Mukund Palat Rao is an Ecoclimatologist who researches the interactions between climate change and natural and human ecosystems. His expertise includes dendrochronology, plant ecophysiology, remote sensing, and climate science. He received his PhD in 2020 from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. His research has investigated flooding in the Brahmaputra and Indus Rivers in South Asia and the impact of dzud (cold winters that cause livestock mortality) on pastoral nomadic herding communities in Mongolia. He is currently working on projects to understand the vulnerability of boreal forests and livestock herding in Mongolia to climate change and the use of dendroarchaeology to reveal the hidden stories behind the construction of New York City in the 19th and early 20th century.
Mukund Palat Rao
Adjunct Professor of Environmental Studies
Education
2020 Ph.D., Earth and Environmental Science, Columbia University, U.S.A.
2013 M.A., Climate and Society, Columbia University, U.S.A.
2012 B.Tech., Chemical Engineering, Amrita University, India
Publications
Rao et al. (2020). Seven centuries of reconstructed Brahmaputra River discharge demonstrate underestimated high discharge and flood hazard frequency. 11, 6017, Nature Communications. [link]
Rao et al. (2018). Six centuries of Upper Indus Basin streamflow variability and its climatic drivers. Water Resources Research 54(8), 5687-5701. [link]
Rao et al. (2015). Dzuds, droughts, and livestock mortality in Mongolia. Environmental Research Letters, 10(7), 074012. [link]