Single-year thermal regime and inferred permafrost occurrence in the upper Ganglass catchment of the cold-arid Himalaya, Ladakh, India.

Cold-arid regions of the trans-Himalaya in the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) is suspected to have a significant area of permafrost. However, information on the ground thermal regime of these permafrost areas is so far not available. This study bridge this knowledge gap by analysing the sub-surface thermal regime of selected sites in the Ganglass catchment, Ladakh range.

Assessment of system characteristics of Gangotri glacier headwater stream.

The study examine the major ion chemistry and p(CO) variations of Ganga headwater stream for a stretch of 18 km from Gangotri glacier snout at Gomukh to Gangotri for characterising the open and closed system conditions and its temporal variations. The study has been carried out at three locations along the stream continuum, at the glacier snout (0 km), Bhojwasa (4 km) and Gangotri (18 km) covering three consecutive melt seasons from the year 2014 to 2016 and reveals the persistence of closed system conditions along the stream stretch. The year 2014 and 2016 melt seasons experience high p(CO) closed system conditions associated with high suspended sediment flux, whereas the year 2015 experienced low p(CO) closed system condition associated with low sediment flux suggesting in-stream sulphide oxidation during high sediment flux years and results into low values of the C-ratio.