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Development of a Glacio-hydrological Model for Discharge and Mass Balance Reconstruction

Authors :
Akhilesh Gupta
Anshuman Bhardwaj
Rajesh Kumar
Lydia Sam
Shaktiman Singh
Surjeet Singh Randhawa
Ramesh Kumar
Atar Singh
Source :
Water Resources Management. 30:3475-3492
Publication Year :
2016
Publisher :
Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2016.

Abstract

The reconstruction of glacio-hydrological records for the data deficient Himalayan catchments is needed in order to study the past and future water availability. The study provides outcomes of a glacio-hydrological model based on the degree-day approach. The model simulates the discharge and mass balance for glacierised Shaune Garang catchment. The degree-day factors for different land covers, used in the model, were estimated using daily stake measurements on Shaune Garang glacier and they were found to be varying between 2.6 ± 0.4 and 9.3 ± 0.3 mm °C−1day−1. The model is validated using observed discharge during ablation season of 2014 with coefficient of determination (R2) 0.90 and root mean square error (RMSE) 1.05 m3 sec−1. The model is used to simulate discharge from 1985 to 2008 and mass balance from 2001 to 2008. The model results show significant contribution of seasonal snow and ice melt in total discharge of the catchment, especially during summer. We observe the maximum discharge in July having maximum contribution from snow and ice melt. The annual melt season discharge shows following a decreasing trend in the simulation period. The reconstructed mass balance shows mass loss of 0.89 m we per year between 2001 and 2008 with slight mass gain during 2000/01 and 2004/05 hydrological years.

Details

ISSN :
15731650 and 09204741
Volume :
30
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Water Resources Management
Accession number :
edsair.doi...........369039c99dfc376c6b9db5cb26269fe8
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-016-1364-0