Environmental processes and change overview

The Environmental Processes and Change research theme is a dynamic and interactive grouping of 14 staff whose research encompasses issues of importance for both science and policy such as climate change, environmental restoration and human impact on a variety of timescales. Research is funded through the UK research councils - NERC, ESRC and EPSRC - as well as through various Government departments and agencies and overseas sources such as the EU and the National Science Foundation of the USA. The School of Geography is a core partner in the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, focusing on adaptation to climate change.

Hydrology and fluvial geomorphology 
Hydrology and fluvial geomorphology:
  • Climate change for river flows and water resources
  • Quantifying the inter-linkages between ecology and fluvial processes in rivers (New Forest research catchment and Bank Erosion Modelling)
  • Pleistocene history of large-scale catastrophic flooding and the geomorphology of the River Mekong.
Paleoecology overview 
Palaeoecology:
  • Holocene palaeoecology and palaeoclimates (PLUS)
  • Human impact studies using pollen analysis and geochemistry
  • Arctic Vegetation Dynamics
Polar and alpine environments 
Polar and alpine environments:
  • Glaciers and climate change, with the development of wireless probes to monitor subglacial processes (Glacsweb)
  • Glacial dynamics and sedimentology
  • Periglacial processes and the Permafrost Data Base.

Environmental management is a recognised strength of Southampton Physical Geography and often involves close collaboration with the staff of The GeoData Institute. Typical projects include:

  • An evaluation of adaptation in the UK water industry.
  • OST Foresight Initiative on Flood and Coastal Defence.
  • An EU LIFE-3 programme on the restoration of lowland floodplain forests and this has led to new agenda-leading research on uncertainty in river restoration.
  • DEFRA sponsored project on the role of fine sediment in the degradation of Salmon incubation habitat. Links with nature conservation organisations, especially the Countryside Council for Wales.
  • Development of Environmental Sensor Networks for 'smart' environmental sensing in collaboration with Envisense.

Please contact Professor Tony Brown for further information about, and research opportunities within, Environmental Processes and Change at the University of Southampton.