National Centre for Earth Science Studies

Education:

Professional career:

Training:

• “Visual interpretation using remote sensing data for Land use, Land cover & hydro-geomorphology, Introduction with application of GIS in Geology and Remote Sensing”. At Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Applications and Geoinformatics (BISAG), 15-23 Nov 2007.
• Summer Internship Program–2008 at Geosciences Division, Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad, Gujarat in the month of May - June 2008.

Scientific Cruises and Field Trips:

• Onboard ORV Sagar Manjusha (SAMA-05) from Kochi- Lakshadweep-Kochi (February, 2015).
• Studies on Andaman and Lakshadweep corals to understand the paleoenvironmental changes and impacts of ocean atmospheric processes on Indian monsoon.
• Onboard ORV Sagar Manjusha (SM-29) to Western Indian Coast (Goa- Arabian Sea- Kochi) (October, 2013).
• Onboard ORV Sagar Manjusha (SM-24) to Bay of Bengal Coast (Haldia- Bay of Bengal -Paradip) (July, 2013).
• Onboard ORV Sagar Kanya (SK-304) to Indian Ocean (Goa-Indonesia-Chennai) (March-May, 2013).
• Holocene climate and sea level reconstruction from the mudflats along Southern Saurashtra Coast, Gujarat.
• Onboard FORV Sagar Sampada (SS-300) from Kochi-Arabian Sea-Goa (March-April, 2012).
• Ecological studies of corals from coastal sites and Islands of Gulf of Kachchh, Gujarat.

Research Interest:

Unprecedented climate change invigorated the need to gaze into the future, for which the study of past climate in millennial to centennial time scales is a paramount necessity. The prime focus of my research is to reconstruct the climate for the Holocene Epoch using natural archives that can offer high-resolution climate records.

Achievements and Awards:

• Best Oral Presentation Award for the paper presented at OSICON-2019 held at Centre for Marine Living Resources & Ecology (CMLRE), Kochi, between 12 and 15 December 2019.
• Chaired a session titled “Quaternary climate: sedimentation and landform evolution” at 5th International YES Congress 2019, Berlin, Germany during 9-13 September, 2019 3. Session.
• Travel grant of 690 Euros awarded by YES Congress 2019 to be held at Berlin, Germany during 9-13th September, 2019.
• Proposal titled “Multi-proxy Approach in Paleo Monsoon Reconstruction during Quaternary Period (45.6.9)” accepted at YES Congress-2020 under IGC-2020 supposed to be held at Delhi during 2-8 March, 2020 (Postponed due to COVID19 pandemic).
• DST sponsored International Travel Grant wide no ITS/2058/2017-18 for International Goldschmidt conference 2017, Paris, France.
• Second prize for poster presented at Expert Meet and National Conference on "Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability: Records from Poles to Tropics" held on September, 9-10, 2014 organised by Center of Advanced Study in Geology, University of Lucknow.
• Judges Appreciation awards for paper presented at Workshop on Satellite Meteorology: 50 Year Journey organized by Indian Meteorological Society Ahmedabad (IMSA) in 2010.
• Conferred Gold Medal by Gujarat University during 2009 for being university topper in M.Sc.
• First prize for paper presented at Chandangiri Goswami Memorial Seminar Compeitition-2009 organized by Geology Department, M. G. Science Institute, Ahmedabad.
• First prize for paper presented at SCIENCE EXCELLENCE-2008 Organized by Gujarat University.

Publications/ Technical Report/ Other Articles:

1. Arulbalaji, P., Banerji, U.S., Maya, K., Padmalal, D., 2019. Signatures of late Quaternary land-sea interactions and landform dynamics along southern Kerala coast, SW India 1–15. Quaternary International, Accepted.
2. Shah, C., Banerji, U.S., Chandana, K.R., Bhushan, R., 2020. Pb dating of recent sediments from the continental shelf of western India : factors influencing sedimentation rates. Environmental and Monitoring Assessment. 192, 468
3. Banerji, U. S., Arulbalaji, P. and Padmalal, D., Holocene climate variability and Indian summer monsoon – An overview. Holocene, 2019, 30 (5), 744-773.
4. Banerji, U.S. Comments on “Geomorphic evidences of tectonic instability during the Late Quaternary Period along southern Saurashtra, western India” by Prizomwala (2018), Arabian Journal of Geosciences, 2019, 12, 362.
5. Banerji, U. S., Bhushan, R., and Jull, A. J. T., Signatures of global climatic events and forcing factors for the last two millennia on the active mudflats of Rohisa, southern Saurashtra, Gujarat, western India. Quaternary International, 2019, 507, 172187.
6. Bhushan, R., Yadava, M. G., Shah, M. S., Banerji, U. S., Raj, H., Shah, C., Dabhi, A. J., First results from the PRL Accelerator Mass Spectrometer. Current Science, 2019, 116, 361–363.
7. Chandana, K. R., Banerji, U. S., and Bhushan, R., Review on Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) Reconstruction since LGM from Northern Indian Ocean. Earth Science India, 2018, 11, 71–84.
8. Srivastava, P., Agnihotri, R., Sharma, D., Meena, N., Sundriyal, Y.P., Saxena, A., Bhushan, R., Sawlani, R., Banerji, U.S., Sharma, C., Bisht, P., Rana, N. and Jayangondaperumal, R., 8000-year monsoonal record from Himalaya revealing reinforcement of tropical and global climate systems since mid-Holocene. Scientific Reports, 2017, 7.
9. Banerji, U. S., Bhushan, R., and Jull, A. J. T., Mid-Late Holocene monsoonal records from an partially active mudflat of Diu Island, Southern Saurashtra, Gujarat, Western India. Quaternary International, 2017, 443, 200–210.
10. Meena, N. K., Prakasam, M., Bhushan, R., Sarkar, S., Diwate, P., and Banerji, U.S., Last-five-decade heavy metal pollution records from the Rewalsar Lake, Himachal Pradesh, India. Environmental Earth Sciences, 2017, 76.
11. Banerji, U. S., Bhushan, R., and Maurya, D. M., Sedimentary records of paleoredox conditions at relict mudflat of Vasoj, Southern Saurashtra coast, Gujarat. Earth Science India, 2016, 9, 114–125.
12. Sarkar, S., Prakasam, M., Banerji, U. S., Bhushan, R., Gaury, P. K., and Meena, N. K., Rapid sedimentation history of Rewalsar Lake , Lesser Himalaya , India during the last fifty years - Estimated using 137 Cs and 210 Pb dating techniques : A comparative study with other North-Western Himalayan Lakes. Himalayan Geology, 2016, 37, 1–7.
13. Banerji, U. S., Pandey, S., Bhushan, R., and Juyal, N., Mid-Holocene climate and land-sea interaction along the southern coast of Saurashtra, western India. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 2015, 111, 428–439.
14. Joshi, D., Banerji, U., and Mankodi, P. C., Delayed recovery in Porites spp. following mass coral bleaching: a case study from the Gulf of Kachchh, Gujarat, India. Journal of Global Biosciences, 2015, 4, 2326–2331.
15. Joshi, D., Munjpara, S., Banerji, U., and Parasharya, D., Coral bleaching observations in the Gulf of Kachchh , India – a climate induced stress on the scleractinians. Journal of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries, 2014, 2, 106–113.
16. Banerji, U.S., Bhushan, R., and D. Padmalal., 2020. Hydroclimate variability during the last two millennia and imprints of forcing factors: A study from western India. Ocean digest: quarterly newsletter of Ocean Society of India (Pune Chapter) 7 (2) Accepted.
17. Banerji, U.S., Bhushan, R., Pandey, S., 2019. Evidence of land-sea interaction during mid-late Holocene from sedimentary records, western India. Extended Abstract In, Young Earth Scientist Network German Chapter 2019. DOI: 10.2312/yes19.07.
18. Pandey, C. N., Raval, B. R., Parasharya, D., Munjpara, S., Joshi, D., and Banerji, U. S., Recruitment and Growth Study of Coral Reefs in the Gulf of Kachchh Gujarat Ecological Education and Research Foundation, Gandhinagar, 2010.

Projects:

1. “Trace elements and their isotopes in sediments and corals of the Northern Indian Ocean: Implications to Paleoclimate/Paleoceanography”, under GEOTRACES Project funded by MoES with Dr. Ravi Bhushan at Geosciences Division, Physical Research Laboratory
2. “High Resolution Study of Climate and Oceanographic Processes from the Northern Indian Ocean”with Dr. Ravi Bhushan at Geosciences Division, Physical Research Laboratory.