Application ID: APWRD23RA1029

 

Brief Details:

Dr. Sonam Sandeep Dash is a highly motivated and experienced scholar seeking an Assistant Professor position in the Department of Water Resources Development and Management at IIT Roorkee. Currently, he is working as a Postdoctoral Researcher in the School of Civil Engineering at the University College Dublin. I received my Ph.D. in Water Resources Engineering from IIT Kharagpur in 2022 and have since developed a robust research agenda focused on physically-based hydrological model development, modeling hydrological extremes, and remote sensing derived vegetation mapping.

Dr. Dash's research has been published in top-tier journals in Water Resources Engineering and has been presented at international conferences such as American Geophysical Union, and European Geophysical Union. Their current research focuses on sustainable catchment management, particularly interested in integrated process-based models and remote sensing-based approaches for modeling hydrological extreme events.

As an educator, Dr. Dash is dedicated to fostering an inclusive learning environment where students feel comfortable and supported. He has experience teaching courses in surface water hydrology, remote sensing, and GIS application in water resources management, river basin management, and environmental hydrology and has received positive feedback from students for their engaging and innovative teaching methods. He has also mentored graduate and undergraduate students, helping them develop the skills and expertise necessary to succeed in water resources engineering and earth science applications. Beyond his research and teaching, Dr. Dash is committed to promoting diversity and inclusion in the relevant field. He is also an active member of AGU and EGU and has served in various academic roles including judging student activities and outreach events. Overall, he is a highly qualified and dedicated scholar who would make a valuable addition to IIT Roorkee. He is excited about the opportunity to continue his research and teaching at IIT Roorkee.

Title of Talk: A Novel Process-based Hydrological Modelling Scheme for Sustainable Catchment Management under Hydrological Extreme Scenarios

Catchment-scale streamflow assessment and reservoir operation in the river-reservoir integrated catchment-command areas under climate change scenarios are intricate due to the presence of significant ponding water in the paddy fields. However, the lack of water transport description under the alternate wetting and drying (AWD) conditions alters the vadose zone hydrology; thereby, makes the application of existing hydrological models less reliable. Further, the conventional reservoir operation rule may not be feasible for adaptive reservoir operation under acute water stress conditions of future climate change scenarios. Therefore, this research: i) develops an enhanced hydrological modelling conceptualization (SWAT-EP) for catchment-scale hydrological flux assessment and drought monitoring in the tropical river basin of eastern India; ii) proposes an integrated simulation-optimization model-based multiobjective hedging reservoir operation scheme accounting for flood control and effective supply-demand management of irrigation water in the irrigation command under baseline and future climate change scenarios. The results revealed that, as compared to the existing approaches, the developed SWAT-EP approach performed the best with the Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency of 0.87 and 0.77 for the paddy and non-paddy growing regions, respectively. Similarly, corresponding to the existing operation rules under both the baseline and future climate change scenarios of RCP 4.5 and 8.5, the proposed reservoir operation scheme could improve the performance of the Kangsabati reservoir significantly. Conclusively, the developed approach in this study could be the best feasible alternative for hydrologic characterization in complex reservoir catchment-command regions with the option for enhanced reservoir operation

Teaching: Analytical Approach of Evaporation Estimation: Concept and Applications

Accurate estimation of evaporation is critical for the design and management of water resource systems. The presentation will cover the basic principles of evaporation and the factors that influence the process. Moreover, different methods of evaporation estimation, such as mass balance, energy balance, and empirical models, will be discussed in detail with more emphasis on the analytical method of evaporation estimation. The aim of the presentation is to equip the audience with a deeper understanding of the principles behind the different methods of evaporation estimation and their practical applications. The presentation will cover the fundamental concepts of evaporation, including the physical and environmental factors that influence the process. Different approaches for estimating evaporation rates will be discussed, including empirical, semi-empirical, and theoretical models. Moreover, the fundamental of the energy balance approach of evaporation estimation and subsequent, derivation of the expression from the Reynold Transport Theorem (RTT) will be discussed in detail. To summarize, the attendees will have a comprehensive understanding of the analytical method of evaporation estimation and be able to apply it in their own research or professional work.

Google Scholar Link: 

https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=f-osVNcAAAAJ&hl=en