Dongryeol Ryu

Professor Dongryeol Ryu serves as Professor and Deputy Head of Department (Research) in the Department of Infrastructure Engineering at the University of Melbourne, part of the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology. He leads the Environmental Sensing and Modelling Lab, where his research investigates land-atmosphere interactions through water and energy exchanges and their responses to human-induced changes in land and water use. Utilizing in situ observations, remote sensing data, and coupled land-atmosphere models, his work addresses critical issues including agricultural water management, heatwaves, bushfire risks, floods, and droughts. Key projects under his direction include UAV-borne sensing of crop water stress, optical remote sensing of land cover dynamics during floods and evapotranspiration losses, multi-sensor approaches to monitor soil water content and vegetation vigor, quantification of large-scale hydrological cycles and land surface processes using satellite remote sensing and coupled earth system modeling, assessment of agricultural water use impacts on local-to-regional water circulation, evaluation of water scarcity and sustainable water use via global earth systems models, Bayesian frameworks for Great Barrier Reef catchment water quality, and stochastic data assimilation for hydrological predictions.

Ryu's expertise in hydrological sciences encompasses developing methods to leverage microwave, optical, and thermal remote sensing instruments for monitoring soil moisture and vegetation across agricultural and natural landscapes. He integrates hydrological and crop models with in situ and remotely sensed data to refine model-based forecasts and employs coupled Earth system models to examine how agricultural activities and large inland water bodies affect regional climate. His scholarly impact is evidenced by high-profile publications, such as the 2025 Science article 'Abrupt sea level rise and Earth’s gradual pole shift reveal permanent hydrological regime changes in the 21st century,' which identifies land water loss—primarily from groundwater depletion—as the dominant contributor to twenty-first-century sea-level rise, and the 2023 Geophysical Research Letters paper 'Drift of Earth's Pole Confirms Groundwater Depletion as a Significant Contributor to Sea-Level Rise.' At the University of Melbourne, his academic career has advanced from Lecturer (2008–2011) and Senior Lecturer (2011–2016) to Associate Professor (2017–2022) and Professor (2023–present). Prior roles include Research Physical Scientist at the US Department of Agriculture (2006–2008) and NASA Earth System Science Graduate Fellow at the University of California, Irvine (2004–2006). He supervises PhD students investigating UAV sensing, water use impacts, and related topics while fostering international collaborations.

Professional Email: dryu@unimelb.edu.au