Prof. Kalachand Sain

Kalachand Sain obtained M.Sc. (Tech) in App. Geophysics from IIT-ISM, Dhanbad, and Ph.D. in Active Seismology from CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), Hyderabad in 1995. He visited Cambridge University (UK) and Rice University (USA) as post-doctoral Fellow, and USGS (USA) as Visiting Scientist. After attaining the age of 60 years, he has superannuated as Director of Dehradun-based Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG) – A DST-Institute, GoI, and been continuing his research and mentoring students as JC Bose National Fellow initially at WIHG and later at CSIR-NGRI. He also 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 Chief Scientist and Head of Seismic Group at CSIR-NGRI. He is an honorary Outstanding Prof. at AcSIR, Ghaziabad and Advisor at DST Centre of Excellence for Climate Information – IIT Delhi.

Statement of Work: His expertise includes Machine Learning, seismic tomography, attribute characterization, rock physics, and advanced processing of geoscientific data. His research covers climate change; glaciers/glacial-lakes dynamics; geo-hazards due to earthquakes, landslides, avalanches, debris flow, flash floods; early warnings; seismotectonics, geodynamics, basin evolution; conventional hydrocarbons, non conventional gas-hydrates & geothermal energy resources; sub-volcanic imaging. He visited 20 countries to present his scientific outcome, completed 15 international collaborations, pursued joint studies with Indian organizations, delivered over 125 plenary/invited talks (some are available in Websites/YouTube). He organised 15 International conferences, convened 27 sessions & chaired 42 sessions in international/national fora, conducted short courses on advanced topics/methodologies for industry professionals & organizations, successfully completed projects worth of INR 62 crores, procured INR 160 crores worth industry-standard data. All these have resulted into 228 SCI articles with 5495 total citations; 30 papers each having >50 citations; 114 i-10 index; 36 h-index; 5 authored books; 7 edited volumes; 26 book-chapters; 112 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 all three Indian Science Academies: Indian National Science Academy (Delhi), Indian Academy of Sciences (Bangalore), National Academy of Science in India (Allahabad), as well as Fellow of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Academy of Sciences (Hyderabad). He is a recipient of 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 (now ANRF), CSIR, MoES, MoE, Min. of Env. Forest & Climate Change, Science Academies, Research Councils, Governing Bodies, Advisory Boards of National Organizations and Universities.

Main Scientific Attainment:

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

 Personal Page: https://kalachandsain.wixsite.com/saink