Ski danger

Professor Michael Davies, head of the school of engineering delivered a lecture in London explaining how global warming can be modeled on a small scale and at accelerated speed in cold climates to predict when ski slopes or mountain paths may become dangerous and a risk to the public.

The joint meeting of the British Geotechnical Association and the Geological Society of London at the Institution of Civil Engineers discussed the influence of climatic change on engineering geology and geotechnics. The stability of mountain slopes and the erosion of the coastline are both affected by climatic change. Engineering expertise is needed to predict when the natural environment and its erosion could pose a danger with the potential collapse of buildings and a serious threat to lives.

Professor Davies leads research for the Permafrost and Climate in Europe EU project at the University and has been testing in the geotechnical centrifuge models of rock slopes located in permafrost in order to study changes in their stability as climate temperature rises.

Dr Geoff Jenkins, head of the climate prediction programme at the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research which is part of the Met office introduced the meeting with a lecture entitled predicting climate change. The Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research has been established to provide the United Kingdom with an up-to-date expert assessment of natural and anthropogenic changes in global and regional climate.

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