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

Wani, John Mohd; Thayyen, Renoj J.; Gruber, Stephan; Ojha, C. S. P.; Stumm, D.

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134631

Cited by 29 publications

(25 citation statements)

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“…In recent years, several studies have investigated permafrost in the Tibetan plateau [47,48], Hindu Kush-Himalaya (HKH) [49], and Nepalese Himalaya [50]. However, in the case of North-western Himalaya, only fragmented information exists [6,7,[51][52][53][54]. A global Permafrost Zonation Index (PZI) at ~1 km resolution was provided by Gruber (2012) using an empirical relationship between permafrost and mean annual air temperature (MAAT), which can be considered as a first order estimate of permafrost.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling Permafrost Distribution in Western Himalaya Using Remote Sensing and Field Observations

et al. 2021

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The presence and extent of permafrost in the Himalaya, which is a vital component of the cryosphere, remains severely under-researched with its future climatic-driven trajectory only partly understood and the future consequences on high-altitude ecosystem tentatively sketched out. Previous studies and available permafrost maps for the Himalaya relied primarily upon the modelled meteorological inputs to further model the likelihood of permafrost. Here, as a maiden attempt, we have quantified the distribution of permafrost at 30 m grid-resolution in the Western Himalaya using observations from multisource satellite datasets for estimating input parameters, namely temperature, potential incoming solar radiation (PISR), slope, aspect and land use, and cover. The results have been compared to previous studies and have been validated through field investigations and geomorphological proxies associated with permafrost presence. A large part of the study area is barren land (~69%) due to its extremely resistive climate condition with ~62% of the total area having a mean annual air temperature of (MAAT) <1 °C. There is a high inter-annual variability indicated by varying standard deviation (1–3 °C) associated with MAAT with low standard deviation in southern part of the study area indicating low variations in areas with high temperatures and vice-versa. The majority of the study area is northerly (~36%) and southerly (~38%) oriented, receiving PISR between 1 and 2.5 MW/m2. The analysis of permafrost distribution using biennial mean air temperature (BMAT) for 2002-04 to 2018-20 suggests that the ~25% of the total study area has continuous permafrost, ~35% has discontinuous permafrost, ~1.5% has sporadic permafrost, and ~39% has no permafrost presence. The temporal analysis of permafrost distribution indicates a significant decrease in the permafrost cover in general and discontinuous permafrost in particular, from 2002-04 to 2018-20, with a loss of around 3% for the total area (~8340.48 km2). The present study will serve as an analogue for future permafrost studies to help understand the permafrost dynamics associated with the effects of the recent abrupt rise in temperature and change in precipitation pattern in the region.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling Permafrost Distribution in Western Himalaya Using Remote Sensing and Field Observations

et al. 2021

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“…The energy balance at the earth's surface drives the spatiotemporal variability in ground temperature (Oke, 2002;Sellers, 1965;Westermann et al, 2009). It is linked to the atmospheric boundary layer and location-dependent transfer mechanisms between land and the overlying atmosphere (Endrizzi, 2007;Martin and Lejeune, 1998;McBean and Miyake, 1972).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The SEB characteristics of different permafrost regions have been studied in e.g. the North American Arctic (Eugster et al, 2000;Lynch et al, 1999;Ohmura, 1982Ohmura, , 1984, European Arctic (Lloyd et al, 2001;Westermann et al, 2009), Tibetan Plateau (Gu et al, 2015;Hu et al, 2019;Yao et al, 2008Yao et al, , 2011Yao et al, , 2020, European Alps (Mittaz et al, 2000) and Siberia (Boike et al, 2008;Kodama et al, 2007;Langer et al, 2011a, b). However, SEB studies of IHR are limited to, for example, the energy balance studies on glaciers by Azam et al (2014) and Singh et al (2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The surface energy balance in a cold and arid permafrost environment, Ladakh, Himalayas, India

et al. 2021

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Abstract. Recent studies have shown the cold and arid trans-Himalayan region comprises significant areas underlain by permafrost. While the information on the permafrost characteristics of this region started emerging, the governing energy regime is of particular interest. This paper presents the results of a surface energy balance (SEB) study carried out in the upper Ganglass catchment in the Ladakh region of India which feeds directly into the Indus River. The point-scale SEB is estimated using the 1D mode of the GEOtop model for the period of 1 September 2015 to 31 August 2017 at 4727 m a.s.l. elevation. The model is evaluated using field-monitored snow depth variations (accumulation and melting), outgoing long-wave radiation and near-surface ground temperatures and showed good agreement with the respective simulated values. For the study period, the SEB characteristics of the study site show that the net radiation (29.7 W m−2) was the major component, followed by sensible heat flux (−15.6 W m−2), latent heat flux (−11.2 W m−2) and ground heat flux (−0.5 W m−2). During both years, the latent heat flux was highest in summer and lowest in winter, whereas the sensible heat flux was highest in post-winter and gradually decreased towards the pre-winter season. During the study period, snow cover builds up starting around the last week of December, facilitating ground cooling during almost 3 months (October to December), with sub-zero temperatures down to −20 ∘C providing a favourable environment for permafrost. It is observed that the Ladakh region has a very low relative humidity in the range of 43 % compared to e.g. ∼70 % in the European Alps, resulting in lower incoming long-wave radiation and strongly negative net long-wave radiation averaging ∼-90 W m−2 compared to −40 W m−2 in the European Alps. Hence, land surfaces at high elevation in cold and arid regions could be overall colder than the locations with higher relative humidity, such as the European Alps. Further, it is found that high incoming short-wave radiation during summer months in the region may be facilitating enhanced cooling of wet valley bottom surfaces as a result of stronger evaporation.

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“…Other permafrost observations exist at high elevations outside the European Alps or are being developed in the framework of research or industry. Examples are the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (Zhao et al, 2010), the Hindu Kush Himalaya (Gruber et al, 2017;Wani et al, 2020), the Indian Himalaya (Allen et al, 2016), North America (Gruber et al, 2015;Hasler et al, 2015) or the South American Andes (Monnier and Kinnard, 2013). Nevertheless, these sites are still rare, even more difficult to access, not in comparably mountainous topography, have shallow boreholes or are not (yet) equipped for longterm monitoring.…”

Section: Network Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%

Best Practice for Measuring Permafrost Temperature in Boreholes Based on the Experience in the Swiss Alps

Nötzli¹,

Arenson

Bast³

et al. 2021

Front. Earth Sci.

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Temperature measurements in boreholes are the most common method allowing the quantitative and direct observation of permafrost evolution in the context of climate change. Existing boreholes and monitoring networks often emerged in a scientific context targeting different objectives and with different setups. A standardized, well-planned and robust instrumentation of boreholes for long-term operation is crucial to deliver comparable, high-quality data for scientific analyses and assessments. However, only a limited number of guidelines are available, particularly for mountain regions. In this paper, we discuss challenges and devise best practice recommendations for permafrost temperature measurements at single sites as well as in a network, based on two decades of experience gained in the framework of the Swiss Permafrost Monitoring Network PERMOS. These recommendations apply to permafrost observations in mountain regions, although many aspects also apply to polar lowlands. The main recommendations are (1) to thoroughly consider criteria for site selection based on the objective of the measurements as well as on preliminary studies and available data, (2) to define the sampling strategy during planification, (3) to engage experienced drilling teams who can cope with inhomogeneous and potentially unstable subsurface material, (4) to select standardized and robust instrumentation with high accuracy temperature sensors and excellent long-term stability when calibrated at 0°C, ideally with double sensors at key depths for validation and substitution of questionable data, (5) to apply standardized maintenance procedures allowing maximum comparability and minimum data processing, (6) to implement regular data control procedures, and (7) to ensure remote data access allowing for rapid trouble shooting and timely reporting. Data gaps can be avoided by timely planning of replacement boreholes. Recommendations for standardized procedures regarding data quality documentation, processing and final publication will follow later.

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

Cited by 29 publications

References 70 publications

Modelling Permafrost Distribution in Western Himalaya Using Remote Sensing and Field Observations

Modelling Permafrost Distribution in Western Himalaya Using Remote Sensing and Field Observations

The surface energy balance in a cold and arid permafrost environment, Ladakh, Himalayas, India

Best Practice for Measuring Permafrost Temperature in Boreholes Based on the Experience in the Swiss Alps

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