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Climatic control on extreme sediment transfer from Dokriani Glacier during monsoon, Garhwal Himalaya (India)

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In the Himalayas, most of the glaciers are covered by thick debris, especially in the ablation zone. Supraglacial debris cover might play an important role for sediment budget of the glaciated area or for the ablation of ice masses mantled in debris. During summer season, proglacial meltwater carries considerable amount of suspended sediment. The deglaciated area provides a ready source of sediment during Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM). The heavy sediment load from the glaciers affects the hydropower generation, irrigation and drinking water supply. Therefore, to understand the sediment delivery from glaciated basins, characteristics and variation of the suspended sediment concentrations in the proglacial meltwater stream, Dokriani Glacier, have been monitored during the ablation season (May–September). Suspended sediment samples were collected near the snout of Dokriani Glacier, Garhwal Himalaya, in 2010 and 2011. Results show that mean monthly suspended sediment concentrations (SSC) were 1499, 2303, 3845 and 1649 mg/l for the months June, July, August, and September, respectively, indicating highest concentration in August followed by July. Over the period of recording, daily mean suspended concentration in the melt stream varied from 13–9798.2 mg/l, which is very high, caused due to a flash flood event during the monitoring period. The mean daily suspended sediment concentration was computed to be 2196 mg/l. The suspended sediment concentration begins to increase with discharge from May and reduces in September. Present study provides TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) derived and field based hydro-meteorological insight about severe rainstorms during the years 2010 and 2011 in the study area, which transported large amounts of sediment.

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Acknowledgements

Authors are grateful to the Director, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehra Dun, for providing necessary facilities to carry out the present work. They also thank their colleagues and support-staff from Centre for Glaciology for their help and co-operation on the field and in the laboratory. The TRMM rainfall data used in this study has been acquired using the GES-DISC interactive online visualization and analysis infrastructure (Giovanni) as part of NASA’s Goddard Earth Sciences (GES) Data and Information Service Centre (DISC). They would also like to thank Department of Science and Technology for supporting this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Glaciology, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, 33 GMS Road, Dehra Dun, India

    Amit Kumar, Akshaya Verma, Dwarika Prasad Dobhal, Manish Mehta & Kapil Kesarwani

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  1. Amit Kumar
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  2. Akshaya Verma
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  3. Dwarika Prasad Dobhal
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  4. Manish Mehta
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  5. Kapil Kesarwani
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Correspondence to Amit Kumar.

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Kumar, A., Verma, A., Dobhal, D.P. et al. Climatic control on extreme sediment transfer from Dokriani Glacier during monsoon, Garhwal Himalaya (India). J Earth Syst Sci 123, 109–120 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-013-0375-y

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