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. About one billion people living in these rivers 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% 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. Under this project, the Rulung Glacier in the Karzok region of Ladakh UT has been identified for long-term in-situ monitoring. Multiple glacier parameters including mass balance, surface velocity, surface morphology, and snout dynamics of this glacier are being studied in the field with high precision since July 2023. To understand the meteorological conditions at the glacier catchment, an Automatic Weather Station (AWS) has also been installed at the forefield of the glacier (around 700 m downstream of snout) at an elevation of 5604 m asl.

Th AWS 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 of the country that is being monitored in-situ for hydrological and weather parameters. 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.