Water research in Geographical Sciences

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Professor Paul Bates

• Water research in Geographical Sciences
• An overview

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What we do

• Computer modelling of hydrological processes and
  hazards
• Experimental investigation of hydrology and
  sediment transport processes
• Developing methods to use satellite and airborne
  data in hydrological models

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CHASM

• Combined Hydrology And Stability Model
• Used to predict landslide risk
• Focus of major projects in St. Lucia, Hong Kong,
  Malaysia etc

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ESTEL

• 2D and 3D finite element model of groundwater
  flow and pollutant transport
• Development funded by Electricité de France
• Used in France by the nuclear industry for the
  design of a deep nuclear storage site.

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LISFLOOD-FP

• 2D flood inundation model
• Predicts dynamic flooding along river valley,
  estuaries and coasts
• Scales ranging from urban areas to major
  continental rivers

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Example application. Amazon River, Brazil
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• State-of-the-art experimental facility
• Research on hydrological and sediment-transport
  processes

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MoSSaiC

• Management of Slope Stability in Communities
• Development of cost effective protection against
  landslide risk for Caribbean communities
• Funded by Organisation of East Caribbean States
  and USAID

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WatER

• New satellite proposal to NASA led by CNES and
  JPL
• UoB chairing the science working group
• WatER will yield images of water surface
  elevation with global repeat coverage to
  centimetric accuracy

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Other activities

• Water chemistry, with a focus on low temperature
  environments
• Karst hydrology and chemistry
• Including groundwater modelling
• Atmosphere and Earth system modelling
• Including climate change studies