Precipitation Characteristics and Moisture Source Regions on Mt. Everest in the Khumbu, Nepal
L. Baker Perry, Tom Matthews, Heather Guy, Inka Koch, Arbindra Khadka, Aurora C. Elmore, Dibas Shrestha, Subash Tuladhar, Saraju K. Baidya, Sunny Maharjan, Patrick Wagnon, Deepak Aryal, Anton Seimon, Ananta Prasad Gajurel, Paul A. Mayewski
Abstract
Precipitation is critical to the water towers of the Hindu Kush-Himalaya-Karakoram region,\nexerting an important control on glacier mass balance and the water resources for 1.65 billion\npeople. As hydroclimatic extremes and water stress have emerged as key hazards in the context\nof climate change, Nepal’s Khumbu region overlaps key vulnerabilities. Here we investigate the\nregion’s precipitation characteristics and moisture sources through analysis of data from a new\nhigh-altitude network of automatic weather stations, which allow for a more complete\nunderstanding of the climatological precipitation data that are critical information for local\ncommunities in the Khumbu region, visitors, and downstream populations. Our findings\ndemonstrate that the northern Bay of Bengal is potentially an important moisture source during\nthe monsoon period (June to August) and that westerly trajectories over land predominate for\nprecipitation events during the post-monsoon, winter, and pre-monsoon seasons.