Hello and Welcome!
I am aTechnical Director of Geophysics and Seismology at GHD - a world-leading engineering services consultancy.
My current work involves "all things" geophysics in the engineering consultancy space: data (acquisition, processing, analysis), geophysical model building (inversion, writing computer codes), applications (onland and marine site investigations for engineering design, geohazards, subsurface CO2 storage etc.).
Prior to this assignment, I worked at the University of Melbourne (w/ Prof. Mike Sandiford), University of Münster in Germany (w/ Prof. Dr. Christine Thomas ), Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, Portugal, and University College London, UK (w/ Prof. Ana Ferreira ) on topics related to seismic monitoring, sensor network development, earthquake physics, earth structure, geohazards, and geodynamics.
I earned my Ph.D. in global seismology at the University of Connecticut, USA, during which time I investigated the seismic structure of Earth's solid iron inner core by modelling seismic waveforms to infer geodynamics of Earth's deep interior under the supervision of Prof. Vernon Cormier .
Current and Past Collaborators:
Mike Sandiford (Melb) Mark Quigley (Melb) Christine Thomas (WWU) Ana Ferreira (UCL) Vernon F. Cormier (UConn) Meghan S. Miller (ANU) Keith D. Koper (Utah) Andrew King (Melb) Dan Clark (GA) Tamarah King (Oxford) Lisa S. Schleicher (USGS) Andrea Morelli (INGV) Andrea Berbellini (INGV) Joao Fonseca (IST) Gary Gibson (Melb) Abraham S. Jones (Melb) Pavel Golodoniuc (CSIRO) Josh Borella (Canterbury) Sarah Brennand (UQ) Fabian Prideaux (HBC and Melb) Susini de Silva (UConn) Kuang He (ExxonMobil) Yongping Chen (PGS) Rory Henderson (UConn) Zhao Zhao
My Journey into Geophysics
The M9.3 earthquake on the 26th of December 2004 off the west coast of northern Sumatra set off a massive tsunami - the most destructive one in recorded human history. In Sri Lanka, where I was still a final-year undergraduate student at the time, the tsunami waves lasted for about 20-30 minutes, during which time 35,000+ people lost their lives. This is the single biggest natural disaster that this little Island has experienced in its more than 2500 years of written history. There is no better recent example of our limited understanding of the overwhelming power of nature than the boxing day earthquake and the Tsunami. The show of force of the natural world on that fateful day played a significant part in my choosing solid Earth geophysics as my primary line of research.
Background: Onset of Tsunami waves in Kalutara, Sri Lanka (west coast). The receding shoreline is clearly visible. Photo Credit: NASA Earth Observatory
januka.attanayake |@| unimelb.edu.au+61 3 9035 9926