My Professional / research Achievements

 

Twenty years of experience in i) data acquisition, processing, reformatting, applying quality control checks, creating and maintaining databases and preparing useful data products and disseminating desired data to the end users, while securing unique and valuable data and ii) processing remote sensing data and interpreting it to carry out basic and applied research in the field of coastal Geosciences for understanding the coastal processes related to sediment transport, sediment balance and its relation with hydrodynamic forces. The databases and interpreted results are presented in national and international seminars/workshops and published in reputed International journals such as Journal of Coastal Research, Marine Geology, International Journal of Remote Sensing, Current Science, Estuarine, Coastal & Shelf sciences, Ocean and Coastal management, Photonirvachak, technical reports and CD-ROMs etc.

 

1)     Geo-Data management activity at CSRE, IIT, Mumbai.

 

I joined Centre of Studies in Resources Engineering (CSRE) in 1983 as Research Assistant under “Natural Resources Database Management System” (NRDMS) National project during which, I focused on digital processing and interpretation of remotely sensed data for geological studies. I actively participated in designing and creating an integrated resources Geo-data base system and in implementing district-level Geo-database system in Kheda district, Gujrat. I, on UNESCO fellowship, attended six weeks course on remote sensing application of Earth Sciences organized by I.T.C., The Netherlands.

 

2)     Geo-Data management activity at NIO, Goa

 

In 1987, I joined as Scientist in National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa. In Indian Oceanographic data center (IODC), I designed and created databases for achieving, management and dissemination of Geological and Geophysical data. I participated in successful development and running of National projects like “Marine Remote sensing System”, “National Oceanographic Information System “ (NOIS) etc. In 1995, again on IOC fellowship, I attended two weeks training course on Marine Geological and Geophysical data management organized by World Data Centre-B, Russia. I participated in various other activities that resulted in elevating status of National IODC to Responsible National Oceanographic Data Centre.   

 

I took leading role in producing (first ever) the Northern Indian Ocean CD-ROM (NIO-CD) and participated in developing user-friendly dedicated software Interface System  (SIS) for searching, viewing and accessing desired Geo-data from NIO-CD. I also prepared a User’s Guide for NIO-CD interface software. My compilation of database on worldwide available databases in Marine Geology attracted global attention (Marine Geology, 122(3), 263-275). I was invited to write a chapter on “Databases” in Encyclopedia of Coastal Sciences, (edited by Maurice Schwartz) of Kluwer Academic publisher, USA.

 

I designed and developed Marine Geophysical Data management system using ORACLE database with over 13,00,000 records and a presentation system using ARCVIEW software which is helpful in management and selective retrieval of geophysical data (Current Science, 90(12).\, 1658-1663). I also designed and developed marine geological and geochemistry database for the users. I attended several data request and earned revenue of around Rs. 12/- lakhs for the institute by disseminating data in last couple of years.

 

                  3) Remote sensing application to coastal geosciences studies:

 

I applied remote sensing techniques to study coastal environment with special emphasis on determination of alongshore drift direction along geomorphologically varied coastal shores of India. I determined net shore drift direction all along the coasts by studying various coastal landform indicators and offshore turbid water distribution patterns. I utilized Coastal landform study for assessing qualitative contribution of sources and losses due to sinks for predicting sediment budget. From the study, I concluded that although sediment transport is bi-directional and season dependent, the resultant sediment transport is southwards. I am opined that the sediment balance, along the Maharashtra coast is negative where as it is positive along Goa-N. Karnataka and Kerala coast. Using remote sensing I also studied barrier islands of Kerala coast and spits of Karnataka coast. I explained possible evolution of barrier islands. Remote sensing techniques were used to derive Ocean Color Monitor (OCM) from up to 20 m water depth in the high energy tide dominated Gulf to map underwater bedforms, sediment plumes and other geographic features. By studying turbidity distribution pattern using OCM data, depth variation, sediment transport and dispersion was inferred [Int. J. Remote Sensing, 24(11), 2253-2263].

 

Under RONPAKU, JSPS fellowship, I carried out Doctoral research entitled, “Three Dimensional Model Simulation for Predicting Hydrodynamic Conditions in High Tide Dominated Gulf”. In this study, a fully 3D hydrodynamic model ‘COSMOS’ was applied to the Gulf of Kachchh (GoK) to predict tidal variation, ocean currents, residual tidal current, sea surface temperature distribution etc. The model results showed that dominant current system is controlled by tidal variation. Residual current velocity distribution displays an anti-cyclonic eddy, divergence and convergence areas in the GoK, which corresponds to topographic changes. It is demonstrated that bottom topography plays an important role in determining the distribution of residual current velocity. I established relation between residual tidal currents and sediment transport component and demonstrated usefulness of model in producing near real hydrodynamic data for better prediction. [Unpublished thesis, Chiba University, Japan, 130p. and Journal of Marine Systems 55/3-4, 139-153, 2005].

 

During my twenty years of research career, I have published 23 research papers in referred National & International journals, 17 papers in proceeding and books, 25 technical reports and has filed copyrights for two of my products. I guided 5 M.C.A., 1 M.Sc. students. I have served as a reviewer for Current Science, Photonirvachak and Indian Journal of Marine Sciences.