BGS in the UAE

BGS completed the second phase of a major mapping contract with the UAE at the end of 2012. This has been a very fruitful collaboration that has led to the production of a complete set of high resolution maps of the UAE. These are all accompanied by reports on deep geophysics, building stones, mineral potential and environmental geology and building subsurface conditions in cities such as, the rapidly expanding, Abu Dhabi. The photo below is of the superb Grand Mosque which was completed 3 years ago and one of the aims would be to provide a source for the sorts of building materials used here.

I visited the Ministry on the 2nd January 2013 and met the project leader Abdullah Abdi, with Khalid Ali Alhosani, Saleh Ahmed Almahmoudi (see photo below) the intention being to recognise the significant work that both sides have put into the project and discuss ongoing science activities that might evolve now that we have completed the basic surveys.  At the same time BGS  is investing in a suite of follow- up research projects in the UAE.

We expect to maintain a strong ongoing collaborative relationship with the UAE ministry and it was excellent to see all of the geological information, maps and other products strongly co-branded by the the project leaders, UAE, BGS, Sander Geophysics and Western Geco.

A Festive Blog

I started this blog about a year ago and have managed more or less one per month. I had a bet (a plate of oysters) with Sarah Nice from the BGS Communications Team, that no one would bother to read it. Well,  I lost my bet as I now have several thousand readers, not a hard price to pay and the oysters were a first for Sarah.

BGS continues to do well despite the hard financial times and tight budgets from government. Nonetheless, our science outputs have increased  this year, both in the conventional literature and on the web and in smart apps.

I encourage you to lake a look at our report for the last financial year and the presentations at our recent 2012 stakeholder meeting at the Geological Society of London.

I wish you all a happy Christmas and all the best for 2013 and thanks for reading the blogs; I will keep them coming in 2013!

The last blog from AGU 2012 (better late than never)!

By Wednesday I was suffering a little from mid week saturation, as there are only a certain number of science presentations that one can take in in a day. Below shows the poster display along with one from BGS in a special session on education in geosciences, where we are producing a digital set of 3Dfossil images with other archives and museums in the UK.

Data and dealing with lots of it, is a big problem that underpins many sessions here. Increasing demand for open data and the ability to mash-up diverse data sets and create new environmental research areas and services is an important part of the mix here. The UK is a leader with its virtual environment observatory concept.  Unifying management protocols and making data transferable, although perhaps not the exciting end of science delivery, is one of the most important aspects of science showcased by BGS here.

I also spent some time in a session on Tsunami where BGS made a number of presentations and where there was a focus on the March 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami in Japan and how we can learn from this event and plan for future events. We are well respected for our specialist geological role in understanding the geomorphology and sedimentology of these events.

I also attended the honours banquet where senior and mid career scientist are recognised for their contributions to our science. It is always good to celebrate success and this sort of recognition is important for academics who generally work extremely hard and are not as highly paid as industry counterparts.

Our staff have given 48 science presentations which is an excellent showing for BGS at AGU and underpins our increasingly robust role in earth and environmental science.

More News from AGU 2012

Three days into the meeting and there is a lot going on. Some say that there will be more than 20000 people attending this week. The AGU meeting brings together a very broad group of scientists ranging from planetary science to all aspects of environmental science including the study of the deep earth. In reality although BGS has a broad science remit, we probably do not cover more than 15% of the activity types here.

Nonetheless on Monday and Tuesday, BGS scientists were involved in a number of events. Many were presenting at poster sessions, which is a form of presentation of science, where you stand in front of a display of science ideas. There are hundreds of posters each day, they are well attended and a great way of communicating science.  

Geovisionary at AGU 2012

BGS have been demonstrating geological mapping technology of the UK, how volcanoes formed in Mexico, what are the sources of magnetic anomalies on Earth, redefining the best practice in high resolution geochronology, living with atmospheric electricity, using geophysics to understand the structure of volcanoes and much more.

The meeting is also a good place to bring together planning boards for large projects.  There have been several sessions on the future of scientific drilling, both in the oceans through the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) and the continents with the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program  (ICDP). BGS leads as a science operator in this science and has some key scientific targets which underpin areas such as past climate change as a model for the future high CO2 world, developing deep geothermal energy and understanding the Arctic as a geological province for science discovery and for future resources. As BGS director I sit on a number of management boards that meet at AGU and to an extent I miss out on the fun parts of the science when attending these sessions.

Evenings are punctuated by a number of “townhall” meetings to announce science strategy and US universities bringing their past graduates together: all of these tend to be good events to meet people and exchange scientific ideas in a lively atmosphere.

Me at Fishermans Wharf, San Francisco, on my way to a "townhall" meeting

BGS at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting

The American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting in San Francisco is the largest yearly gathering of geoscientists, ranging from those studying the deep interior of the Earth to the envelopes surrounding the Earth. Staff from the British Geological Survey, have from time to time, attended the meeting. Following the BGS strategic push to become more involved in modelling geological and environmental sciences we have seen a significant increased visibility of our staff at this meeting. This year we have numerous presentations involving BGS staff at this top level meeting. A summary of the BGS presentations can be found here.  I will be providing updates throughout the meeting via the blog and on Twitter @BGSBoss #AGU12

A forward look for Earth Sciences (and keeping frogs in a wheelbarrow)

I have just come back from a meeting that BGS organised on behalf of the European Earth Sciences community in Paris. For the first time we managed to get senior scientists from all sectors of the earth sciences together to design our needs for the future: these ranged from the Geological Surveys  through the major agencies delivering earth sciences research to some of the brightest scientists, both starting out and senior, recognised as fellows by the European Research Council

With the breadth of egos in the room, "herding cats" or "keeping frogs in a wheel barrow" come to mind as expressions. Well, we managed to achieve a lot and the output of the meeting will be open to the community to comment on, with an outward facing statement on the types of research and infrastructure needed for our science and its importance and impact being prepared for European Geosciences Union 2013.  This will be coupled with an earth science community based document representing our road map as a guide for the future; both for funding, but more importantly, for consolidation of  the community and sharing of infrastructure and creation of joint science programmes in which the spectrum of our scientists from government agencies to research in universities and the private sector will share.

I thought that the director of Earth sciences from the French CNRS, Michel Diament and one of the co-organisers summarised our aims well in stating that:

People like to dream: about the origin of the Earth, the universe and life.
People Want to be safe: from natural hazards especially catastrophic events
People want to be comfortable: to have a secure supply of energy, water and raw materials

Earth sciences research helps underpin all of this.

The Ice Man Cometh

The British Geological Survey (BGS) has over the past few years undertaken a series of observations related to glaciers in Iceland. In addition to monitoring volcanic processes (such as those from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano that erupted from under a glacier and severely disrupted European air traffic in 2010), BGS with partners from Iceland and other UK universities have been monitoring glaciers with respect to their stability in a changing climate regime. 

Location of the BGS Glacial Observatory at Virkisjökull/ Falljökull in southeast Iceland

In particular, this suite of glaciers located on the south eastern extremity of Iceland may be susceptible to changes in temperature related to sea water temperature and sea current regimes. This week the BGS chief scientist, Professor Denis Peach, visited the observatory with BGS staff and discussed further developments in monitoring. In particular, they propose to look at groundwater in a suite of drill holes on the edge and toe of the glacier and listening to the glacier's movements with seismic and acoustic arrays.

BGS Chief Scientist, Professor Denis Peach, visits the Iceland Glacier Observatory

BGS with other earth science national laboratories across Europe recently met to design a coordinated earth science infrastructure programme of monitoring.  It will build on the complementary nature of observing networks throughout Europe and will look at applying solid earth monitoring programmes (normally used for volanoes, landslides and earthquakes) to environmental problems, focussing on glacial movement and structure and the stability of permafrost and the mass balance in erosion processes.

The Iceland observatory is one node of a multi node development across Europe and the globe.