Tibetan Plateau (TP) is known as the water tower of Asia, and glaciers are solid reservoirs that can regulate the amount of water. Black carbon (BC), as one of the important factors accelerating glacier melting, is causing evident environmental effects in snow and ice. However, a systematical summary of the potential sources, analytical methods, distributions, and environmental effects of BC in snow and ice on the TP's glaciers is scarce. Therefore, this study drew upon existing research on snow and ice BC on glaciers of the TP to describe the detection methods and uncertainties associated with them to clarify the concentrations of BC in snow and ice and their climatic effects. The primary detection methods are the optical method, the thermal-optical method, the thermochemical method, and the single-particle soot photometer method. However, few studies have systematically compared the results of BC and this study found that concentrations of BC in different types of snow and ice varied by 1-3 orders of magnitude, which drastically affected the regional hydrologic process by potentially accelerating the ablation of glaciers by approximately 15% and reducing the duration of snow accumulation by 3-4 days. In general, results obtained from the various testing methods differ drastically, which limited the systematical discussion. Accordingly, a universal standard for the sampling and measurement should be considered in the future work, which will be beneficial to facilitate the comparison of the spatiotemporal features and to provide scientific data for the model-simulated climatic effects of BC.

The behavior and fates of environmental pollutants within the cryosphere and the associated environmental impacts are of increasing concerns in the context of global warming. The Tibetan Plateau (TP), also known as the Third Pole, represents one of the most important cryospheric regions in the world. Mercury (Hg) is recognized as a global pollutant. Here, we summarize the current knowledge of Hg concentration levels, pools and spatio-temporal distribution in cryospheric environments (e. g., glacier, permafrost), and its transfer and potential cycle in the TP cryospheric region. Transboundary transport of anthropogenic Hg from the surrounding heavily-polluted regions, such as South and Southeast Asia, provides significant sources of atmospheric Hg depositions onto the TP cryosphere. We concluded that the melting of the cryosphere on the TP represents an increasing source of Hg and brings a risk to the TP environment. In addition, global warming acts as an important catalyst accelerating the release of legacy Hg from the melting cryosphere, adversely impacting ecosystems and biological health. Furthermore, we emphasize on the remaining gaps and proposed issues needed to be addressed in future work, including enhancing our knowledge on some key release pathways and the related environmental effects of Hg in the cryospheric region, integrated observation and consideration of Hg distribution, migration and cycle processes at a key region, and uses of Hg isotopic technical and Hg models to improve the understanding of Hg cycling in the TP cryospheric region.

The behavior and fates of environmental pollutants within the cryosphere and the associated environmental impacts are of increasing concerns in the context of global warming. The Tibetan Plateau (TP), also known as the Third Pole, represents one of the most important cryospheric regions in the world. Mercury (Hg) is recognized as a global pollutant. Here, we summarize the current knowledge of Hg concentration levels, pools and spatio-temporal distribution in cryospheric environments (e. g., glacier, permafrost), and its transfer and potential cycle in the TP cryospheric region. Transboundary transport of anthropogenic Hg from the surrounding heavily-polluted regions, such as South and Southeast Asia, provides significant sources of atmospheric Hg depositions onto the TP cryosphere. We concluded that the melting of the cryosphere on the TP represents an increasing source of Hg and brings a risk to the TP environment. In addition, global warming acts as an important catalyst accelerating the release of legacy Hg from the melting cryosphere, adversely impacting ecosystems and biological health. Furthermore, we emphasize on the remaining gaps and proposed issues needed to be addressed in future work, including enhancing our knowledge on some key release pathways and the related environmental effects of Hg in the cryospheric region, integrated observation and consideration of Hg distribution, migration and cycle processes at a key region, and uses of Hg isotopic technical and Hg models to improve the understanding of Hg cycling in the TP cryospheric region.

In the past decade, approximately 17 % of the world's photovoltaic capacity has been installed in China, especially in the northwestern desert areas. The impacts of the construction and operation of large-scale photovoltaic power plants (PPPs) on local ecological environments have become urgent scientific issues regional environmental protection decision-making. To quantitatively evaluate the local environmental impacts of the construction and operation of PPPs in the desert oasis region, thermal infrared and multispectral sensors mounted on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as well as X-ray fluorescence spectrometers and soil sensors were used in this study to monitor a large PPP in Northwest China. We found that the construction and operation PPPs can promote biological soil crust development and vegetation growth and can thus improve the soil texture and nutrition. However, the Ca, S and Cl concentrations were found to be 3, 5 and 1.7 times higher inside the PPP area than outside the PPP area, respectively. In addition, the soil salinization is also more severe inside the PPP area. In future studies, it is essential to further elucidate the impacts of PPP operations and agricultural on desert ecosystems.