Response of hydrological factors and relationships between runoff and sediment yield in the Sub Basin of Satluj River, Western Himalaya, India

Runoff and sediment yield assessment is the most complex hydrological phenomenon to comprehend due to tremendous spatial variability of watershed characteristics and precipitation patterns. A number of natural and anthropogenic factors influence the water and suspended sediment flux of a river basin along its pathway. In the present study Satluj River which is located in the Western Himalayan ranges state of Himanchal Pradesh, India. Daily data have been used to examine the relationships between rainfall, runoff and in a remote sensing and GIS environment. For this study Rampur, Suni and Kasol three metrological stations datasets of rainfall, runoff and sediment yield for Satluj basin during 1980 to 2005 have been used. Eighteen different hydro environmental variables were derived from different spatial, non spatial and metrological datasets to calculate the characteristics of the basin. The terra ASTER digital elevation model (DEM) with 30 meter spatial resolution has been used. The performance of the long term trend analysis of rainfall, runoff and sediment yield was evaluated using statistical and graphical methods.