BARC/PUB/2014/0488

 
 

Stable isotopic composition of precipitation in the River Bhagirathi Basin and identification of source vapour

 
     
 
Author(s)

Rai, S. P.; Purushothaman, P.; Kumar, B.; Jacob, N.; Rawat, Y. S
(IAD)

Source

Environmental Earth Sciences, 2014. Vol. 71 (11): pp. 4835-4847

ABSTRACT

River Ganges one of important rivers in the northern part of India receives water from two of its tributaries, Alaknanda and Bhagirathi. In this present study, we have tried to characterise the precipitation in the Bhagirathi River Basin. The study shows that isotopic composition of precipitation shows depleted nature during monsoon period due to moisture source from the oceanic region and from African region of Indian Ocean and enriched isotopic composition during non-monsoon period due to moisture source from westerlies and local evaporation. The study also shows that temperature and amount show expected positive and negative relationship with individual locations. A positive relationship is exhibited by amount for the entire region due to depleted isotopic composition with increase in altitude. The altitude effect shows that there is a depletion of up to -0.24 to -0.29 % of isotopic composition with an increase in 100 m of elevation.

 
 
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