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November 19-20, 2018 Paris, France
6
th
Global summit on Climate Change
Volume 9
Climate Change Summit 2018
Journal of Earth Science & Climate Change | ISSN : 2157-7617
Rainfall and river discharge variability in Bagmati river catchment of Nepal
I
mpacts of climate change on precipitation and water availability are found to vary depending
on geographic location and other characteristics of the region. Variabilities in rainfall and river
discharge of a Himalayan mountainous catchment of the Bagmati river in Nepal were examined
based on historical gauge records of 1970-2015. Daily rainfall series from 12 stations and river
discharge from Karmaiya/Pandheradovan station were used in this study. Prior to creating annual
series, both datasets were homogenized. Non-parametric Mann-Kendall test was employed to
identify trends in annual rainfall and discharge series. The analysis showed that annual rainfall in the
region and river discharge from the catchment is decreasing, however the changes are statistically
insignificant (at the 95% confidence level). An evaluation of five-yearly rainfall departure from
mean revealed that fluctuation of rainfall during 1975-2000 corresponds to the long-term mean
value of the study period. In contrast, the catchment had remarkably varying rainfall in all three
of the five-yearly periods after 2000. Further, it had substantially low rainfall during 2005-2015.
Results also confirmed that river discharge of the catchment is directly associated with rainfall,
even though the magnitude of difference between the two become more pronounced in certain
periods. The study indicated that variability of rainfall in the region is increasing and availability of
freshwater may become scarce in response to climate change.
Biography
Dinesh Tuladhar is pursuing his PhD at Curtin University, Western Australia. He has completed his Master’s
degree in Geography from Tribhuvan University (2006) and Master’s degree in Geospatial Information
Sciences (GIS) from Curtin University (2009). He has over 10 years of experience in GIS, remote sensing,
data analysis and research. His PhD research includes case study of river flow variability and influencing
factors in two Himalayan mountain catchments in Nepal with contrasting geographical characteristics.
dinesh.tuladhar@postgrad
Dinesh Tuladhar
Curtin University, Australia
Dinesh Tuladhar, J Earth Sci Clim Change 2018, Volume:9
DOI: 10.4172/2157-7617-C5-051
co-Authors
Ashraf Dewan, Michael Kuhn
and
Robert J
Corner
Curtin University, Bentley, Australia
Dinesh Tuladhar
Curtin University, Bentley, Australia