Annex 7
FURTHER DETAILS
OF ONGOING
WORK; CONTACTS
BGS
Process-based research into groundwater flooding
(Additional to BGS's groundwater flood susceptibility
maps.)
BGS has been jointly funding a study with the
Environment Agency over the past three years which aims to assess
the role groundwater flooding plays in the overall flooding story
within the city of Oxford. This study is linked with the Agency's
Oxford Flood Risk Management Study. As a result, an extensive
network has been developed to monitor river, stream and groundwater
levels. Groundwater levels rise during flood events as a response
to high river and stream levels which force water into the highly
permeable underlying gravels.
The Oxford study provides a case study of groundwater
flooding in a shallow alluvial setting. Recommendations from recent
Defra Making Space for Water scoping studies have identified this
as a key project for the Environment Agency in assessing: how
to address groundwater flooding as part of the overall flood risk
management measures in such environments; how to address groundwater
in early warning systems; and how to develop integrated river
and groundwater models for flood prediction
A European Union INTERREG IIIa project on groundwater
flood prediction in northern France (Somme) and Brighton UK (http://www.flood1.info/)
is due for completion in Autumn 2007. This process-based study
led by the French Geological Survey (BRGM) in partnership with
the University of Brighton and BGS has undertaken extensive field
work to characterise unsaturated zone processes in the Chalk related
to flooding and will lead to the development of early warning
systems for groundwater flooding events in the INTERREG regions
involved.
Imperial College London, BGS and the Centre
for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) are undertaking a three-year project
funded by the NERC FREE Programme to develop a suite of integrated
modelling tools to help assess and manage risk from groundwater
flooding on the Chalk of the UK. The approach will be to combine
process-based atmospheric, surface water, unsaturated and saturated
zone flow models that capture the key heterogeneities in the aquifer
that affect groundwater flooding.
To investigate the sustainability of urban drainage
systems, the BGS took part in a collaborative study of the Manchester
urban area, which was jointly funded with the North-west Region
of the Environment Agency. The study produced a three-dimensional
(3D) model of the superficial deposits (Annex 6), in order to
examine potential groundwater-surface water interactions. Hydrogeological
(groundwater) pathways were identified, and it was demonstrated
that there was potential for lateral migration of groundwater
to occur in perched (near-surface) aquifers. Studies of this type
will be key to developing a predictive model for "sewage
flooding" by understanding the interaction between permeable
substrates and rising water tables, and how this may influence
the function of artificial drainage systems.
BGS flooding research contacts
Dr J N Carney, British Geological Survey, Keyworth
Dr A Gibson, British Geological Survey, Keyworth
Mr D. Macdonald, British Geological Survey,
Wallingford
Dr J Bloomfield British Geological Survey, Wallingford
NATIONAL CENTRE
FOR ATMOSPHERIC
SCIENCE (NCAS)
Weather research programme
Part of NCAS Weather works in collaboration
with the Met Office feeding in observation-based and numerical
modelling research to develop and improve the Met Office's numerical
weather predictions (weather forecasting). In addition, NCAS
provides the core instrumentaion and facilities (ground-based
and airborne) to support the Weather programme.
For a very recent example of NCAS work (campaign
still ongoing) which is particularly relevant to improving predictions
of flooding in the UK weather see:
NCAS News—http://www.ncas.ac.uk/news/stories/cops 07.html
"Weathering the Storm! Eight Nations, Nine
Research Aircraft and an Airship—Top UK Weather Scientists
Join Massive International Campaign to Investigate Storms and
Flooding. The Convective and Orographically-induced Precipitation
Study (COPS) begins (11/07/07)"
The COPS project above is building on results
from the Convective Storm Initiation (CSIP) project. CSIP was/is
an extremely successful project which took place in summer 2005—the
data analysis, results and knowledge transfer are now well underway.
News item and relevant links: http://www.ncas.ac.uk/news/stories/csip 05 news.htm
Main NCAS contacts
For the Weather programme and similar work:
Professor Stephen Mobbs (NCAS Director and weather
expert)
Professor Geraint Vaughan (Director of NCAS
Weather Programme):
Professor Alan Blyth (NCAS Head of Ground-based
Observation Facility and Head of specialised aircraft instrumentation)
NCAS PIs who are UK leaders in the field of
cloud research: how they form, their properties and how this affects
the type of rain that forms and falls:
Professor Tom Choularton (microphysics): University
of Manchester:
Dr Martin Gallagher (microphysics); University
of Manchester
Professor Hugh Coe (aerosols)
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