Mark Smith
@geomorphmark.bsky.social
1.2K followers 960 following 26 posts
Prof of Water Science and Health at Uni of Leeds. Geography - Hydrology - Malaria - Climate - Geomorphology. Dabble in icey stuff too. Oh and running... lots of running.
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geomorphmark.bsky.social
Hi all! Just a reminder that the @bsg-geomorph.bsky.social BSG Annual Conference abstract deadline is tomorrow. The conference, celebrating 50 years of #ESP&L, is 16-18 Sept right in the very centre of Leeds… 1 minute from the railway station… and a conference dinner hosted in Leeds Armouries.
Vic falls
geomorphmark.bsky.social
If your name’s not down… you’re not coming in.

It’s great having #bees in our garden. Two ‘bouncers’ here guarding their entrance and bee-handling this unfortunate bee right across the garden.

Perhaps ‘guard bees’ and ‘robber bees’ in action?
geomorphmark.bsky.social
Well done @connieharpur.bsky.social on producing a wonderful poster at #EGU25. You smashed it and drew a crowd throughout your poster session. Maybe some new collaborations there too! Woop Woop!
Connie with an audience at her poster
geomorphmark.bsky.social
On this years’ Portugal trip, while wandering over the student field sites we found some naked men. Thankfully, the Naked Man orchid (also generously known as the Italian man orchid). Good spot @kofitim.bsky.social - you have a good eye for these things!

Nice hat too
A naked man orchid A zoom in on the orchid
geomorphmark.bsky.social
Zambia has experienced bad recent droughts: our new paper @mrozelizabeth.bsky.social shows future climate will change annual Barotse flooding. Reds = decreasing flood duration and, well, there are no blues. Impacts already seen with Kuomboka ceremony shifting later/cancelled tinyurl.com/yc5u48ej
Flood duration changes on the Barotwse floodplain. REds = decreasing duration. There are no blue areas of increasing duration Graph showing Kuomboka dates are gradually shifting later in the year An image of the Kuomboka ceremony. By Samuraijack, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=819689
geomorphmark.bsky.social
Another gorgeous field day surveying the Yorkshire #beavers. Laser scans, UAV surveys, a bit of dGPS where trees allowed and some iPad LiDAR surveys too. That's the 7th annual survey complete. Loads of activity... and look! I think I stumbled on a beaver workshop?
Trees and a beaver pond A beaver workshop? A pond and lots of felled trees
geomorphmark.bsky.social
Lovely to see a release of beavers into the wild in England… especially today on my annual beaver survey day of the #Yorkshire Beavers. Amazing changes here over 6 years… maybe next year the change will be that the fences have gone!
A beaver dam and terrestrial laser scanner A UAV on the landing pad by a beaver lake Another beaver dam being scanned
Reposted by Mark Smith
geomorphmark.bsky.social
Well done @danielcolson.bsky.social
You deserved it. Enjoy the caterpillar cake: suitable for every occasion 🐛🍰
peatbloke.bsky.social
Huge congrats to PhD student @danielcolson.bsky.social who passed his viva (defence) today. Well done Dan! Thanks to the examiners, Angela Harris (Manchester) and Rich Grayson, and co-supervisors @geomorphmark.bsky.social and Duncan Quincey. A happy first post on Blue Sky 😁
geomorphmark.bsky.social
Lovely to be part of group meetings in Lusaka for the CIHR healthcare access project. We planned local/national dissemination, pulling together key messages across this wonderfully friendly, diverse and international team. Ranging from flood modelling to focus groups to tackle this complex challenge
A group photo of the Access project team A group photo of the Access project team
geomorphmark.bsky.social
Back in Zambia for a set of final project dissemination meetings in Lusaka. But a chance to stop by a #fluvial #geomorphology global highlight! The mighty Mosi oa Tunya/Victoria falls gearing up for what we hope is a good wet season this year 🤞🤞🇿🇲🇿🇲
Mosi oa tunya/Victoria falls Me at Mosi oa tunya/Victoria falls Mosi oa tunya/Victoria falls Zambezi river
Reposted by Mark Smith
rebeccahodge100.bsky.social
Great couple of days thinking about roughness and geomorphology. Thanks everyone for being so enthusiastic, @geogdurham.bsky.social for funding and @houseago.bsky.social for organising.
People sitting in a classroom. There are lots of post-its on the whiteboard.
geomorphmark.bsky.social
What does 50 years’ worth of geomorphological knowledge look like? A full compilation of @bsg-geomorph.bsky.social the ESP&L print run saved from recycling… ahead of the annual BSG meeting here in Leeds celebrating exactly this milestone. On 16th-18th Sept: pop it in your diaries now!
A person pushing a heavy trolley full of ESP&L issues. I only went out for a coffee. Lots of ESP&L issues on a trolley
Reposted by Mark Smith
envleeds.bsky.social
Megan Klaar and Mark Smith @geomorphmark.bsky.social joined The Wild podcast from Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska.

They discussed their research about the melting glacier and its incredible effects on the area's ecosystems.

Listen here:
www.thewildpod.org/episodes
Two people on a boat, recording footage of the mountains beyond. Megan Klaar smiling with the podcast producers, standing in a river with trees behind. Megan Klaar being interviewed on a riverbank, with trees behind. By Mark Smith. Mark Smith and Megan Klaar
geomorphmark.bsky.social
Scouting field sites for teaching in Tenerife… but no better way to cover lots of ground than a nice long run. This is my official reason for the run at least… 😬🌋🌲🏃‍♂️
Running on a trail at sunset A cutting with laurel trees Volcano and clouds below Volcano and lava field and a lovely pine tree
Reposted by Mark Smith
edhawkins.org
2024 was also a record for the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere. Water vapour is a powerful greenhouse gas and a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, amplifying the CO₂ induced warming.

The increased levels of water in the atmosphere mean that heavy rainfall events become more severe.
Timeseries of atmospheric water vapour content, showing a record 2024
geomorphmark.bsky.social
Great to finally hear the excellent podcast produced by the team that followed us into some remote Alaskan rivers this summer. Highly recommend THE WILD with Chris Morgan - we had an absolute blast with them looking at the changes in Glacier Bay National Park.
open.spotify.com/show/6fjDWY0...
The Wild with Chris Morgan
Podcast · KUOW News and Information · "THE WILD with Chris Morgan" explores how nature survives and thrives alongside (and often despite) humans. Taking listeners across the Pacific Northwest and arou...
open.spotify.com
Reposted by Mark Smith
glaciology.net
A new gigantic outburst flood from Catalina lake in East Greenland [Catalinadal, Renland, Scoresbysund].

total volume: 3.4 km3
peak discharge: ~7200 m3/s
top-10 #GLOF in terms of both numbers.
previous outburst 2013

I'm sending out a press release today about it.
🧪❄️ 🥼❄️
1/x
geomorphmark.bsky.social
#Malaria remains a "formidable challenge" in latest WHO World Malaria Report - cases rise by 11 million in 2023, even increasing as an incidence rate per 1000 population. That's 263 million cases of malaria... www.who.int/teams/global...
World malaria report 2024
Each year, WHO’s World malaria report provides a comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of trends in malaria control and elimination across the globe
www.who.int
geomorphmark.bsky.social
It was a privilege to spend a two summers visiting Glacier Bay NP in Alaska to survey the in-stream wood and effects on river geomorphology/ecology with Megan Klaar, Sandy Milner and @lawrenceeagle.bsky.social. See Megan's new paper! Free downloads for 50 days! authors.elsevier.com/a/1k6ciErXCM...
A person in a river pool surrounded by a crazy number of salmon Some in-stream wood A boat in Glacier Bay NP at sunset
geomorphmark.bsky.social
Hi Dan - could you add me please? Cheers!
geomorphmark.bsky.social
When we did this rather silly comparison picture highlighting glacier retreat in Norway over the last 140 years... I don't think any of us expected it to make it into a news story on the NRK website 😂. Such is life! I ❤️the scratchy image they have at the top: www.nrk.no/klima/brefor...
A comparison image showing glacier retreat at an outlet of the Folgefonna ice cap in Norway between 1886 and 2024.