User:Kalachandsain

Kalachand Sain obtained M.Sc. (Tech) in App. Geophysics from IIT-ISM, Dhanbad, and Ph.D. in Active Seismology from CSIR-NGRI and Osmania University, Hyderabad in 1995. He visited Cambridge University (UK) and Rice University (USA) as post-doctoral Fellow, and USGS (USA) as Visiting Scientist. At present, he is the Director at Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG), Dehradun – An Autonomous Institute of Dept.of Sci. & Tech. (DST), Govt. of India. He held additional charge as Director of Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleo Sciences – another DST-institute, Lucknow for a small span till a new director joined. Earlier, he was ChiefScientist and Head of Seismic Group at CSIR-NGRI. He is an honorary Outstanding Prof. at AcSIR, Ghaziabad.

Statement of Work: His expertise includes AI/ML, seismic tomography, attribute characterization, rock physics, and advanced processing of geoscientific data. His research covers climate change; glaciers dynamics & glaciers lakes; geo-hazards due to earthquakes, landslides, avalanches & flash floods; early warnings; seismotectonics, geodynamics, basin evolution; conventional hydrocarbons, non-conventional gas-hydrates and geothermal energy resources; and sub-volcanic imaging. He visited 20 countries to present his scientific outcome, completed 10 international collaborations, pursued joint studies with many Indian organizations,delivered over 100 plenary/invited talks (available in Websites/YouTube). He chaired 40 sessions & organised 25 sessions in international/national forums, conducted short courses on advanced topics/methodologies for continuing education to industry professionals, convened international conferences, completed projects worth of INR 62 crores, procured INR 160 crores worth industry-standard data for research. All these have resulted into 211 SCI articles with 4663 total citations; 25 papers each having >50 citations; 97 i-10 index; 5 authored books; 7 edited volumes; 26 book-chapters; 100 Non-SCI Articles/Documents; 2 Patents & 2 Copyrights;Section Editor for ‘Encyclopaedia of Solid Earth Geophysics’ by Springer; Subject (Earth & Environmental Sciences) Editor of PINSA; Supervision of 15 Ph.Ds., and Mentoring of 70 Master-dissertations.

Recognition: He is a Fellow of Indian National Science Academy (Delhi), Indian Academy of Sciences(Bangalore), National Academy of Science in India (Allahabad), Andhra Pradesh (AP) Akademi of Sciences(Hyderabad) and Telangana Academy of Sciences (Hyderabad). He is a recipient of J.C. Bose National Fellowship of Science & Engineering Research Board (SERB-DST), National Merit Scholarship by Min. of Education (MoE), Raman Fellowship of CSIR, and BOYSCAST Fellowship of DST.

He is honoured with Distinguished Alumnus Award of IIT-ISM, AP Scientist Award, National Award of Excellence in Geosciences by Min. of Earth Sciences (MoES), National Mineral Award by Min. of Mines, Young Scientist Award by CSIR, Krishnan Gold Medal and Decennial Award by Indian Geophysical Union (IGU). He is the Secretary General of Federation of Indian Geosciences Association; Chairman/Core Member of National Committees of DST, SERB, CSIR, MoES, MoE, Min. of Env. Forest and Climate Change, Science Academies,Research Councils / Governing Bodies / Advisory Boards of National Institutes / Organizations / Universities.

Main Scientific Attainment:

Demonstrated subsurface hydrological imbalance as causes to the land sliding at Joshimath (2023)
Identified precursors for 2021 Chamoli ice-rock avalanche that led to developing early warning system
Established AI Centre of Excellence (2022) at WIHG-DST, Dehradun for AI/ML applications to geosciences
Provided scientific accounts of flash floods/snow avalanches (2022-24) in UK, HP, J&K Himalayas
Long-term monitoring (2019-) of the Gongotri glacier and Bhilangana lake outburst at the Bhagirathi basin
Prepared landslide risk maps (2022) in Kumaun-Garhwal Himalaya as input to developing green corridors
Explained recent seismicity in Delhi-NCR using seismological and Magneto Telluric study (2023)
Imaged hydrocarbon leakage from source to surface through minute fractures in Indo-Gangetic basin (2023)
Developed AI-enabled novel tools (2022) for auto-delineation of subsurface 3D features from surface data
Published an Authored Book (2022) by AGU-Wiley on ‘Meta-attributes: Artificial Networking’, first of its kind
Developed full waveform tomography, first time in India, for the delineation of finer details of subsurface
Published an Authored Book (2023) by Wiley on ‘Tomography of Wide-angle Seismic Data’, first in India
Published an Edited Vol. (2022) by Geol. Soc. of India on ‘Emerging Energy Resources in India’
An Authored Book (2024, in progress) by Wiley on ‘Analysis and Interpretation of Borehole logs’
An Edited Vol. (2024, in progress) by J. of Earth System Science on ‘AI/ML in Earth System Sciences’
An Edited Vol. (2024, in progress) by Frontiers in ES on ‘Glaciers, Sediment Flux, Hazards in Himalaya’
Evaluated geothermal resource potential in UK Himalaya (2020) that can be renewed into green electricity
Established Gas Hydrate Research Centre (2008) with world-class facilities at CSIR-NGRI-Hyderabad
Prepared gas-hydrates stability thickness map (2010) in Indian offshore for identification & characterization
Characterized/gaged gas-hydrates (1998-) in KG, Mahanadi and Andaman basins, proved by drilling/coring
Estimated critical parameters (2010-) that are pre-requisite for developing hydrates production technology
Edited Two Volumes (2014, 2019) by Mar. & Petrol. Geol. Utilising drilling and coring data of Indian NGHP
Edited One Volume (2011) by Mar. & Petrol. Geol. on the occurrences of gas-hydrates in the Asia-Oceania
Delineated high-resolution crustal structures over Indian onshore, offshore, Himalayan regions (2000-)
Imaged sub-volcanic Mesozoic sediments in central-western India for hydrocarbon exploration (2000-)
Led marine cruises for heat flow (2007), gas-hydrates (2010), & imaging subduction plate geometry (2017)
Leading a project (2019-2024) on “Characterization and Assessment of Surface/Subsurface Processes in Himalaya for Seismogenesis, Geodynamics, Geo-hazards, Climate-tectonic interactions, Geo-resources