Abstract
During middle June 2013, Kedarnath valley in Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand, India, was affected by catastrophic rainfall episode that caused massive loss of human lives and damage to the properties and livestock. Isotopic signatures of rainfall, snow/ice melt water and river water of Mandakani River were measured from 25 May 2013 to 16 June 2013, and these isotopic signatures are used to estimate the contribution of rainfall-derived runoff on flooding day. The result indicates that during the course of flood in Mandakani River, isotopic signature of river water was −15.97 ‰, whereas average isotopic signature of river before the flood shows −10.39 ‰. By using the two-component mixed model, the contribution of rainfall-derived runoff is found to be 78 % and the contribution of snow/ice melt runoff is 22 % during the flash flood in Mandakani River surrounding the Shri Kedarnath Temple, Central Himalaya, India.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, New Delhi. Authors are thankful to Director, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun, India, for giving all support for research and publication of this work. Acknowledgement is due to Manish Mehta and Archana Vohra for supporting the field work. Thanks are also due to watch and ward Mr. Dhanveer Pawanr and Mr. Braham Bahadur Bhandari for the collection of samples.
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Ahluwalia, R.S., Rai, S.P., Gupta, A.K. et al. Towards the understanding of the flash flood through isotope approach in Kedarnath valley in June 2013, Central Himalaya, India. Nat Hazards 82, 321–332 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-016-2203-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-016-2203-6