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Nishan Kumar Biswas

Photo of NISHAN KUMAR BISWAS

Nishan Kumar Biswas

  • Associate Scientist, Earth Sciences
  • NASA/GSFC
  • Employer: UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE CO

    • Research Interests

    Remote Sensing Application in water resources and hydroclimatic disaster management

    • Hydrometeorological application of satellite remote sensing
    • Hydroclimatic disaster monitoring and forecasting
    • Cloud computing and data science application in hydrology

    Current Projects

    Landslide Hazard and Risk Assessment System in Lower Mekong Region

    Leading the development of Google Cloud Platform based Landslide Hazard Assessment model for Situational Awareness (LHASA) for the Lower Mekong Region of South-East Asia. Providing training and building capacity of the stakeholder agencies on modern practices in landslide hazard monitoring and management using advanced information technology cloud computing. Working on migrating landslide hazard monitoring system to the advanced computational IT infrastructure (i.e. Google Earth Engine, Google Cloud Platform).

    Positions/Employment

    2/2021 - Present

    Associate Scientist

    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (USRA/GESTAR), Greenbelt, MD

    Lead developer of Machine Learning based Landslide Hazard Assessment model for Situational Awareness (LHASA) for the Lower Mekong Region of South-East Asia using Google Cloud Platform(GCP). Also, led the initiative to migrate landslide global hazard monitoring systems to the open-source cloud computing frameworks. Has been providing training to the Lower Mekong region agencies to enhance their understanding and capability to use NASA earth observation datasets and models for the decision support and policy analysis.

    12/2015 - 2/2021

    Graduate Research Assistant

    University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
    • A Global Reservoir Assessment Tool (RAT) was developed to monitor the operating pattern of 1600 reservoirs solely based on satellite observations, which showed an accuracy of more than 75%.
    • A Dynamic River Width based Altimeter Height Visualizer was developed to generate near-real-time river stages of 210 virtual stations over South and South-East Asia.
    • A skillful and computationally efficient flash flood forecasting system developed for the northeastern region of Bangladesh which has been used operationally to minimize flood risk and damage.
    • World’s first operational transboundary reservoir monitoring system was developed for Mekong and Red River Basins to monitor upstream dams using EO data with a promising accuracy.
    • A web analytics based real-time correction system was implemented for satellite based precipitation over the South and South-East Asia river basins which showed a significant improvement in prediction.
    • A scalable and operational web interface South Asian Surface Water Modelling System was developed which connects complex back-end models with user-friendly front-end.
    8/2013 - 12/2015

    Junior Engineer

    Institute of Water Modelling, Dhaka, Bangladesh
    • A vertically integrated and automated system were designed, developed and implemented for an operational flood prediction and inundation mapping for 160 million people of Bangladesh.
    • More than 6 hydrological-hydrodynamic models were developed, calibrated and validated using state of the art tools and software for river stage and flow prediction and water resources management.

    Education

    Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering (June 2017 – January 2021)

    University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Thesis: Mainstreaming multi-mission satellite observations in advancing operational water management

    Professor: Dr. Faisal Hossain (SASWE Research Group)


    MSc in Civil and Environmental Engineering (January 2016 – June 2017)

    University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Thesis: A scalable open-source web-analytic framework to improve satellite-based operational water management in developing countries


    BSc in Water Resources Engineering (January 2008 – February 2013)

    Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Professional Societies

    American Geophysics Union, 2021 - Present
    Member

    Professional Service

    Guest Editor of the Special Issue "Artificial Intelligence and Statistical Techniques to Advance Weather Forecasting and Impact Modeling" in MDPI Atmosphere


    Reviewer of the following journals:

    1. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing
    2. Remote Sensing
    3. Atmosphere
    4. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation
    5. Sustainability
    6. Environmental Modelling & Software

    Publications

    Refereed

    Biswas, N., and F. Hossain. 2022. "A Multidecadal Analysis of Reservoir Storage Change in Developing Regions." Journal of Hydrometeorology, 23 (1): 71-85 [10.1175/JHM-D-21-0053.1]

    Bose, I., S. Jayasinghe, C. Meechaiya, et al. S. K. Ahmad, N. Biswas, and F. Hossain. 2021. "Developing a Baseline Characterization of River Bathymetry and Time-Varying Height for Chindwin River in Myanmar Using SRTM and Landsat Data." Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, 26 (11): 05021030 [10.1061/(asce)he.1943-5584.0002126]

    Biswas, N. K., F. Hossain, M. Bonnema, H. Lee, and F. Chishtie. 2021. "Towards a global Reservoir Assessment Tool for predicting hydrologic impacts and operating patterns of existing and planned reservoirs." Environmental Modelling & Software, 140: 105043 [10.1016/j.envsoft.2021.105043]

    Bose, I., F. Hossain, H. Eldardiry, et al. S. Ahmad, N. K. Biswas, A. Z. Bhatti, H. Lee, M. Aziz, and M. S. Kamal Khan. 2021. "Integrating Gravimetry Data With Thermal Infra‐Red Data From Satellites to Improve Efficiency of Operational Irrigation Advisory in South Asia." Water Resources Research, 57 (4): [10.1029/2020wr028654]

    Biswas, N. K., F. Hossain, M. Bonnema, et al. A. M. Aminul Haque, R. K. Biswas, A. Bhuyan, and A. Hossain. 2020. "A computationally efficient flash flood early warning system for a mountainous and transboundary river basin in Bangladesh." Journal of Hydroinformatics, 22 (6): 1672-1692 [10.2166/hydro.2020.202]

    Bhuiyan, M. A., F. Yang, N. K. Biswas, S. H. Rahat, and T. J. Neelam. 2020. "Machine Learning-Based Error Modeling to Improve GPM IMERG Precipitation Product over the Brahmaputra River Basin." Forecasting, 2 (3): 248-266 [10.3390/forecast2030014]

    Hossain, F., M. Bonnema, N. Biswas, et al. S. Ahmad, B. Duong, and N. Luong. 2019. "When Floods Cross Borders, Satellite Data Can Help." Eos, 100: [10.1029/2019eo115775]

    Biswas, N. K., F. Hossain, M. Bonnema, M. A. Okeowo, and H. Lee. 2019. "An altimeter height extraction technique for dynamically changing rivers of South and South-East Asia." Remote Sensing of Environment, 221: 24-37 [10.1016/j.rse.2018.10.033]

    Biswas, N. K., and F. Hossain. 2017. "A scalable open-source web-analytic framework to improve satellite-based operational water management in developing countries." Journal of Hydroinformatics, 20 (1): 49-68 [10.2166/hydro.2017.073]

    Hossain, F., S. Sikder, N. Biswas, et al. M. Bonnema, H. Lee, N. Luong, N. Hiep, B. Du Duong, and D. Long. 2017. "Predicting Water Availability of the Regulated Mekong River Basin Using Satellite Observations and a Physical Model." Asian Journal of Water, Environment and Pollution, 14 (3): 39-48 [10.3233/ajw-170024]

    Publications

    Refereed

    Biswas, N., and F. Hossain. 2022. "A Multidecadal Analysis of Reservoir Storage Change in Developing Regions." Journal of Hydrometeorology 23 (1): 71-85 [10.1175/JHM-D-21-0053.1]

    Bose, I., S. Jayasinghe, C. Meechaiya, et al. S. K. Ahmad, N. Biswas, and F. Hossain. 2021. "Developing a Baseline Characterization of River Bathymetry and Time-Varying Height for Chindwin River in Myanmar Using SRTM and Landsat Data." Journal of Hydrologic Engineering 26 (11): 05021030 [10.1061/(asce)he.1943-5584.0002126]

    Biswas, N. K., F. Hossain, M. Bonnema, H. Lee, and F. Chishtie. 2021. "Towards a global Reservoir Assessment Tool for predicting hydrologic impacts and operating patterns of existing and planned reservoirs." Environmental Modelling & Software 140 105043 [10.1016/j.envsoft.2021.105043]

    Bose, I., F. Hossain, H. Eldardiry, et al. S. Ahmad, N. K. Biswas, A. Z. Bhatti, H. Lee, M. Aziz, and M. S. Kamal Khan. 2021. "Integrating Gravimetry Data With Thermal Infra‐Red Data From Satellites to Improve Efficiency of Operational Irrigation Advisory in South Asia." Water Resources Research 57 (4): [10.1029/2020wr028654]

    Biswas, N. K., F. Hossain, M. Bonnema, et al. A. M. Aminul Haque, R. K. Biswas, A. Bhuyan, and A. Hossain. 2020. "A computationally efficient flash flood early warning system for a mountainous and transboundary river basin in Bangladesh." Journal of Hydroinformatics 22 (6): 1672-1692 [10.2166/hydro.2020.202]

    Bhuiyan, M. A., F. Yang, N. K. Biswas, S. H. Rahat, and T. J. Neelam. 2020. "Machine Learning-Based Error Modeling to Improve GPM IMERG Precipitation Product over the Brahmaputra River Basin." Forecasting 2 (3): 248-266 [10.3390/forecast2030014]

    Hossain, F., M. Bonnema, N. Biswas, et al. S. Ahmad, B. Duong, and N. Luong. 2019. "When Floods Cross Borders, Satellite Data Can Help." Eos 100 [10.1029/2019eo115775]

    Biswas, N. K., F. Hossain, M. Bonnema, M. A. Okeowo, and H. Lee. 2019. "An altimeter height extraction technique for dynamically changing rivers of South and South-East Asia." Remote Sensing of Environment 221 24-37 [10.1016/j.rse.2018.10.033]

    Biswas, N. K., and F. Hossain. 2017. "A scalable open-source web-analytic framework to improve satellite-based operational water management in developing countries." Journal of Hydroinformatics 20 (1): 49-68 [10.2166/hydro.2017.073]

    Hossain, F., S. Sikder, N. Biswas, et al. M. Bonnema, H. Lee, N. Luong, N. Hiep, B. Du Duong, and D. Long. 2017. "Predicting Water Availability of the Regulated Mekong River Basin Using Satellite Observations and a Physical Model." Asian Journal of Water, Environment and Pollution 14 (3): 39-48 [10.3233/ajw-170024]

                                                                                                                                                                                            
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    • Last Updated: 06/29/2022