Yash Khajuria
Leh: In order to investigate the glacier resources, GB Pant-National Institute of Himalayan Environment (NIHE) has established one of the highest hydro-meteorological observatories of India on the forefield of the Rulung Glacier in Ladakh.
The institute has established an Automatic Weather Station (AWS) at 5600 m above sea level on the forefield of the Rulung Glacier. The Station is equipped with sophisticated sensors like wind speed/direction, snow depth, radiation, albedo, air temperature and relative humidity.
Additionally, a discharge measurement site has also been established to monitor melt water stream discharge using automatic water level recorder (AWLR). With the initiation of these activities, the Rulung Glacier has become one of the highest glaciers on the planet earth that is being monitored in-situ for hydrological and weather parameters.
Pertinently, the Himalaya-Karakoram region amasses the largest glacier cover outside poles, regulating the hydrology of the regional river systems including the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra. And, about one billion people living in these river basins rely on the water released from these glaciers.
However, the field-based glacier studies are limited in the Himalaya. Ladakh, in particular, accounts for about 50 percent of glacier wealth of the country and is one of the least studied regions in terms of glaciological measurements.
Considering this, G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment, along with its collaborators is executing an ambitious project titled “Assessment of glacier-climate functional relationships across the Indian Himalayan region through long-term network observations” under the aegis of the National Mission on Himalayan Studies (NMHS), Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Government of India.
The project aims at integrated field and space-based assessment of glacial dynamics, morphometry, hydrodynamics, melt-water chemistry and mass balance in the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra basins within the Indian Himalayan Regions. The Ladakh Regional Centre of NIHE, Leh is entrusted to carry out glacier assessment activities in the Indus basin.
In this context, the Rulung Glacier in Changthang region, Leh, Ladakh UT was identified for long-term in-situ monitoring. The first field expedition to the Rulung Glacier was made in October 2023 wherein the glaciological mass balance measurements were initiated and the suitable sites for Automatic Weather Station (AWS) and glacial discharge measurements were identified.
In continuation, the second field expedition to the glacier is made during the last week of July and first week of August, 2024. The expedition marked the establishment of an AWS at above 5600 m above sea level on the forefield of the Rulung Glacier.
The NIHE wishes to acquire long-term reliable data on glacier fluctuations, and the local meteorology, so that comprehensive understanding on glacier-climate relationship could be developed for devising better water resource management of the region.
