Climatic hazards in the Himalayan region

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Potential changes in climate have spurred a growing interest in climatic hazards and extremes that may have profound ecological as well as societal impacts globally. Hydrological hazards in the Himalayan region are commonly related to hydro-meteorological conditions such as floods, landslides, avalanches, river-bank erosion and droughts. Landslides are another common hazard in mountainous environments usually triggered by monsoonal rains, tropical cyclones and flooding in the Himalayan region. The Himalayan region is under scrutiny in light of an increasingly large body of evidence of cryospheric, hydrologic and climatic changes. Geographic areas where the water cycle is dominated by snowmelt hydrology are expected to be more susceptible to climate change as it affects the seasonality of runoff. Increasing concentrations of anthropogenic aerosols have negatively affected the air quality and climate over the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP). The average number of foggy days over the six-year winter period is larger in the central IGP compared to the eastern and western regions.