Comparison of Snowmelt Runoff from the River Basins in the Eastern and Western Himalayan Region of India using SDSRM

The runoff from the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) acts as a vital source of water, and therefore, estimation of runoff from snowmelt is very important. This study has been done with an objective to evaluate and compare snowmelt runoff for Mago basin in Arunachal Pradesh (Eastern Himalaya) and Alaknanda basin in Uttarakhand (Western Himalaya) using Spatially Distributed Snowmelt Runoff Model (SDSRM) with MODIS data. The performance of SDSRM was found to be satisfactory with model efficiency (ME) greater than 0.65 and R-2 greater than 0.7 in both the basins. The temperature was adjusted using temperature lapse rate, and snow parameters like snow density, snow depth, snow water equivalent, degree day factor and snowmelt depth were generated. Comparatively, the Eastern Himalayan basin was found to have higher mean values of these snow parameters than the Western Himalayan basin. The highest contribution of snowmelt runoff in the Eastern Himalayan basin was found to be 31.23% in the month of April and in the Western Himalayan basin, it was found as 44.70% in the month of May. It was also found from this study that snowmelt in both the Eastern and Western Himalayan basins starts from April and continues till September. The snowmelt contribution was comparatively higher in the Western Himalayan basin.

Automated summary

This study evaluated and compared snowmelt runoff in the Mago basin in Arunachal Pradesh and the Alaknanda basin in Uttarakhand using SDSRM and MODIS data. The Eastern Himalayan basin had higher mean values of snow parameters and snowmelt contribution than the Western Himalayan basin, with different peak periods.