Next seminar: Monday 18th February

A Tale of Two Extremes- floods, droughts and salmon spawning habitat 

Ian Pattison, Loughborough University
Room 311, 4pm

The UK is experiencing a greater frequency of flow extremes, illustrated by the low river flows early in 2012 followed by widespread flooding. It is therefore key that floods and droughts are not investigated separately but studied as a continuum. The primary drivers of flow extremes are the climate and weather patterns, but the impact can be modified by catchment processes such as rural land management. A physically based continuous simulation hydrological model, CRUM3, is used to consider the impact of soil compaction and land cover on both high and low river flows, with the results interpreted in terms of the driving hydrological processes operating throughout the catchment. The hydrological modelling was applied to the Dacre Beck (38 km2) sub-catchment, and the results upscaled to the whole Eden catchment (2400 km2), Cumbria, UK, using hydraulic modelling. The scenario of heavy compaction produced a peak discharge 65% higher than light compaction and the minimum flow was 86.8% lower for the heavily compacted soil. This preliminary finding adds weight to the multiple benefits of rural land management and its potential widespread adoption.
             Land use changes are also thought to have increased fine sediment delivery to our river systems, which degrade salmon spawning gravels and decrease egg survival rates. The main hypotheses used to explain this being (a) fine sediment reduces gravel permeability and intra-gravel flow velocities; and (b) intra-gravel O2 concentrations decrease due to reduced supply and increased consumption by organic sediments. The SIDO (Sediment Intrusion and Dissolved Oxygen)-UK model is a physically based numerical model which stimulates the effect of fine sediment intrusion on the abiotic characteristics of the salmonid redd, along with the consequences for egg development and survival. This model has been used to assess the impact of varying sediment inputs upon the sediment intrusion rates, abiotic redd characteristics and fish egg survival rates. This will be used to comment on the relative importance of each of the hypotheses put forward to explain the impact of sediment on egg survival. Results indicate that the physical process of blockage, especially by larger sand particles, is more significant than the Sediment Oxygen Consumption mainly associated with silts and clays. These findings have implications for how we manage the sediment delivery problem. 

Next Seminar: Monday 26th November

Environmental Flows for Heavily Modified Catchments: getting real!

Geoff Petts, University of Westminster

Flow management to protect environmental services within riverine ecosystems below dams and abstractions remains a challenge despite more than three decades of research. This presentation returns to some basic hydrological questions, examining the UK practice of using the 95th percentile flow as the basis for setting 'hands-off flows' at abstractions and 'compensation flows' below dams. It then proposes the use of more flexible rules to mimic natural flow patterns with benefits to both riverine biota and abstractors in a future of hydrological uncertainty.

The seminar will be held in room 311 of the Geography and Environmental Sciences building at 4pm. All are welcome to attend.

Next Seminar: Monday 12th November

Applied Hydroecology at the Envrionment Agency

Mark Warren, Environment Agency

The seminar will be held in room 311 of the Geography and Environmental Sciences building between 4 and 5pm. All are welcome to attend.

Next seminar: Monday 29th October

Atmospheric Rivers and British Winter Floods

David Lavers, University of Reading

Damage from flooding in the winter and autumn seasons has been widespread in the United Kingdom and Western Europe over recent decades. In this seminar the connection between atmospheric rivers (ARs) and the largest winter floods in a range of British basins will be discussed from a hydrological and atmospheric stand-point. Firstly, an analysis of the hydrological time series is used to evaluate atmospheric fields before the largest floods to show the AR-flood link. Secondly, an algorithm is introduced that screens for ARs in climate model output; this is followed by showing the strong connection between the identified ARs and British winter floods. Future changes to ARs under climate change will also be considered.

The seminar will be held in room 311 of the Geography and Environmental Sciences Building between 4 and 5 pm. All are welcome to attend.

Next seminar: Monday 15th October

Research priorities within the Environment Agency- an introduction to evidence partnerships

Chris Fulton, Evidence Advisor, Environment Agency

Chris' talk will focus on:

•          An outline of the Environment Agency’s science structure
•          Details of the Environment Agency’s research priorities and evidence requirements
•          Current avenues for forming research partnerships between Universities & the Environment Agency
• 
  

The seminar will be held in room 125 in the Geography and Environmental Sciences building between 4 and 5pm. All are welcome to attend.

Seminar Series 2012/13

All seminars are held in the Geography and Environmental Sciences building. Contact Grace Garner (gxg627@bham.ac.uk) for more information or to volunteer a session. 

Mon 15^th Oct, 4-5pm, Room 125

Research priorities within the Environment Agency- an introduction to evidence partnerships

Chris Fulton, Evidence Advisor, Environment Agency

Mon 29^th Oct, 4-5pm, Room 311

Atmospheric Rivers and British Winter Floods

David Lavers, University of Reading

Mon 12^th Nov, 4-5pm, Room 125

Topic tbc

Mark Warren, Environment Agency

Mon 26^th Nov, 4-5pm, Room 311

Environmental Flows for Heavily Modified Catchments: getting real!

Geoff Petts, University of Westminster

Mon 21^st Jan, 4-5pm, Room 311

Topic tbc

Martin Widmann, University of Birmingham

Mon 4^th Feb, 4-5pm, Room 311

Topic tbc

Andrew Allen, University of Dundee

Mon 18^th Feb, 4-5pm, Room 311

Topic tbc

Ian Pattison, Loughborough University

Mon 4^th Mar, 4-5pm, Room 311

Tbc

Mon 11^th Mar, 4-5pm, Room 311

Climate Change, Hydro-dependency and the African Dam Boom

Robert Elliot, University of Birmingham

Mon 18^th Mar, 4-5pm, Room 311

Tbc

Monday 20^th May, 4-5pm, Room 311

Impacts of Large Woody Debris on geomorphology and flood hydrology
Simon Dixon, University of Southampton

Monday 3^rd June, 4-5pm, Room 311

Facing the future: climate change adaptation strategies for the conservation management of Scotland's lochs
Martin Muir, Centre for Environmental Change and Human Resilience

New position at CEH, Wallingford; DEADLINE June 15th

Just advertised on the CEH website, deadline for application is June 15th. UoB GEES alumnus is currently working there. http://www.ceh.ac.uk/personnel/Hydrological-Data-Scientist.html