Author: Gillian

External speaker: Professor Phil James

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On Thursday 18 May the TU Earth & Environment Research Group hosted external speaker, Professor Phil James, based in the Department of Engineering at Newcastle University.

Phil leads the Urban Observatory programme in Newcastle which is a multi-million pound investment in sensing infrastructure providing millions of observations about the city. According to Phil, his expertise and research interests lie in the fusion and integration of data for analytics and visualisation.

Phil’s brilliant and well-attended talk ‘Smart, sustainable cities: Challenges in new urban data and realising future cities for citizens’ focused on the wealth of data that the Urban Observatory programme has compiled over the past seven years, how it is used, and the challenges faced when dealing with large and, at times, sensitive data. Because the data that Phil’s team are collecting are applicable to a range of disciplines (e.g., environmental management (air quality, noise), public health (social distancing during Covid), sustainable urban development, and big data), TU Earth & Environment extended the invitation to our TU colleagues in Engineering and Public Health.

You can read more about Phil and his research interests on his profile page https://www.ncl.ac.uk/engineering/staff/profile/philipjames.html and the publicly available data and visualisation tool that Phil presented is available here https://newcastle.urbanobservatory.ac.uk/. If you intend to use the data, Phil has recommended accessing the Archive Data option.

New paper alert from Dr Desire Dalton

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New Publication: PAReTT: a Python package for the Automated Retrieval and management of divergence time data from the TimeTree resource for downstream analyses

Louis-Stéphane IV Le Clercq a PhD student of Dr Desiré Lee Dalton (Lecturer in Forensic Science, Teesside University) has developed PAReTT – a Python Automated Retrieval of TimeTree data. In order to study speciation (emergence of a new species, sub-species, or ecotypes) accurate fossil-calibrated, estimates of divergence times are needed. PAReTT is a biologist-friendly, easily accessible, and freely available algorithm that can be used to retrieve (1) divergence times, between an individual pair or between all species in a list, (2) evolutionary timelines, for individuals or a list species, and (3) time trees of the divergence times, either for all available species within a specified taxon or between individual species supplied as a list. Future updates will include the ability to switch between scientific names and common names for species as well as the ability to calculate diversification rates for a table of multiple lineages.

Access the publication through the publishers website with this link (DOI: 10.1007/s00239-023-10106-3)

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00239-023-10106-3

 

Tenerife – An Island Under Pressure

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Tenerife is certainly an island under many different types of pressure and this was evident in many forms during our week long field trip there. We experienced it’s vulnerability in the climate system first hand, as the intense sunlight and unseasonal heat (>30 C) reminded us that it is on the same latitude as the Sahara. Thankfully trade winds and cooler ocean currents from the North East usually keep the island relatively cool, whilst bringing much needed moisture to the north side. This supports the amazing laurel, brezal and pine forests, we enjoyed exploring these great habitats and also appreciating their importance in the hydrological system. Particularly with the desert conditions on the south side of the island!

Water management is one of the largest challenges that the island faces and we were expertly guided through one of the water galleria mines by our GeoTenerife expert (Heimaey). He explained how passages dug into the central mountain extracted water with minimal carbon footprint, after the footsteps of many hard working miners! The geological structure of the island dominates every day life there in many ways. Thankfully Rebecca Winstanley skillfully taught us about the many lava fields, volcanic deposits, associated hazards and more with her extensive knowledge of the island. Sadly many of the millions of tourists that visit Tenerife each year do not get the same opportunity to delve into the rich geography of such a varied island. We were lucky enough to enjoy the perspective of long term residents Ignacio, Alexi and Heimaey, who have seen the island change and evolve. There are many developments towards a more sustainable future here and we look forward to enjoy exploring more in the excellent company and hospitality of all those at GeoTenerife!

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Looking for stalagmites

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Recently, one of our PhD students – Fatai Ilesanmi has been on field trip.. Nigeria Field Expedition in the month of March and April 2023 

Nigeria National Geographic expedition phase 1. This is a caving expedition to identify and map stalagmite-bearing caves in Nigeria (initial reconnaissance expedition). 

The photograph shows Fatai exploring Itankpini cave and looking for stalagmites in hiding entrances

 

Climate change monitoring

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One year has now past since Dr Gillian Taylor was involved in the installation of a weather station at Fort Magna. It is not just a weather station but also monitors ground chemistry to help us understand seasonal changes. The data has been fascinating and watch this space for updates on conference presentations later in the year..

https://www.vanwalt.com/projects/soil-research-equipment-for-the-vindolanda-trust/

Not content with one weather stations, in April 2023, the team also installed a similar system, provided by Van Walt across the Vindolanda site, monitoring more chemistry, more conditions and importantly watching those anaerobic areas very carefully, as we all know by now, the anaerobic conditions are important for the preservation of artefacts.

There are two other blogs posts, whom have written about the adventures of putting in the new system, so enjoy the link

https://www.vindolanda.com/blog/monitoring-the-buried-archaeology-of-vindolanda

https://www.vanwalt.com/dubois/2023/04/17/whisky-and-paracetamol-when-the-customer-assists-in-a-multi-sensor-network-installation/

https://www.vanwalt.com/dubois/2023/04/23/whisky-and-paracetamolepilogue/

External Speaker: Professor Mike Rogerson – When and Why does it rain in the Sahara?

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On Monday, 24th April 2023, our TU Earth & Environment Group welcomed guest speaker, Professor Mike Rogerson of Northumbria University whose talk entitled ‘When and Why does it rain in the Sahara? (on orbital timescales)’ addressed his ongoing NERC-funded stalagmite palaeoclimate research in Tunisia and Libya.

According to Mike, the Greening of the Sahara which entails conversion of large, currently hyperarid areas into grassland during warm phases of the northern hemisphere, is one of the most spectacular examples of past climate change we have. Previous studies have revealed that the Sahara was not always the sun soaked hyperarid landscape with iconic rolling sand dunes that much of it is today. Instead, there is evidence that it was once much greener.

Future changes in Earth’s hydroclimate under greenhouse gas forcing are notoriously difficult to predict yet people living in global drylands such as along the desert margins of the Sahara,  are incredibly vulnerable to changing water availability and at risk of acute humanitarian crises under human caused climate change.

Climate models used to predict future change over large parts of African and West Asian dryzones tend not to ‘converge’ which means that different climate models subject to the same climate forcings will give different answers as to whether the region will be wetter or drier in the future. Globally, models seem to predict that wet regions will get wetter and dry regions will get drier but how accurate is this? Also, according to Mike, this pattern does not match our understanding of the Sahara under previous warm periods such as the mid-Holocene around 5000 years ago when a greener Sahara prevailed.

Mike is leading a large team of researchers from the UK, Tunisia, Libya, Switzerland, Germany, and Austria, to achieve a step-change in the confidence of climate forecasts for the northern margin of the Sahara by examining the representation of rainfall in Tunisia and Libya general circulation models, and testing how consistent this representation is with new records of rainfall built from stalagmites from Tunisian and Libyan caves. Cave stalagmites preserve a record of past temperature and rainfall in their mineral chemistry as they grow. Depending on their size and growth rate, they have the potential to give us insight into seasonal scale climate variability many thousands of years into the past.

Mike gave an interesting and engaging talk that explained why this is such a difficult – and important – bit of climate science to solve, and provided us with an update on the team’s progress so far.

Mike directs research in Northumbria’s Geography and Environmental Sciences Department and has a wide range of research interests himself with a particular love for karst processes and landscapes. Mike and I have worked closely on several projects over recent years including my National Geographic Explorer project seeking to reconstruct West African Palaeoclimate and as founding members of ‘Karstaways’, a North England research collective of karst and cave researchers. You can learn more about Mike and his work here https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/our-staff/r/michael-rogerson/.

written by Dr Lisa Baldini

What came after the Woolly Mammoth

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On the 26th April, Dr Ambroise Baker gave a fascinating talk about ‘What came after the Woolly mammoth’

The talk introduced some of the questions surrounding the late-Quaternary extinctions and their relevance when considering ecosystem management today. There was a focus on the consequence of this wave of megafauna extinction. Importantly, studying these consequences furthers our understanding of the ecosystem function that megafauna preformed before extinction. Understanding the loss of this function is increasingly relevant when managing ecosystems, especially when considering megafauna introduction as is the case with rewilding strategies. However, there remains many unknowns regarding the lost megafauna functions, how to re-introduce them and the benefits that can be achieved with re-introduction, pointing to the need for a thorough monitoring of current rewilding projects.

LIMES 2022 – Nijmegen

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What an amazing week attending the LIMES Congress in Nijmegen. This was my first LIMES congress, so not sure what to expect.. so here is a run down of the events and my thoughts.

Day 1 – so many talks, in so many different rooms, what an outstanding start.. so many free books, I had to rethink my packing and this was day one! One of my highlights was seeing ‘The missing dead’ session about reconstructing the past through digital games play at Roman Vindolanda. I will be bias as a Vindolanda Trustee member but the future thinking was a great talking point with the audience.

Day 2 – first day trip… and I mean all day 7.30 start and back at 8pm… but what a day, when walking round the archaeological sites, Roman Castellum, Meinerswijk, Military practice camps, Uedem and Xanten-Furstenberg, before heading to LVR Archaologischen park Xanten, at the end of the day, the exquisite and beautiful museum was just awe inspiring.

 

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Day 3 – The day I had been waiting for, which included the organic riches session… and it didn’t disappoint, chaired by Carol Van Driel-Murray and speakers including Beth Green showed the importance of understanding our artefacts, the discussion came to end with a query about impacts of climate change upon these artefacts, exactly at the right time for us to say a comment about our climate change work at the Roman site of Magna.

There was an evening visit to Valkhof museum, with of course some special LIMES beer

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Day 4 – second day trip and this was an absolute highlight for me, the Roman Ship at Castellum Hoge Woerd ‘De Meern 1’  and the wonderful world of Archeon Museum park,  walking through from Mesolithic to the Romans and everything in-between. The hospitality was spectacular, and a delicious BBQ to finish the day. Have to mention the heat, at 34o°C… finding shade and heading inside as often as possible was the order of the day.

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Day 5 – Its not the end of the week for us, Fridays talk started with churches in military outposts and a very full session with a talk from CEO Vindolanda Trust – Dr Andrew Birley.

Day 6 – yip still going and it is Saturday, lots of bright early starters to attend the Feeding the Frontier talks, followed by Roman Britian led by Tanja Romankiewicz, as David Breeze said during questions, ‘exceptional’ talk from Tanja – military construction strategies on the Limes: new insights from geoarcheology.

If I didn’t mention your talk, sorry, so much to see, so many pancakes to eat..

Roll on Georgia, what an inclusive, friendly and engaging series of talks and events

Outreach… Lovely day in the sun

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As academics we are good at standing up and talking about our topics, often in a lecture theatre, following a schedule so the students know what we are taking about and know the science behind it.

However, when it comes to public outreach,  you can be faced with an unknown audience, who are not familiar with every detail, which can put you out of your comfort zone.. so why should I be encouraging you to do it and reasons to do outreach sessions.

Here are my 5 top reasons:-

  1. To introduce science to a young or older audience in a meaningful way – recently I spoke to a allotment group about our work at Magna, relating what we are seeing to soil chemistry to what plants they were growing!
  2. Use your audience – you will meet fascinating people doing outreach, whom have a wealth of experience, listen and learn
  3. Use data but don’t simplified explain the facts – science data can sometimes be impenetrable.. the public love data but it must be explain in a meaningful way, also think, why does this matter to them.
  4. Professional development – i have learnt so much about why i do and what i do from engaging in public talks – someone once asked me what drives me and the answer for me is simple, i love learning new things, figuring out problems.. i have not lost that passion for walking into the science in over 20 years and don’t see that stopping anytime soon.
  5. Energised – It is an absolute pleasure being able to talk about your subject and engage, getting others excited but also feeling as even if just a little bit, you have made a difference.

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Over the next few weeks, we are off to LIMES  and EAA, with some museums and adventures on the way, so stayed tuned for updates.