Annual glacier runoff is highest in warm, dry summers and lowest during wet, cool summers, further providing a balance to summer runoff (Fountain and Tangborn, 1985; Hock et al., 2005).
But a new discussion paper, «The role of
glaciers in stream flow from the Nepal Himalaya,» (Alford and Armstrong, The Cryosphere Discuss., 4, 469 - 494, 2010) concludes that glacial
runoff contributes only about 4 % to the total
annual stream flow of the Ganges system; the great majority is contributed by monsoon rains.