Dynamics of suspended sediment load with respect to summer discharge and temperatures in Shaune Garang glacierized catchment, Western Himalaya

Rajesh Kumar; Ramesh Kumar; Shaktiman Singh; Atar Singh; Anshuman Bhardwaj; Anupma Kumari; S. S. Randhawa; Ashok Saha

doi:10.1007/s11600-018-0184-4

Dynamics of suspended sediment load with respect to summer discharge and temperatures in Shaune Garang glacierized catchment, Western Himalaya

Rajesh Kumar, Ramesh Kumar^*, Shaktiman Singh, Atar Singh, Anshuman Bhardwaj, Anupma Kumari, S. S. Randhawa, Ashok Saha

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

26 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The observed and predicted rise in temperature will have deleterious impact on melting of snow and ice and form of precipitation which is already evident in Indian Himalayan Region. The temperature-dependent entities like discharge and sediment load will also vary with the observed and predicted rise posing environmental, social and economic threat in the region. There is little known about sediment load transport in relation to temperature and discharge in glacierized catchments in Himalaya mainly due to the scarcity of ground-based observation. The present study is an attempt to understand the suspended sediment load and transportation in relation to variation in discharge and temperature in the Shaune Garang catchment. The result shows strong dependence of sediment concentration primarily on discharge (R² = 0.84) and then on temperature (R² = 0.79). The catchments with similar geological and climate setting were observed to have comparatively close weathering rate. The sediment load was found to be higher in the catchments in eastern and central part of Indian Himalayan Region in comparison with western part due to dominance of Indian Summer Monsoon leading to high discharge. The annual physical weathering rate in Shaune Garang catchment was found to be 411 t km⁻² year⁻¹ which has increased from 327 t km⁻² year⁻¹ in around three decades due to rise in temperature causing increase in discharge and proportion of debris-covered glacierized area.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1109-1120
Number of pages	12
Journal	Acta Geophysica
Volume	66
Early online date	26 Jul 2018
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s11600-018-0184-4
Publication status	Published - Oct 2018

Bibliographical note

This research is a part of United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded project entitled “Contribution to High Asia Runoff from Ice and Snow” (CHARIS, https://nsidc.org/charis/). Prof. Rajesh Kumar thankfully acknowledges Science and Engineering Research Board, Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India (Reference No: SR/DGH/HP-1/2009) and Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt. of India (Reference No. MoES/PAMC/H&C/61/2015-PC II) for granting research projects in Baspa basin. Dr. Shaktiman Singh would like to acknowledge Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) for providing research grant bi-nationally supervised doctoral degrees. Dr. Anshuman Bhardwaj acknowledges Swedish Research Council for supporting his research on cold arid mountainous regions. We would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers and editor for their comments which significantly improved the manuscript.

Keywords

Pro-glacial river discharge
Sediment load
Shaune Garang catchment
Temperature
Western Himalaya

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title = "Dynamics of suspended sediment load with respect to summer discharge and temperatures in Shaune Garang glacierized catchment, Western Himalaya",

abstract = "The observed and predicted rise in temperature will have deleterious impact on melting of snow and ice and form of precipitation which is already evident in Indian Himalayan Region. The temperature-dependent entities like discharge and sediment load will also vary with the observed and predicted rise posing environmental, social and economic threat in the region. There is little known about sediment load transport in relation to temperature and discharge in glacierized catchments in Himalaya mainly due to the scarcity of ground-based observation. The present study is an attempt to understand the suspended sediment load and transportation in relation to variation in discharge and temperature in the Shaune Garang catchment. The result shows strong dependence of sediment concentration primarily on discharge (R2 = 0.84) and then on temperature (R2 = 0.79). The catchments with similar geological and climate setting were observed to have comparatively close weathering rate. The sediment load was found to be higher in the catchments in eastern and central part of Indian Himalayan Region in comparison with western part due to dominance of Indian Summer Monsoon leading to high discharge. The annual physical weathering rate in Shaune Garang catchment was found to be 411 t km−2 year−1 which has increased from 327 t km−2 year−1 in around three decades due to rise in temperature causing increase in discharge and proportion of debris-covered glacierized area.",

keywords = "Pro-glacial river discharge, Sediment load, Shaune Garang catchment, Temperature, Western Himalaya",

author = "Rajesh Kumar and Ramesh Kumar and Shaktiman Singh and Atar Singh and Anshuman Bhardwaj and Anupma Kumari and Randhawa, {S. S.} and Ashok Saha",

note = "This research is a part of United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded project entitled “Contribution to High Asia Runoff from Ice and Snow” (CHARIS, https://nsidc.org/charis/). Prof. Rajesh Kumar thankfully acknowledges Science and Engineering Research Board, Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India (Reference No: SR/DGH/HP-1/2009) and Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt. of India (Reference No. MoES/PAMC/H&C/61/2015-PC II) for granting research projects in Baspa basin. Dr. Shaktiman Singh would like to acknowledge Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) for providing research grant bi-nationally supervised doctoral degrees. Dr. Anshuman Bhardwaj acknowledges Swedish Research Council for supporting his research on cold arid mountainous regions. We would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers and editor for their comments which significantly improved the manuscript. ",

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doi = "10.1007/s11600-018-0184-4",

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T1 - Dynamics of suspended sediment load with respect to summer discharge and temperatures in Shaune Garang glacierized catchment, Western Himalaya

AU - Kumar, Rajesh

AU - Kumar, Ramesh

AU - Singh, Shaktiman

AU - Singh, Atar

AU - Bhardwaj, Anshuman

AU - Kumari, Anupma

AU - Randhawa, S. S.

AU - Saha, Ashok

N1 - This research is a part of United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded project entitled “Contribution to High Asia Runoff from Ice and Snow” (CHARIS, https://nsidc.org/charis/). Prof. Rajesh Kumar thankfully acknowledges Science and Engineering Research Board, Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India (Reference No: SR/DGH/HP-1/2009) and Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt. of India (Reference No. MoES/PAMC/H&C/61/2015-PC II) for granting research projects in Baspa basin. Dr. Shaktiman Singh would like to acknowledge Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) for providing research grant bi-nationally supervised doctoral degrees. Dr. Anshuman Bhardwaj acknowledges Swedish Research Council for supporting his research on cold arid mountainous regions. We would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers and editor for their comments which significantly improved the manuscript.

PY - 2018/10

Y1 - 2018/10

N2 - The observed and predicted rise in temperature will have deleterious impact on melting of snow and ice and form of precipitation which is already evident in Indian Himalayan Region. The temperature-dependent entities like discharge and sediment load will also vary with the observed and predicted rise posing environmental, social and economic threat in the region. There is little known about sediment load transport in relation to temperature and discharge in glacierized catchments in Himalaya mainly due to the scarcity of ground-based observation. The present study is an attempt to understand the suspended sediment load and transportation in relation to variation in discharge and temperature in the Shaune Garang catchment. The result shows strong dependence of sediment concentration primarily on discharge (R2 = 0.84) and then on temperature (R2 = 0.79). The catchments with similar geological and climate setting were observed to have comparatively close weathering rate. The sediment load was found to be higher in the catchments in eastern and central part of Indian Himalayan Region in comparison with western part due to dominance of Indian Summer Monsoon leading to high discharge. The annual physical weathering rate in Shaune Garang catchment was found to be 411 t km−2 year−1 which has increased from 327 t km−2 year−1 in around three decades due to rise in temperature causing increase in discharge and proportion of debris-covered glacierized area.

AB - The observed and predicted rise in temperature will have deleterious impact on melting of snow and ice and form of precipitation which is already evident in Indian Himalayan Region. The temperature-dependent entities like discharge and sediment load will also vary with the observed and predicted rise posing environmental, social and economic threat in the region. There is little known about sediment load transport in relation to temperature and discharge in glacierized catchments in Himalaya mainly due to the scarcity of ground-based observation. The present study is an attempt to understand the suspended sediment load and transportation in relation to variation in discharge and temperature in the Shaune Garang catchment. The result shows strong dependence of sediment concentration primarily on discharge (R2 = 0.84) and then on temperature (R2 = 0.79). The catchments with similar geological and climate setting were observed to have comparatively close weathering rate. The sediment load was found to be higher in the catchments in eastern and central part of Indian Himalayan Region in comparison with western part due to dominance of Indian Summer Monsoon leading to high discharge. The annual physical weathering rate in Shaune Garang catchment was found to be 411 t km−2 year−1 which has increased from 327 t km−2 year−1 in around three decades due to rise in temperature causing increase in discharge and proportion of debris-covered glacierized area.

KW - Pro-glacial river discharge

KW - Sediment load

KW - Shaune Garang catchment

KW - Temperature

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DO - 10.1007/s11600-018-0184-4

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AN - SCOPUS:85050691506

SN - 1895-6572

VL - 66

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JO - Acta Geophysica

JF - Acta Geophysica

ER -

Dynamics of suspended sediment load with respect to summer discharge and temperatures in Shaune Garang glacierized catchment, Western Himalaya

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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