A team comprising representatives from ICIMOD and the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM), Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation – Government of Nepal, will travel to Langtang Valley to conduct discharge measurement in Langtang Khola over two days. The team will use the tracer technique to catch the highest river runoff for Langtang Khola during monsoon. Information about river runoff is required for understanding water availability and calibrating and validating glacio-hydrological models, among other uses.

The dataset will primarily be used to improve the existing rating curve, which is a graph between river discharge and stage (water level), and validate earlier discharge measurements. The rating curve is required for deriving river discharge for the range of observed stages.

The expedition is a part of activities under the Cryosphere Monitoring Programme, which is supported by the Norwegian government and implemented by ICIMOD in coordination with the DHM, Kathmandu University (KU), Tribhuvan University (TU), and the Water and Energy Commission Secretariat (WECS).

Langtang Khola in September 2016 (Photo: Maxime Litt/ICIMOD)