Earth, Atmosphere & Environment Sciences
Title : | Trans Himalayan lake dynamics as sentinels to global climate change |
Area of research : | Earth, Atmosphere & Environment Sciences |
Focus area : | Climate Change and Lake Ecosystems |
Principal Investigator : | Ms. Priyanka Joshi, Agharkar Research Institute, Pune, Maharashtra |
Timeline Start Year : | 2024 |
Timeline End Year : | 2026 |
Contact info : | priyankajoshigeology@gmail.com |
Details
Executive Summary : | Mountain ranges are found across the world and, owing to the glacial history of many mountain regions, glacial lakes are important features of these landscapes. The Ladakh Range, NW Trans Himalaya is one such example and has numerous lakes and palaeolakes. This region is significant because it lies in the mid latitude Westerlies dominated region of India. Only during an intensified ISM (Indian summer monsoon) can the ISM variance be seen in the sediment archive deposited here. Therefore, it is an excellent place to study the two precipitation regimes, which are very much responsible for the prolonged ice cover in the higher reaches of the region thus enhancing the climate and reshaping the landscape. The glacial lakes in the region have attracted much attention because of the negative mass balance in the recent decades. These lakes and their deposits are often situated in protected natural areas, a feature that leads to their role as sentinels of global environmental change. Thus the high altitude mountain lakes need attention as they are much ecologically rich and are an excellent place to tackle questions about the carbon cycle owing to steep elevational gradients, which result in variations in carbon fluxes and storage capacity of lakes. Moreover the study of lake biota coupled with other proxies can throw light upon the ecological thresholds with establishment of new ecologically states not observed before. |
Organizations involved