Abstract:
The major river systems of India, i.e. the Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra river systems
originating in the Himalayan region, are considered the lifeline of the Indian subcontinent. The main
sources maintaining the flow of the Himalayan rivers are snow/glacial melt runoff, rainfall runoff and
base flow. The Beas River originates from Beas Kund Glacier in the Himalayan region and flows down to
join the Sutlej River, which is a tributary of the Indus River system. In the present study two approaches,
namely hydrologic modelling and isotope analysis, have been applied to estimate the contribution of
snow and glacier melt. Samples of streamflow, rainfall and snow for isotopic analysis were collected daily
from April to September and weekly from October to March during 2010 and 2011. The isotope analysis
of samples reveals that the snow/glacier melt contribution to the Beas River at Manali is 50% of the total
flow during these 2 years. Snowmelt runoff modelling has been carried out using the SNOWMODmodel,
and the snow/glacier melt runoff contribution is calculated to be 52% of the total flow during the same
period. These findings indicate that the results obtained from the two approaches are similar.
