Geology for society in 2058: some down-to-earth perspectives

Smelror, Morten

doi:10.1144/sp499-2019-40

Cited by 14 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 87 publications

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“…We did not include these attributes (and their interactions with climatic metrics) because our goal was not to get the most accurate model, but instead to identify how far we can go in explaining detailed streamflow characteristics with one simple, widely available, and accurate satellite-based snow-related metric. With current (and upcoming) advances in the development of widely-accessible and accurate data on catchment geology 420 (Smelror, 2020), and new topographical data releases (Amatulli et al, 2018), future work could include snow persistence, among other explanatory factors of stream low/high flow signatures, to more robustly evaluate where, when, and why snowpack changes impact streamflow hydrograph shape.…”

Section: Limitations and Uncertainties Of The Study 410mentioning

confidence: 99%

Snow Persistence Explains Stream High Flow and Low Flow Signatures with Differing Relationships by Aridity and Climatic Seasonality

Ameli

Janssen

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Abstract. Snow persistence is a globally available metric of snow cover duration that has, thus far, seen limited application to the field of hydrology. This study attempts to explore the controls that snow persistence exerts on streamflow at low and high flow conditions across a diverse spectrum of climatic aridity and seasonality in the United States and Canada. We statistically analyze how snow persistence, aridity, and seasonality conditions interact to control and explain streamflow shape and flashiness at low and high flows. For low flow condition, regardless of climatic aridity and seasonality, a larger snow persistence increases baseflow, reduces low flow variability, and increases the magnitude of extreme low flow relative to average flow. Our results further show that snow persistence becomes a stronger factor in controlling baseflow as well as the magnitude of extreme low flow relative to average flow, in regions with a relatively high aridity and/or with summer-dominant precipitation regimes (or in-phase seasonality). On the other hand, in catchments that are moderately wet to very arid with winter-dominant precipitation regimes (or out-of-phase seasonality), a longer snow persistence could typically lead to a more variability at high flow and a larger magnitude of extreme high flow relative to average flow. This study concludes by demonstrating the relevancy of snow persistence as a globally available streamflow behaviour descriptor and by demonstrating the impacts that climate change may have on snow persistence and ultimately on streamflow behaviour at low and high flows.

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Section: Limitations and Uncertainties Of The Study 410mentioning

confidence: 99%

Snow Persistence Explains Stream High Flow and Low Flow Signatures with Differing Relationships by Aridity and Climatic Seasonality

Ameli

Janssen

et al. 2022

Preprint

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“…The above-described geoscientific activities are in most countries typical survey tasks (e.g. Hill et al, 2020;Lebel, 2020;Smelror, 2020;van Doorn 2012), but were carried out by SNG commissions and their academic members, as Switzerland only established its own geological survey in 1986. The CHF 3′000.-subsidy by the Swiss Federal Council to the SGK for the production of a Switzerlandwide geological map in 1860 represents the first contribution to an SNG commission that was directly coming from a federal office.…”

Section: A Geological Survey For Switzerlandmentioning

confidence: 99%

120 years of georesources research in Switzerland: the Swiss Geotechnical Commission (1899–2018)

et al. 2022

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Geological surveys have a wide range of tasks for their countries: to map the geology and to assess the georesources potential for metallic ores, industrial minerals, geothermal energy, fossil fuels, aggregates and groundwater. In Europe, most countries founded geological surveys around the mid-nineteenth century in order to create an overview of the geological resources they wanted to exploit. In Switzerland, at that time, the industrial revolution triggered a tremendous demand for infrastructure and energy raw materials. However, no national georesources institution was established when the nation-forming process among the 25 cantons culminated in the foundation of the Swiss Federal State in 1848. The Swiss Geological Survey was founded 138 years later in 1986. How did Switzerland map the country, assess the resource potential and provide fundamental data for land use planning without such an organisation? This paper elaborates on the evolution of Swiss institutions mandated to study the geological resources, with a focus on the Swiss Geotechnical Commission (SGTK, 1899–2018). Given the low financial resources, no long-term nation-wide investigation programs could be implemented. The commission's study program was mainly driven by external societal and political factors. World War I for example reactivated the search for coal which was intensively exploited during those years. Before and during World War II, the focus temporarily shifted to oil and gas exploration. From 1970 onwards, SGTK was involved in several applied research projects and collaborations with various industry partners. In this paper, we revisit the key turning points in the evolution of the commission's investigation program, including related financial and organisational aspects, and discuss how Switzerland’s federalistic structure influenced the geological survey activities. The history of the SGTK represents an exemplification of how a nation managed its geological survey activities, until 1986 in the absence of a geological survey and without large hydrocarbon and metallic ore resources and a corresponding, significant mining industry. The SGTK case also shows that flexible, project-based investigations can be advantageous as they respond to current challenges at short notice. This could to some degree substitute the initial absence of a geological survey, as shown by the numerous SGTK monographs that are key references also 100 years after their publication.

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“…But taken collectively, this combination of attributes provides a powerful toolkit for addressing the uncertain and untested problems of sustainable development. With that recognition, many national geological surveys are already reformulating their strategies around sustainable geosciences principles and practices (Smelror 2020, Ludden 2021. At the same time, the key professional sectors that geoscience serves are also rapidly adjusting, with the construction, minerals extraction, and energy sectors increasingly projecting themselves, their practices, and their people through the lens of sustainability and the Sustainable Development Goals framework (Capella et al 2017, Calas et al 2017, Mudd 2021.…”

Section: Fig 3: the Multidisciplinary Nature Of Geoscience Integrating Physics Chemistry And Biology And Drawing From Engineering Mathemamentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating the ‘the triangle of geography, geology and geophysics’ into sustainable development

Stewart¹

2021

Preprint

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In the context of tackling climate change in the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East, HRH Prince El-Hassan bin Talal has called for an integrated approach to human and natu-ral resources management that takes account of ‘the triangle of geography, geology and geophysics’. The lack of application of geoscientific knowledge to sustainable develop-ment issues is surprising given that advancing human progress lies at the roots of modern geoscience and aligns with the intellectual mindsets and technical skills that geoscientists are trained in. Applying this Earth science toolkit to the challenges of long-term sustaina-bility will require the global geoscience community to repurpose its principles and prac-tices, in particular: (1) better communicating what geoscientists know and do, and how that is socially useful; (2) reaching out to other disciplines more engaged in sustainability issues; and (3) re-designing Earth science education and training programmes to place sustainability and human wellbeing at the heart of a 21st century geoscientist’s profes-sional purpose.

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Geology for society in 2058: some down-to-earth perspectives

Cited by 14 publications

References 87 publications

Snow Persistence Explains Stream High Flow and Low Flow Signatures with Differing Relationships by Aridity and Climatic Seasonality

Snow Persistence Explains Stream High Flow and Low Flow Signatures with Differing Relationships by Aridity and Climatic Seasonality

120 years of georesources research in Switzerland: the Swiss Geotechnical Commission (1899–2018)

Integrating the ‘the triangle of geography, geology and geophysics’ into sustainable development

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