Research Projects

Subarnarekha river basin is the smallest basin among the mutli-state river basins in India. Total length of this river is approx. 400 kilometers. After originating near Piska/ Nagri, near Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand the Subarnarekha traverses a long distance through Ranchi, Saraikela Kharsawan and East Singhbhum districts in the state and further to the states of West Bengal and Odisha with approx. area of 18951 Km2. One of the significant aspects of this basin is the location of Ranchi city within it, which is capital of the Indian state of Jharkhand created in the year 2000 with rapid development activities after creation of this state.Conventional surface water budget estimation methods focus on observed climate factors based on points. Basin-wide, interpolation-derived areal evaluation may not represent the actual nature of sub-regional differences. Therefore, pixel-wise water balance calculation is suggested for the Subarnarekha river basin in India, using the geographic and remote sensing techniques. This approach is foreseen to have a spatio-temporal capability with dynamic integration of water budget at basin level.In the light of the limited data nature of the basin, which requires the latest technology to overcome, the RS-GIS approach must be very critical in producing information of a large basin such as Subarnarekha. In addition, budget model also should be of such spatio-temporal nature which can be updated by using RS data for different periods. A large basin like this deserves budget model to be developed using advanced RS-GIS techniques making the process dynamic and versatile for future scenarios as well.As a very brief rainy period from mid-June to mid-August, it is one of the most stressed basins in terms of water supply and demand. In the past few decades, rain-fed agriculture has endured most due to the constantly unpredictable rainfall in the region. Therefore, a thorough knowledge of local and regional water resources is essential to complement rain-fed agriculture through irrigation. The research shall proposes to investigate the feasibility of a hydrological budget model, fully based on satellite remote sensing, for this specific basin of river.