Dr. Ranmalee Bandara
Position: Professor
ranmalee@geo.sab.ac.lk
Qualifications
Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University, 2014
Master of Science in Environmental Soil Science, Postgraduate Institute of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya, 2008
Bachelor of Science in Surveying Sciences, Faculty of Geomatics, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka, 2005
Profile
I am involved in multi-disciplinary applied research, with specific focus on land surface modeling, parameter optimization, water scarcity and climate, and soil remediation and rehabilitation. I also have extensive experience with laboratory and field work on soil hydraulic properties, soil physical properties, and soil moisture measurements. Additionally, I am very well conversant in Land Surveying theory and practical.
Research Interests
Land Surface Models (LSM) and optimization techniques
Parameter retrieval
Forest die-back studies
Soil Remediation and Rehabilitation
Climate change adaptation
Current Research Projects
- SUSL/RG/2016/04 "Environmentally Induced Forest Die-back in Horton Plains: Sources of Contaminants, Their Fate, and Mitigating Toxicity with Natural Geo-sorbents.” 2017 – 2019 (3 years), Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka (Co-Investigator)
Recent Publications
Peer-reviewed journal papers
- Bandara, R., Yapa, P. , Silva, R. , Lakmini, K. , Ranasinghe, N. and Senevirathne, M.: 2021. Mitigating Cadmium (Cd) Toxicity in Montane Forest Soils Using Biochar: Laboratory Trial for Soils from Horton Plains, Sri Lanka. Open Journal of Soil Science, 11, 504-520. doi: 10.4236/ojss.2021.1110025.
- Ranasinghe, A. K. R. N., Bandara, R., Puswewala, U. G. A., & Dammalage, T. L.: 2019. Efficacy of using radar-derived factors in landslide susceptibility analysis: case study of Koslanda, Sri Lanka. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 19(8), 1881-1893. doi:10.5194/nhess-19-1881-2019
- Bandara, R., Walker, J.P., Rüdiger, C. and Merlin, O.: 2015. Towards soil property retrieval from space: An application with disaggregated satellite observations, Journal of Hydrology, 522, 582-593, doi: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2015.01.018.
- Bandara, R., Walker, J.P. and Rüdiger, C.: 2014. Towards soil property retrieval from space: Proof of concept using in-situ observations, Journal of Hydrology, 512, 27-38, doi: .10.1016/j.jhydrol.2014.02.031.
- Bandara, R., Walker, J.P. and Rüdiger, C.: 2013. Towards soil property retrieval from space: A one-dimensional twin-experiment. Journal of Hydrology, 497, 198-207, doi: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2013. 06.004.
- Peischl, S., Walker, J., Rüdiger, C., Ye, N., Kerr, Y., Kim, E., Bandara, R. and Allahmoradi, M.: 2012. The AACES field experiments: SMOS calibration and validation across the Murrumbidgee River catchment, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 16, pp. 1697-1708, doi: 10.5194/hess-16-1697-2012.
Presentations & conference proceedings
- Thunendran, P., Zubair, L., Bandara, R., and Gunathilake, C.: 2020. Can changes in land use and built environment affecting disaster and disease risk be quantified using land survey and Google Earth images?, Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science – 76th Annual Session, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 13–18 December 2020.
- Zubair, L., Thunendran, P., Bandara, R., Nijamdeen, A., Gunatillake, C. and Devadasan, N.: 2020. Characterizing Urbanization over two decades in the Pinga Oya River Catchment in Central Sri Lanka using Land Surveys and Google Earth images for Application for Dengue and Hydrological Risk Assessment, AGU Fall Meeting – Online Event, 1–17 December 2020.