Geography
Environmental Processes and Change
The Environment Research Group in the Department of Geography at the University of Portsmouth encompasses a range of research interests and expertise and is undertaking research on various components of the environment including the atmosphere, rocks, soil, land, fresh water, sea water, rivers and coasts.
The research ranges from fundamental work on aspects of the physical environment to integrated physical and socio-economic approaches to environmental issues. Research is ongoing in environments ranging from deserts to mountains and the Arctic to the tropics. Applied work and environmental management are important themes of activity.
Much of the research involves techniques for detecting and analysing changes in surfaces, particularly using photogrammetry (digital and analytical, aerial and terrestrial), GPS surveying and GIS. Applications range from the microscopic scale of grains of rock and soil to macro-scale changes in cliffs and river courses.
The major research fields are
- Fluvial geomorphology, channel changes and processes, channel management
- Coastal geomorphology, processes and changes
- Shoreline management
- Stone weathering, mechanisms, environmental influences, conservation practices
- Climate processes and change, temperature variation in mountain areas, comparison between global datasets (surface, radiosonde and satellite data/reanalyses)
- Soil erosion, soil crusting processes, soil-vegetation interaction
- Quaternary environmental reconstruction
Personnel
Members of staff include
- Dr Brian Baily
- Dr Malcolm Bray
- Dr Paul Farres
- Dr Philip Soar
- Dr Rob Inkpen
- Dr Alastair Pearson
- Dr Nick Pepin
- Dr Jonathan Potts
- Dr Graham Wilson
Research Fellows, Research Assistants and Research Students working in association with various projects include:
- Dan Fower (palaeoclimatology)
- Dr Derek Mottershead
- Gary Pike (climate science)
- Vicky West (fluvial processes)
Research Funding
Members of the group have received research funding from the EU, NERC, MAFF/Defra, Environment Agency, English Nature, Fulbright, HMIP
Consultancy
River and Coastal Environments Research (RACER) has undertaken major research for SCOPAC (Standing Conference on Problems Associated with the Coastline), involving 25 local authorities on the south coast, and has done work for the Environment Agency, Countryside Council for Wales, MAFF, English Nature, HR Wallingford, as well as other consultancy companies.