Single-year thermal regime and inferred permafrost occurrence in the upper Ganglass catchment of the cold-arid Himalaya, Ladakh, India
Cold-arid regions of the trans-Himalaya in the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) is suspected to have a significant area of permafrost. However, information on the ground thermal regime of these permafrost areas is so far not available. This study bridge this knowledge gap by analysing the sub-surface t...
Published in: | Science of The Total Environment |
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Main Authors: | , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2020
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://ir.library.carleton.ca/pub/25687 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134631 |
Summary: | Cold-arid regions of the trans-Himalaya in the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) is suspected to have a significant area of permafrost. However, information on the ground thermal regime of these permafrost areas is so far not available. This study bridge this knowledge gap by analysing the sub-surface thermal regime of selected sites in the Ganglass catchment, Ladakh range. Near surface ground temperature data recorded during September 2016 to August 2017 using 24-miniature temperature data loggers distributed across 12 plots and covering an elevation range of 4700–5612 m a.s.l. are used in this study. Permafrost characteristics including plausible ranges of thermal offset, active-layer thickness and mean annual ground temperature at 10 m depth were estimated by driving a one-dimensional heat conduction model. Two statistical models were used to map first order estimates of permafrost area in this 15.4 km2 catchment. Study suggest permafrost occurrence at |
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