Water research in Geographical SciencesAn overview

Professor Paul Bates

2 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

3 CHASM

• Combined

Hydrology And

Stability Model

• Used to predict

landslide risk

• Focus of major

projects in St. Lucia,

Hong Kong,

Malaysia etc

4 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.

5 LISFLOOD-FP

• 2D flood inundation model

• Predicts dynamic flooding

along river valley, estuaries

and coasts

• Scales ranging from urban

areas to major continental

rivers

6

Study area

Example application. Amazon River, Brazil

7

• State-of-the-art

experimental facility

• Research on hydrological

and sediment-transport

processes

8 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

9 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

10 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