ice below the debris; it probably causes no uniform response on glacier melting (Scherler et al 2011);

(b) Interaction between glacial lakes and exposed ice parts on glaciers (e.g., Sakai et al 2009, Fujita et al 2009);

(c) The atmospheric heating effect over the foothills of the Himalayas due to the Atmospheric Brown Cloud (ABC), including absorbing aerosols such as black carbon, dust and organic matters (Ramanathan et al 2007), the so called Elevated Heat Pump (EHP) effect suggested by Lau et al (2006, 2010);

(d) The snow darkening effect over non debris-covered parts of glaciers as the absorbing aerosol depositions reduce snow albedo and accelerate snow melting by absorbing more solar energy at the snow surface (Warren and Wiscombe 1980, Flanner et al 2007, 2009, Yasunari et al 2010, Qian et al 2011);

(e) Another kind of snow darkening effect over non debris-covered glaciers due to the growth of biological activities, with dark-colored materials on glaciers also reducing snow albedo (Takeuchi et al 2001);

(f) Other factors on snow albedo reductions such as snow grain size, specific surface area and depth changes, melt-water effect on snow, and changes in solar illumination conditions (e.g., Wiscombe and Warren 1980, Flanner et al 2006, Yasunari et al 2011, Aoki et al 1999, 2011); and finally,

(g) Feedbacks via interactions between the snow surface and atmosphere including all the factors above.

What I'd like to emphasize is that the atmospheric warming trend indicated by Li et al (2011) is robust and very likely associated with the dominant characteristics of glacier shrinkage across southwestern China, as discussed by the authors. However, the shrinkage rate of sub-regional scale variability is probably due to the modulation of precipitation, as well as the other factors identified above. Further, atmospheric warming is not limited only to southwestern China, but is also probable in the surrounding Tibetan and Himalayan regions (Gautam et al 2010).

Comprehensive studies, including international projects discussing all the contributors above by (a) field observations, (b) global or regional modeling, and (c) satellite data analyses, are essential to assess the future climate change and glacier retreat in/around the TP and Himalayas. The authors' findings showed robust information on atmospheric warming trends and some wider variety on precipitation during 1961–2008 in southwestern China. In addition, they indicated some possible connections between these findings and atmospheric circulation, altitudinal difference and meteorological conditions. Future studies should promote a deeper discussion and understanding of these relationships.

Hereafter, we must make a committed effort to study climate and glacier issues in/around the TP and Himalayas involving the existing warming trend. This trend fluctuates year-by-year. The fluctuation of the warming and precipitation changes may directly contribute to climate change and glacier retreats. However, the seven factors noted above likely modulate the climate change and glacier melting patterns in southwestern China on the warming trend in intra- and inter-annual timescales. The temperature and precipitation data in this study offer a terrific asset for future studies on climate and glacier issues in/around this region.

Acknowledgement

I wish to thank Jan Angevine at NASA/GSFC for proofreading.

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