When I first started studying geomatics engineering, geoinformatics, geography, and environment, I didn’t imagine I would one day spend hours looking at rivers from space. My interest in rivers began much earlier, long before academic papers, coding notebooks, or satellite imagery, when I grew up surrounded by mountains, streams, and seasonal floods in Nepal.
Rivers were never abstract to me. They shaped livelihoods, agriculture, and sometimes disasters. Over time, as I moved through formal education and eventually into research, I realized that rivers are not just physical features on a map; they are living systems constantly responding to climate, vegetation, and human decisions.
That realization led me to ask a simple question:
How do rivers change over time, and how can we measure those changes objectively?
In my recent research, I used satellite imagery and GIS to track how river channels migrate over years and decades. Instead of relying on one-time field observations, satellites allow us to observe rivers repeatedly, across large regions, and under changing conditions. By combining spatial analysis with environmental data, I explored how factors like dams, vegetation, and flow regulation influence how rivers move and reshape their banks.
What surprised me most was not just that rivers change, but how predictably some aspects of their behavior persist, even under strong human influence. At the same time, small changes in vegetation or flow management can significantly alter the speed and intensity of river migration. These insights are important not only for scientists but also for communities managing flood resilience, erosion, and ecosystem health.
Writing the paper itself was only part of the journey. Behind every figure and equation were countless revisions, moments of doubt, failed scripts, and rethinking assumptions. Research rarely follows a straight line, and that process is something academic papers don’t always show.
I’m starting this blog to share those hidden parts of research, the motivations, challenges, and lessons learned along the way. I hope this space can make geospatial research feel more accessible, especially for students, early-career researchers, and anyone curious about how we use data to understand our changing planet.
In future posts, I’ll write about GIS, remote sensing, UAVs, fieldwork experiences, and what it’s really like to build research projects from scratch. If you’re interested in learning how maps, data, and stories come together in earth science, you’re very welcome here.
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