HR: 1340h
AN: A13B-0915    [Abstracts]
TI: High Altitude Climate: Observations From the Baltoro Glacier, Karakoram Himalaya, Pakistan
AU: * Bush, A B
EM: andrew.bush@ualberta.ca
AF: University of Alberta, 126 Earth Sciences Building, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E3 Canada
AB: Few atmospheric observations have been recorded from the Karakoram Himalaya. Fieldwork in the summer of 2005 was conducted along the Baltoro and Godwin-Austen Glaciers in the vicinity of K2. Measurements were made of atmospheric ozone, carbon dioxide, humidity, temperature, and winds along the glaciers leading to K2. Over the debris-covered Baltoro glacier, at altitudes well above any vegetated region, there is a distinct diurnal cycle in atmospheric carbon dioxide that may be related to weathering processes. During the 5 weeks spent on the glaciers there was one high ozone event recorded that marks the presence of stratospheric air with levels reaching 0.18 ppm. The synoptic event that generated these high ozone levels in the region is visibile from TOMS satellite data and is likely a tropopause fold event associated with baroclinic instability of the midlatitude jet stream. The fact that high ozone levels can (and did) trigger a number of respiratory illnesses suggests that individuals working in high altitudes should be aware of the processes that lead to stratosphere-troposphere mixing. Keywords: ozone, carbon dioxide, troposphere-stratosphere mixing, tropopause fold, diurnal cycle
DE: 0365 Troposphere: composition and chemistry
DE: 0722 Rock glaciers
DE: 1621 Cryospheric change (0776)
DE: 3362 Stratosphere/troposphere interactions
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005