I am a doctoral student in Civil and Environmental Engineering at CMU. Currently, I am developing a surrogate model using deep learning methods for compound flood simulation. I am also interested in using Earth observation data to monitor surface water hydrology and morphology.
@article{bhattarai2023hydroclimatic,title={Projected changes in hydro-climatic extremes with {CMIP6} climate model outputs: a case of rain-fed river systems in {Western Nepal}},author={Bhattarai, T.N. and Ghimire, S. and Aryal, S. and Baaniya, Y. and Bhattarai, S. and Sharma, S. and Bhattarai, P.K. and Pandey, V.P.},journal={Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment},volume={37},number={3},pages={965--987},year={2023},doi={10.1007/s00477-022-02312-0},publisher={Springer},}
ACSWater
Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene of Nepal: Status, Challenges, and Opportunities
A. Shrestha, T.N. Bhattarai, G. Acharya, and 4 more authors
@article{shrestha2023wash,title={Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene of {Nepal}: Status, Challenges, and Opportunities},author={Shrestha, A. and Bhattarai, T.N. and Acharya, G. and Timalsina, H. and Marks, S.J. and Uprety, S. and Paudel, S.R.},journal={ACS ES\&T Water},year={2023},doi={10.1021/acsestwater.2c00303},publisher={American Chemical Society},note={Winner, 2023 ACS ES\&T Water Best Paper Award}}
ESPL
Quantifying river morphological changes using multi-satellite observations and in situ measurements
Tek Narayan Bhattarai, Antonio Moreno-Rodenas, Sanjay Giri, and 3 more authors
Summary Field surveys for monitoring river morphology are resource-intensive, especially in large river systems. Earth observation (EO) satellites provide valuable alternatives, yet the integrated use of multiple missions remains underexplored. This study develops a framework that combines Landsat, Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 and Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) data to estimate periodically inundated bed topography and morphological change in the large alluvial Jamuna River. The method achieved an accuracy of \ ∼1.5 \ m of RMSE in topography estimation, with a tendency to overestimate elevations with a mean bias of 1.24 m while preserving slope. By relating water occurrence probability to elevation, morphological changes were quantified for elevation bands, enabling the estimation of area and volume dynamics while accounting for interannual hydrological variability. Compared with the earlier EO-based morphological monitoring tool—which tends to overestimate erosion and accretion areas—the proposed framework reduced false detections (\ ∼65 \\%) by accounting for hydrological variability and refining change-classification thresholds. Estimated volumes were comparable in magnitude to EO-based estimates reported in the literature. However, validation with field data revealed that erosion and accretion volumes were underestimated primarily due to the inability to detect changes in aperiodic bed and an inconsistent temporal scale of field and satellite data. Despite these limitations, the method successfully captured dominant reach-scale morphological processes and is suitable for deriving first-order estimates of morphological changes in large rivers with seasonally fluctuating water levels. While further research is needed to better quantify errors/uncertainties and validate the SWOT-based water surface elevation profile correction, this work lays a foundation for using multi-satellite EO data for large-scale river morphological assessments.
@article{bhattarai2026morphology,author={Bhattarai, Tek Narayan and Moreno-Rodenas, Antonio and Giri, Sanjay and Bakker, Maarten and Omer, Amgad and Bateman, Allen},title={Quantifying river morphological changes using multi-satellite observations and in situ measurements},journal={Earth Surface Processes and Landforms},volume={51},number={3},pages={e70263},keywords={Google earth engine, morphological changes, river morphology, riverbed topography, satellite remote sensing},doi={https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.70263},url={https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/esp.70263},year={2026}}
GEO
SWOT versus legacy satellite missions: assessing water surface elevation and surface water extent in complex river settings
T.N. Bhattarai, S. Aryal, Y. Pokhrel, and 1 more author
@article{bhattarai2026swot,title={{SWOT} versus legacy satellite missions: assessing water surface elevation and surface water extent in complex river settings},author={Bhattarai, T.N. and Aryal, S. and Pokhrel, Y. and Pandey, V.P.},journal={Geocarto International},volume={41},number={1},year={2026},doi={10.1080/10106049.2026.2679903},publisher={Taylor \& Francis}}
You can even add a little note about which of these is the best way to reach you.
