2.5-Instrumentation & measurement techniques for the study of water equvalent of snow and snow pack and glacier using isotope techniques.

Abstract

The study of the formation of snow cover and measurement of its water is of great scientific and practical importance for land which is covered with snow for a large part of the year. Information on snow cover is required to evaluate the rate of stream flow of river during the snow melt period, the amount of water available for reservoirs and irrigation,systems and water content of the soil and to forecast possible natural disaster such as flooding, mud flows, land slides and snow avalanches. Hydrological investigations related to snow and ice are mostly directed to water balance, studies in basin with temporary snow cover or with glaciers. They require good knowledge of processes involving accretion and melting of snow covers, transition from snow to ice, water movement and storage in glaciers, and long term variations in the kryosphere of the earth. Isotope methods have been proved useful for solving many detailed questions in the frame of these problems. This paper deals with the instrumental techniques used for the measurement of water equivalent of snow using isotopes and methods based on the analyses of environmental isotope contents (primarily Deuterium, Tritium , Oxygen-18) in snow and ice for the study of snow pack and glacier.