5 September 2012
UK scientists to revolutionise lake research in £2.5 million global project
A consortium of scientists from six UK research institutes, including the University of Dundee, has been awarded a £2.5 million grant to create the world's first satellite-based global lake surveillance system, to monitor how lakes and reservoirs are being affected by environmental change.
Funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the consortium project, entitled Globolakes, will see Dr Mark Cutler, Dr John Rowan, and Professor Terry Dawson from the School of the Environment at Dundee examine the role that each lake catchment plays in modifying lake behaviour and response to climate and environmental change.
Dr Cutler said, "Lakes are extremely sensitive to any change in the environment, be it from changes to our climate or human-induced pressures such as urbanisation, pollution, water abstraction or threats from invasive species.
"To monitor and understand changes in the behaviour of these fragile ecosystems we not only need to map what is going on within a lake, but also understand what changes and pressures have occurred within the wider lake catchment, and this is the key role that Geography and CECHR will be playing in this project that will monitor over 1000 lakes across the globe."
The overall project will be led by Dr Andrew Tyler, Head of Biological & Environmental Sciences at the University of Stirling.
He said, "There are approximately 304 million lakes worldwide which are important for biodiversity and provide many ecological goods and services vital to human survival, such as the supply of fresh water, food and energy. They are also important for the facilitation of carbon cycling, flood alleviation and recreational pursuits."
Previous research has already shown how the ecological structure and function of lakes can be damaged by external changes such as the influx of certain nutrients, increased sediment load and climate change. Frequently the changes lead to algal blooms that can deplete oxygen concentrations and produce toxins that are harmful to human health.
Dr Tyler added, "Despite their importance and sensitivity to change, only a very small number of lakes have been studied consistently and in any detail. This world-leading research will enable us to observe the conditions of over 1000 lakes around the globe in a consistent way and also retrospectively, by using archived images from over a decade ago.
"This will allow us to gain deeper insight into their responses to environmental change and enable us to develop an early warning system to detect the onset of harmful algal blooms."
GloboLakes will revolutionise lake research, allowing monitoring to be carried out on an unprecedented scale and will provide the power to detect even the smallest changes. Additionally, by monitoring other environmental conditions, the project will produce a step-change in scientists' ability to understand and attribute the causes of change within lakes - a task which has been arduous thus far.
Professor Stephen Maberly, Head of the Lake Ecosystem Group at the NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, said, "This project will help to cement the UK's position at the forefront of international research on freshwater ecosystems and will benefit the environment, society and industry.
"Information garnered will provide essential knowledge on the condition and response of lakes to environmental change, which will prove invaluable for the monitoring and management of lakes and reservoirs in the future."
Stirling will be heading the consortium, which includes the universities of Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow, the NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and the Plymouth Marine Laboratory. The ambitious project is also made possible by the enthusiastic collaboration of over twenty partner organisations around the world.
More information about the project is available at www.globolakes.ac.uk.
Notes for editors
GloboLakes builds on the forthcoming launch of next generation satellites by the European Space Agency's programme Global Monitoring for Environment and Security and relies on the latest technological and scientific advancements: improved satellite technology, recent developments in the algorithms for satellite image analysis, and the increase in computing power enabling near-real time processing of large volumes of data.
Satellites due to be launched during the course of the project, called Sentinel 2 and 3, will provide images at greater spatial and temporal resolution allowing data to be gathered from lakes that were previously too small to be observed from space and at a higher frequency.
The project consortium:
- University of Stirling, Biological and Environmental Sciences, School of Natural Sciences, led by Dr Andrew Tyler and Dr Peter Hunter.
- NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Lake Ecosystem Group, led by Professor Stephen Maberly and Dr Laurence Carvalho.
- Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Earth Observation Group, led by Steve Groom.
- University of Dundee, School of the Environment, led by Dr Mark Cutler and Dr John Rowan.
- University of Edinburgh, School of Geosciences, led by Dr Christopher Merchant.
- University of Glasgow, School of Mathematics and Statistics, led by Dr Claire Miller and Professor Marian Scott.
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University of Dundee
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