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Research on flood and erosion at Majuli

By Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, June 16 - The University of Nottingham, United Kingdom and IIT Roorkee, India have undertaken a joint research project on the prediction of future flooding and erosion in river island Majuli.

With around 1.5 lakh population, Majuli is one of the ten large inhabited river islands. It is facing the wrath of the Brahmaputra and losing its land mass since the 1950s.

The research project undertaken by the University of Nottingham and IIT Roorkee is applying CAESAR Lisflood modeling tools to provide new insights into how flooding and erosion on Majuli island are likely to change over the coming decades.

The research project is expected to provide valuable information for future engineering and management practices. CASEAR Lisflood model is a software used to model long-term landscape evolution, flood and erosion. It has been developed by Professor Tom Coulthard in the University of Hull, said Prasujya Gogoi, PhD student, School of Geography, University of Nottingham.

Prasujya is carrying out the research under the supervision of Prof Colin Thorne and Dr Nick Mount of the University of Nottingham and Prof Nayan Sarma of the Department of Water Resource Development and Management of IIT, Roorkee.

Prof Throne is internationally renowned for his contribution to the field of river hydraulics. Recently, he was awarded the prestigious Back Award by the Royal Geographical Society for his outstanding contribution towards shaping national and international policy on rivers and flood management. Dr Nick Mount is an expert in the field of hydro-informatics. Prof Nayan Sarma is internationally known for his work on fluvial systems in general, and research on the monsoon-affected �mega-rivers� of India, the Brahmaputra in particular.

This research is expected to contribute to the knowledge relating to the morphological history of Majuli island as well as helping in forecasting the future developments in the island and also to assess the impact of physical processes of erosion and sedimentation on the island, among others, said Prasujya.

The research is carried out as part of a prestigious Vice-Chancellor�s Scholarship of Research Excellence (International) 2014 award of the University of Nottingham. Prasujya has also won the prestigious Newton Bhabha Fund 2015-2016 of the British Council and the Indian Department of Biotechnology for carrying out this collaborative research work.

Speaking about the targeted outcome of the project, Prof Nayan Sarma said the end product of the work is expected to provide incontrovertible scientific evidence on the prognosis of the chronic malaise afflicting Majuli.

Evidently, such an objective multidisciplinary applied research will help replace the present conjectural ad-hoc approach, he said.

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