Editing IPCC:AR6/SROCC/Chapter-2 (section)

==== 2.2.1.3 Other Meteorological Variables ====

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Atmospheric humidity, incoming shortwave and longwave radiation, and near-surface wind speed and direction also influence the high mountain cryosphere. Detecting their changes and associated effects on the cryosphere is even more challenging than for surface air temperature and precipitation, both from an observation and modelling standpoint. Therefore, most simulation studies of cryosphere changes are mainly driven by temperature and precipitation (see, e.g., Beniston et al., 2018, and references therein).

Atmospheric moisture content, which is generally increasing in a warming atmosphere (Stocker et al., 2013 <sup>[[#fn:r40|40]]</sup> ), affects latent and longwave heat fluxes (Armstrong and Brun, 2008 <sup>[[#fn:r41|41]]</sup> ) with implications for the timing and rate of snow and ice ablation, and in some areas changes in atmospheric moisture content could be a significant driver of cryosphere change (Harpold and Brooks, 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r42|42]]</sup> ). Short-lived climate forcers, such as sulphur and black carbon aerosols (You et al., 2013 <sup>[[#fn:r43|43]]</sup> ), reduce the amount of solar radiation reaching the surface, with potential impacts on snow and ice ablation. Solar brightening caused by declining anthropogenic aerosols in Europe since the 1980s was shown to have only a minor effect on atmospheric warming at high elevation (Philipona, 2013 <sup>[[#fn:r48|48]]</sup> ), and effects on the cryosphere were not specifically discussed.

Wind controls preferential deposition of precipitation, post-depositional snow drift and affects ablation of snow and glaciers through turbulent fluxes. Near-surface wind speed has decreased on the Tibetan Plateau between the 1970s and early 2000s, and stabilised or increased slightly thereafter (Yang et al., 2014a <sup>[[#fn:r49|49]]</sup> ; Kuang and Jiao, 2016 <sup>[[#fn:r50|50]]</sup> ). This is consistent with existing evidence for a decrease in near-surface wind speed on mid-latitude continental areas since the mid-20th century (Hartmann et al., 2013 <sup>[[#fn:r51|51]]</sup> ). In general, the literature on past and future changes of near-surface wind patterns in mountain areas is very limited.

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