DAEM Model Inventory

As part of the BGS strategy (BGS, 2009) the need to develop an Environmental Modelling Platform (EMP) has been identified. The Data and Applications for Environmental Modelling (DAEM) project has sought to scope out the requirements for an EMP. The DAEM project has four deliverables: a scoping study, an outline project plan for the next five years, a model inventory of model codes currently used within NERC, and community building. The scoping study together with the plan for the next five years has been published as a separate document (Giles et al., 2010). This report, an inventory of current Earth science models (and code) used by NERC centres, was created to form part of the appendices for the scoping study (Giles et al., 2010), but has since been commissioned as a separate report. The description for each model has come from the NERC institute indicated in the report. Where a description has not been given, a web search was used to compile the model information. Earth system modelling is undertaken at the majority of NERC centres, however where no information was given, found, or if no models are used, that centre has not been included in this report. Each entry contains a brief description of the model background, capabilities, and references to further information. The contact and use given for each model is specific to that NERC centre or department and therefore there are occasions where the same model is referenced more than once. The NERC contact cited has some degree of experience in using the model and in most cases should be able to answer related questions or direct queries to a suitable person if the required information can not be found via the link provided. The code language and runtime platform are included to aid with determine the ease of model linkages. As many relevant staff in the NERC centre/surveys were approached and consulted as possible. Whilst every effort has been undertaken to ensure the accuracy and completeness of this report, it is not necessarily comprehensive and the DAEM project team apologises in advance for any omissions

Optimising subsurface use for future cities

The subsurface is a dynamic environmental system influenced by the surface through the interaction of heat, water, chemical and biological phenomena and physical stresses. The urban environment modifies the natural link between the surface and the subsurface by interacting and changing the surface drivers or by directly changing the structure of the subsurface. Similar to the concept of ‘ecosystem services’ (see Ehrlich and Ehrlich, 1981) the urban subsurface may be considered as a resource that can provide several services (Bobylev, 2009). Although we consider the urban subsurface as a single resource, it may be subdivided into four resources relating to: construction space, geo-materials, groundwater and geothermal (Parriaux, 2007). It has long been recognised that the urban subsurface is a complex, scarce and valuable resource

CLiDE version 1.0 user guide

The Dynamic Environmental Sensitivity to Change (DESC) project coupled cellular automaton (CA) modelling from various backgrounds and produced the CAESAR-Lisflood-DESC (CLiDE) modelling platform: a geomorphological simulator that allows a variety of Earth system interactions to be explored. A derived version of the well established Cellular Automaton Evolutionary Slope and River (CAESAR) model (Coulthard and Van De Wiel, 2006), CAESAR-Lisflood, which incorporates the Lisflood hydrodymanic model (Coulthard et al., 2013) to simulate channel and overbank flow, is used as the platform kernel. The two dimensional modular design allows great versatility in the range of simulated spatio-temporal scales to which it can be applied. CAESAR has been used to investigate a variety of sediment transport, erosional and depositional processes under differing climatic and land use pressures in river reaches and catchments (Hancock et at., 2011). The recent addition of Lisflood to the code improves the representation of surface water flow within the model by incorporating momentum. However, as with many landscape evolution models (LEMs), CAESAR over-simplifies the representation of some of the hydrological processes and interactions that drive sediment transport. Specifically, it does not simulate groundwater flow and its discharge to rivers. To address these limitations, the non-Lisflood controlled surface hydrological processes within the CLiDE platform are replaced with a bespoke distributed hydrological model that includes a groundwater model. This hydrological model partitions rainfall between surface run-off and recharge to groundwater using a soil water balance model, which is applied at each grid cell. To simulate groundwater flow to river channels we incorporate a single layer finite difference model into the code. This solves the governing partial differential groundwater flow equation using a forward time-stepping, or explicit, solution method (Wang and Anderson, 1982), which can be considered as a cellular automaton (CA) model (Ravazzani et al., 2011). The groundwater model is coupled to the surface model through the exchange of recharge and baseflow. In addition to the hydrological modifications, a debris flow component has been added to the platform. The triggering aspect of this component is linked to simulated groundwater levels

Probabilistic estimates of climate change impacts on UK water resources

Climate change will increase temperatures and change rainfall across the UK. In turn, this will modify patterns of river flow and groundwater recharge, affecting the availability of water. There have been many studies of the impact of climate change on river flows in the UK, but coverage has been uneven and methods have varied. Consequently, it has been very difficult to compare different locations and hard to identify appropriate adaptation responses

A solution (data architecture) for handling time-series data - sensor data (4D), its visualisation and the questions around uncertainty of this data

Geo-environmental research is increasingly in the age of data-driven research. It has become necessary to collect, store, integrate and visualise more subsurface data for environmental research. The information required to facilitate data-driven research is often characterised by its variability, volume, complexity and frequency. This has necessitated the development of suitable data workflows, hybrid data architectures, and multiple visualisation solutions to provide the proper context to scientists and to enable their understanding of the different trends that the data displays for their many scientific interpolations. However this data, predominantly time-series (4D) acquired through sensors and being mostly telemetered, poses significant challenges/questions in quantifying the uncertainty of the data. To validate the research answers including the data methodologies, the following open questions around uncertainty will need addressing, i.e. uncertainty generated from: • the instruments used for data capture; • the transfer process of the data often from remote locations through telemetry; • the data processing techniques used for harmonising and integration from multiple sensor outlets; • the approximations applied to visualize such data from various conversion factors to include units standardisation The main question remains: How do we deal with the issues around uncertainty when it comes to the large and variable amounts of time-series data we collect, harmonise and visualise for the data-driven geo-environmental research that we undertake today

Couplers for linking environmental models: scoping study and potential next steps

This report scopes out what couplers there are available in the hydrology and atmospheric modelling fields. The work reported here examines both dynamic runtime and one way file based coupling. Based on a review of the peer-reviewed literature and other open sources, there are a plethora of coupling technologies and standards relating to file formats. The available approaches have been evaluated against criteria developed as part of the DREAM project. Based on these investigations, the following recommendations are made: • The most promising dynamic coupling technologies for use within BGS are OpenMI 2.0 and CSDMS (either 1.0 or 2.0) • Investigate the use of workflow engines: Trident and Pyxis, the latter as part of the TSB/AHRC project “Confluence” • There is a need to include database standards CSW and GDAL and use data formats from the climate community NetCDF and CF standards. • Development of a “standard” composition which will consist of two process models and a 3D geological model all linked to data stored in the BGS corporate database and flat file format. Web Feature Services should be included in these compositions. There is also a need to investigate other approaches in different disciplines: The Loss Modelling Framework, OASIS-LMF is the best candidate

Coastal vulnerability of a pinned, soft-cliff coastline. Part II, assessing the influence of sea walls on future morphology

Coastal defences have long been employed to halt or slow coastal erosion, and their impact on local sediment flux and ecology has been studied in detail through field research and numerical simulation. The nonlocal impact of a modified sediment flux regime on mesoscale erosion and accretion has received less attention. Morphological changes at this scale due to defending structures can be difficult to quantify or identify with field data. Engineering-scale numerical models, often applied to assess the design of modern defences on local coastal erosion, tend not to cover large stretches of coast and are rarely applied to assess the impact of older structures. We extend previous work to explore the influences of sea walls on the evolution and morphological sensitivity of a pinned, soft-cliff, sandy coastline under a changing wave climate. The Holderness coast of East Yorkshire, UK, is used as a case study to explore model scenarios where the coast is both defended with major sea walls and allowed to evolve naturally were there are no sea defences. Using a mesoscale numerical coastal evolution model, observed wave-climate data are perturbed linearly to assess the sensitivity of the coastal morphology to changing wave climate for both the defended and undefended scenarios. Comparative analysis of the simulated output suggests that sea walls in the south of the region have a greater impact on sediment flux due to increased sediment availability along this part of the coast. Multiple defence structures, including those separated by several kilometres, were found to interact with each other, producing complex changes in coastal morphology under a changing wave climate. Although spatially and temporally heterogeneous, sea walls generally slowed coastal recession and accumulated sediment on their up-drift side

Simulating the mesoscale impacts of sea wall defences on coastal morphology

Solid coastal defences are deployed in many countries to halt or slow coastal erosion. Although the impacts on local sediment fluxes have been studied in detail, the non-local impact of a modified sediment flux regime on mesoscale coastal morphology has received less attention. Morphological changes imparted by defensive structures at these scales (decadal processes over tens of kilometres) can be difficult to quantify or even identify with field data. Difficulties in assessing the impact of these structures arise in the separation of natural and anthropogenic influences, both of which can be highly dynamic and non-linear. Numerical modelling allows these influences to be separated and the impacts of coastal defensive structures to be assessed. We extend previous work (Barkwith et al., 2013) to explore the influences of sea walls on the evolution and morphological sensitivity of a pinned, soft-cliff, sandy coastline under a changing wave climate. The Holderness coast of East Yorkshire, UK, is one of the fastest eroding coastlines in Europe and is used as a case study for this research. Using a mesoscale numerical coastal evolution model, stochastic wave climate data are perturbed gradually to assess the sensitivity of the coastal morphology to changing wave climate for both the defended and natural scenarios. Comparative analysis of the simulated output suggests that sea walls in the south of the region have a greater impact on sediment flux due to the increased sediment availability along this part of the coast. Multiple defended structures, including those separated by several kilometres, were found to interact with each other, producing a complex imprint on coastal morphology under a changing wave climate. Although spatially and temporally heterogeneous, sea walls generally slowed coastal recession and accumulated sediment on their up-drift side

Assessing the influence of sea walls on the coastal vulnerability of a pinned, soft-cliff, sandy coastline

Coastal defences have long been employed to halt or slow coastal erosion. Their impact on local sediment flux and ecology has been studied in detail through field studies and numerical simulations. The non-local impact of a modified sediment flux regime on mesoscale erosion and accretion has received less attention. Morphological changes at this scale due to defended structures can be difficult to quantify or identify with field data. Engineering scale numerical models, often applied to assess the design of modern defences on local coastal erosion, tend not to cover large stretches of coast and are rarely applied to assess the impact of older structures. We extend previous work to explore the influences of sea walls on the evolution and morphological sensitivity of a pinned, soft-cliff, sandy coastline under a changing wave climate. The Holderness coast of East Yorkshire, UK, is used as a case study, represented both as a defended example with major sea walls included and a natural example where no sea defences exist. Using a mesoscale numerical coastal evolution model, stochastic wave climate data are perturbed gradually to assess the sensitivity of the coastal morphology to changing wave climate for both the defended and natural scenarios. Comparative analysis of the simulated output suggests that sea walls in the south of the region have a greater impact on sediment flux due to the increased sediment availability along this part of the coast. Multiple defended structures, including those separated by several kilometres, were found to interact with each other, producing a complex imprint on coastal morphology under a changing wave climate. Although spatially and temporally heterogeneous, sea walls generally slowed coastal recession and accumulated sediment on their up-drift side

Coastal vulnerability of a pinned, soft-cliff coastline. Part I, assessing the natural sensitivity to wave climate

The impact of future sea-level rise on coastal erosion as a result of a changing climate has been studied in detail over the past decade. The potential impact of a changing wave climate on erosion rates, however, is not typically considered. We explore the effect of changing wave climates on a pinned, soft-cliff, sandy coastline, using as an example the Holderness coast of East Yorkshire, UK. The initial phase of the study concentrates on calibrating a numerical model to recently measured erosion rates for the Holderness coast using an ensemble of geomorphological and shoreface parameters under an observed offshore wave climate. In the main phase of the study, wave climate data are perturbed gradually to assess their impact on coastal morphology. Forward-modelled simulations constrain the nature of the morphological response of the coast to changes in wave climate over the next century. Results indicate that changes to erosion rates over the next century will be spatially and temporally heterogeneous, with a variability of up to ±25% in the erosion rate relative to projections under constant wave climate. The heterogeneity results from the current coastal morphology and the sediment transport dynamics consequent on differing wave climate regimes