Interpretation of the Chemical and Physical Time-series Retrieved from Sentik Glacier, Ladakh Himalaya, India

Spectral analysis of time series of a c. 17 ± 0.3 year core, calibrated for total β activity recovered from Sentik Glacier (4908 m) Ladakh, Himalaya, yields several recognizable periodicities including sub-annual, annual, and multi-annual. The time-series, include both chemical data (chloride, sodium, reactive iron, reactive silicate, reactive phosphate, ammonium, δD, δ(18O) and pH) and physical data (density, debris and ice-band locations, and microparticles in size grades 0.50 to 12.70 μm). Source areas for chemical species investigated and general air-mass circulation defined from chemical and physical time-series are discussed to demonstrate the potential of such studies in the development of paleometeorological data sets from remote high-alpine glacierized sites such as the Himalaya