Assessment of runoff in Chandra river basin of Western Himalaya using Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques

The runoff of Chandra river basin in the Himalayan India was assessed using a hydrological model combined with satellite remote sensing observations. During a test period between 2000 and 2015, in situ measurements of runoff and meteorological parameters were conducted in the glacial catchment areas of Sutridhaka and Chhotashigri. A good agreement was found between the observed and predicted runoff (correlation R2 > 0.8). The hydrological model was then used to simulate the runoff of Chandra River for a period of 2000 to 2015. Almost 68% of the predicted runoff occurred during the ablation period (May to September). A sensitivity study of the Chandra basin hydrology to a predicted warming climate of 1 to 4 K, toward the end of the century suggests that increased production of glacial melt water would have more impact on runoff than potential increase in precipitation. During the monsoon months (of June to August), increased runoff is predicted due to enhanced glacial melting but the runoff in other months to be lower than present mean runoff, except for the summer months (March to July).