NERC KE ERIIP Fellowship - Environmental risks to infrastructure: Identifying and filling the gaps
Lead Research Organisation:
NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHY CENTRE
Department Name: Science and Technology
Abstract
A wide range of infrastructure underpins our day-to-day lives, yet our intense reliance on these potentially vulnerable systems is often forgotten. Road and rail provide transport, pipelines carry energy and water, and cables transmit and distribute power and communications. Some of these networks are over 100 years old, while others involve brand new technology, but all of them have potential weaknesses to environmental hazards. Several recent network failures caused by such natural hazards have provided a sharp wake up call. Examples include the Dawlish railway collapse due to storms in 2014, damage to homes, bridges and roads in Cumbria in 2014/15, and flooding in Somerset leading to widespread loss of power in 2013/14. These events had profound impacts on people's lives, as well as large costs (>£Ms) to the local and UK economy. Such events may become more likely and more intense as the world continues to warm. In extreme cases, environmental hazards can have global implications. The 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption in Iceland, for example, caused worldwide disruptions to air traffic, yet prior to its occurrence the effects of ash on aircraft engines had not been considered a major risk.
Thus, there is a need to better understand the risk posed by environmental hazards to infrastructure. This is particularly important as we experience changes in our climate, as new technology is developed, new areas are explored, and populations grow. This fellowship aims to help address this risk through identifying gaps in our knowledge and assessing how future research can fill them. Importantly, this fellowship is supported by several industry organisations that are directly involved in assessing the risk posed by natural hazards to a wide range of infrastructure. The proposed work will involve time spent with those specialists, to understand the potential impacts, lessons learned, and how ongoing and future research can make real changes and improvements to assessing environmental risk.
First, the fellowship will determine whether industry has missed any key hazards, such as the Icelandic ash cloud and its impact on air travel. An inventory of potential hazards will be compiled and assessed by a joint academic and industry panel. This may include new hazards such as the breakage of subsea communication cables by underwater avalanches of sediment ('turbidity currents'). Such cables transport 99% of the world's communications including important financial data and the internet.
Extreme events are difficult to predict as we have not typically experienced many (if any) since accurate records have been kept. Despite this, they can be the most damaging events. The fellowship will explore different techniques and tools for predicting and assessing extreme hazards such as developing new statistical methods that are more often used in medicine or financial studies. Such tools will need to include the effects of future climate change.
Often, individual large events may not damage infrastructure, but the combined or successive effect of smaller natural hazards may be catastrophic. Here, it is proposed to summarise the lessons learned from a number of infrastructure owners, consultants and contractors to understand how we can better understand compound or cumulative impacts, and how that can inform the development of models in future.
In the same way as you go to the doctor to get a health check, it is important to understand the health of infrastructure. Historically this has been done by in-person inspections, but step changes in technology now enable remote and real-time monitoring. New technologies that can be used to monitor natural hazards and their impact on infrastructure will be summarised. Groups of researchers and industry representatives will be paired up to see how we can define best practice for industry in real-time monitoring of environmental hazards and increase cost-effectiveness of such efforts.
Thus, there is a need to better understand the risk posed by environmental hazards to infrastructure. This is particularly important as we experience changes in our climate, as new technology is developed, new areas are explored, and populations grow. This fellowship aims to help address this risk through identifying gaps in our knowledge and assessing how future research can fill them. Importantly, this fellowship is supported by several industry organisations that are directly involved in assessing the risk posed by natural hazards to a wide range of infrastructure. The proposed work will involve time spent with those specialists, to understand the potential impacts, lessons learned, and how ongoing and future research can make real changes and improvements to assessing environmental risk.
First, the fellowship will determine whether industry has missed any key hazards, such as the Icelandic ash cloud and its impact on air travel. An inventory of potential hazards will be compiled and assessed by a joint academic and industry panel. This may include new hazards such as the breakage of subsea communication cables by underwater avalanches of sediment ('turbidity currents'). Such cables transport 99% of the world's communications including important financial data and the internet.
Extreme events are difficult to predict as we have not typically experienced many (if any) since accurate records have been kept. Despite this, they can be the most damaging events. The fellowship will explore different techniques and tools for predicting and assessing extreme hazards such as developing new statistical methods that are more often used in medicine or financial studies. Such tools will need to include the effects of future climate change.
Often, individual large events may not damage infrastructure, but the combined or successive effect of smaller natural hazards may be catastrophic. Here, it is proposed to summarise the lessons learned from a number of infrastructure owners, consultants and contractors to understand how we can better understand compound or cumulative impacts, and how that can inform the development of models in future.
In the same way as you go to the doctor to get a health check, it is important to understand the health of infrastructure. Historically this has been done by in-person inspections, but step changes in technology now enable remote and real-time monitoring. New technologies that can be used to monitor natural hazards and their impact on infrastructure will be summarised. Groups of researchers and industry representatives will be paired up to see how we can define best practice for industry in real-time monitoring of environmental hazards and increase cost-effectiveness of such efforts.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Mike Clare (Principal Investigator / Fellow) |
Publications
Allin J
(2017)
Eustatic sea-level controls on the flushing of a shelf-incising submarine canyon
in GSA Bulletin
Bailey L
(2021)
Preconditioning by sediment accumulation can produce powerful turbidity currents without major external triggers
in Earth and Planetary Science Letters
Bailey L
(2023)
Predicting turbidity current activity offshore from meltwater-fed river deltas
in Earth and Planetary Science Letters
Chen Y
(2021)
Knickpoints and crescentic bedform interactions in submarine channels
in Sedimentology
Clare M
(2023)
Climate change hotspots and implications for the global subsea telecommunications network
in Earth-Science Reviews
Clare M
(2020)
Lessons learned from the monitoring of turbidity currents and guidance for future platform designs
in Geological Society, London, Special Publications
Clare M
(2018)
Complex and Cascading Triggering of Submarine Landslides and Turbidity Currents at Volcanic Islands Revealed From Integration of High-Resolution Onshore and Offshore Surveys
in Frontiers in Earth Science
Clare M
(2017)
Direct monitoring of active geohazards: emerging geophysical tools for deep-water assessments
in Near Surface Geophysics
Clare M
(2016)
Preconditioning and triggering of offshore slope failures and turbidity currents revealed by most detailed monitoring yet at a fjord-head delta
in Earth and Planetary Science Letters
| Description | The main findings of the grant relate to the identification, development and deployment of new technologies to monitor seafloor (and other) natural hazards, and better quantify the threat posed to critical linear infrastructure such as telecommunications cables and energy pipelines. The global seafloor network of telecommunications cables carries >99% of all digital communications, including financial trading (£trillions/day) and the internet, while subsea pipelines connect offshore energy supplies. These networks are essential for economic development, underpinning our daily lives; yet are vulnerable to natural hazards, which can sever trading links or release environmentally-harmful products. To assess these hazards, we have developed novel technology, analysed global trends in infrastructure damage, and made detailed measurements of marine geohazards to enable offshore industries and policy makers to make more informed decisions, design more resilient routes, minimise environmental impacts, maintain global connectivity, and promote economic growth. The NOC is the lead Research Organisation for the "National Centre of Excellence for Geohazards" funded by Industry and NERC Innovation funding established in 2014. This enabled experimental and field trials of a number of new sensors to make new measurements of seafloor hazards not possible with existing sensors. This has catalysed collaboration in this project with companies such as Sonardyne to develop next generation sensors. Ongoing and follow-on research includes testing passive sensors (including hydrophones and geophones to make measurements of seafloor hazards offshore Angola and Taiwan. Funding from NERC, which stimulated additional industry-funding, supported monitoring that revealed that how seafloor processes such as turbidity currents may represent a greater hazard to seafloor infrastructure than previously thought. NERC-funded research used industry-shared data that records the timing, location and inferred cause of breaks to the global network of seafloor cables, that provided valuable information about the effects of earthquakes and tropical cyclones on seafloor slope stability and offshore sediment transport. This remarkable industry dataset has been used to increase our understanding of how these processes work in the deep sea. The newly collected data and the existing data sets has provided the basis to develop depth-resolved numerical models to better simulate sediment transport, and in turn improve impact assessment for seafloor structures. These models allow us to better understand how sediment is transferred from onshore to offshore systems, which is also necessary to understand particulate, organic carbon, and pollutant fluxes, which is a stimulus to other follow on research. NOC led advances in monitoring technology, developments in numerical modelling, and increases in knowledge about the real-world behaviour of deep-sea processes have been translated to a range of offshore industries that include telecommunication cable operators, engineering consultants, offshore survey companies, technology and sensor developers, and oil and gas operators. The global economy relies on uninterrupted use of a network of telecommunication cables on the seafloor. Submarine cables have considerable strategic importance to the UK because this data traffic includes the internet, defence information, financial markets and other services that underpin daily lives. Repairs for telecommunication cables have cost up to £100m, with further costs resulting from the loss of connection. In 1929, all cables connecting the UK to USA were broken in a few hours by an undersea landslide, a repeat event today would have serious consequences to the UK. Similar events have occurred worldwide, such as offshore Algeria (1954, 1980, 2003), and Taiwan (2006, 2009, 2015). We assessed why, how often, and where the seafloor cables broken by natural causes, primarily subsea landslides and sediment flows, are, based on datasets shared by industry partners. This reduces costs involved in repair, ensures global trading and communication links are unbroken. A briefing document was provided to the Cabinet Office and Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport setting out the basis for why submarine cable breaks should be included in the UK National Risk Register. We have also engaged directly with the offshore hydrocarbon industry (Exxon, Chevron, ENI) on follow on funded projects to better reduce the risks posed by natural hazards to seafloor infrastructure. Offshore oil and gas production relies on an array of expensive seafloor infrastructures to transport hydrocarbons which are weak points in subsea field developments as they are exposed to the impact of seafloor flows. The damage caused to offshore pipelines by such flows exceeds $400m per year, with reputational damage to operators potentially far exceeding that. NOC research enables industry to assess the risk posed by turbidity currents, how to model their impact, and how to effectively design infrastructure for safe, uninterrupted operations, without the need for total avoidance. NOC research will enable significant cost reduction in future and minimise the loss of hydrocarbons to the environment. The work NOC has done to directly measure turbidity using new sensor technology and working with industry partners (Fugro, Sonardyne, Atkins) has led to new tools used by those partners. The knowledge, from both direct measurements and enhanced models have also been used to develop the best practice for turbidity current hazard assessment. A new method for assessing submarine landslide hazard, lead-authored by Mike Clare of NOC, is now incorporated into national hazard planning in Canada. One other specific area includes research in the area of Multi-hazards. "Multi-hazards" is an emerging but important field for infrastructure industries that requires significant future research and industry efforts. Most organisations do not have a formal definition, but a common description was generally in line with: Multiple hazards occurring within a time window and/or space that generate an impact that is different (often amplify, but may reduce or modify in some way) to that of the individual hazards in isolation, through one or more of the following mechanisms: i) Interact with each other to change the impact ii) Change the background conditions thus changing the likelihood or severity of subsequent hazards iii) Interact with the infrastructure network at different points or times which may change the resilience/flexibility of the network. The extent to which ERIIP members currently deal with multihazards (or not at all) varies, largely due to i) maturity of infrastructure; ii) regulatory requirements; and iii) previous experience of multi-hazard events. A number of common questions were raised by the industry members canvassed (which were presented in a think piece to the ERIIP panel) i. What combinations of hazards are a concern? (e.g. have a disproportionate impact) Identification and characterisation of credible multi-hazard scenarios based on academic experience would be valuable as it is not feasible to assess all combinations of all hazards ii. How do hazards interact? Physical process models are needed that quantify the nature and result of hazard interactions and identify "tipping points", rather than considering hazards in isolation iii. Where and how are networks affected? Visualisation of multi-hazard scenarios useful to identify infrastructure pinchpoints/hotspots/critical zones iv. What is the cost of the impact? Fully integrated model(s) needed to link physical process to economic analysis (both direct and indirect impacts) v. How can you quantify the uncertainty for multi-hazard scenarios? Quantification is needed for dealing with uncertainty for multi-hazard scenarios, but how do you make reasonable estimates with the likelihood of two or more unconnected events? vi. How do we communicate multi-hazard events (in particular likelihood)? Traditional approaches such as characteristic interval/return period are unlikely to be appropriate (particularly for unlinked coincident hazard events). vii. How will likelihood and severity change in future? What are the implications of climate change on multi-hazard scenarios? |
| Exploitation Route | A NERC funded Multi-Hazards review was commissioned by NERC in 2018, which identified a way forward. I am part of a consortium that is developing a large proposal to take some of these ideas forward. I understand that NERC will shortly be commissioning a funding call to follow up in this area, based on these and subsequent findings. |
| Sectors | Construction Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Energy Environment Transport |
| Description | The global seafloor network of telecommunications cables carries >99% of all digital communications, including financial trading (£trillions/day) and the internet, while subsea pipelines connect offshore energy supplies. These networks are essential for economic development, underpinning our daily lives; yet are vulnerable to natural hazards, which can sever trading links or release environmentally-harmful products. To assess these hazards, using NERC funding, we have developed novel technology, analysed global trends in infrastructure damage, and made detailed measurements of marine geohazards to enable offshore industries and policy makers to make more informed decisions, design more resilient routes, minimise environmental impacts, maintain global connectivity, and promote economic growth. NOC led advances in monitoring technology, developments in numerical modelling, and increases in knowledge about the real-world behaviour of deep-sea processes have been translated to a range of offshore industries that include telecommunication cable operators [Src.1], engineering consultants [Src.2&5], offshore survey companies [Src.3], technology and sensor developers [Src.4], and oil and gas operators [Sr.6]. The global economy relies on uninterrupted use of a network of telecommunication cables on the seafloor; they carry ~99% of all inter-continental digital data traffic worldwide. Submarine cables have considerable strategic importance to the UK because this data traffic includes the internet, defence information, financial markets and other services that underpin daily lives. Repairs for telecommunication cables have cost up to £100m, with further costs resulting from the loss of connection. In 1929, all cables connecting the UK to USA were broken in a few hours by an undersea landslide, a repeat event today would have serious consequences to the UK. Similar events have occurred worldwide, such as offshore Algeria (1954, 1980, 2003), and Taiwan (2006, 2009, 2015). NOC have assessed why, how often, and where the seafloor cables broken by natural causes, primarily subsea landslides and sediment flows, are, based on a global analysis of an industry database of cable breaks, provided by Global Marine Systems [Ref.1&2]. Geographic 'pinchpoints' at risk from specific hazards were identified, helping partners identify resilient routes in the deep-sea [Src.1]. This reduces costs involved in repair, ensures global trading and communication links are unbroken. "Such information is essential for improving subsea cable routes and has been instrumental in the design of one new cable route through the cable-congested Strait of Luzon between Taiwan and the Philippines. The redesign allowed the cable to cross the highly active Gaoping Canyon at a location where turbidity currents waned to speeds that were not damaging to cables." Mr Keith Schofield, General Manager of the International Cable Protection Committee A briefing document was provided to the Cabinet Office and Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport setting out the basis for why submarine cable breaks should be included in the UK National Risk Register [Src.7]. NOC engages directly with the offshore hydrocarbon industry (Exxon, Chevron, ENI) on jointly funded projects to better reduce the risks posed by natural hazards to seafloor infrastructure. Offshore oil and gas production relies on an array of expensive seafloor infrastructures to transport hydrocarbons which are weak points in subsea field developments as they are exposed to the impact of seafloor flows [Src.8]. The damage caused to offshore pipelines by such flows exceeds $400m per year, with reputational damage to operators potentially far exceeding that [Ref.5]. NOC research enables industry to assess the risk posed by turbidity currents, how to model their impact, and how to effectively design infrastructure for safe, uninterrupted operations, without the need for total avoidance. NOC research will enable significant cost reduction in future and minimise the loss of hydrocarbons to the environment [Ref.5; Src.1&6]. The work NOC has done to directly measure turbidity using new sensor technology and working with industry partners (Fugro, Sonardyne, Atkins) has led to new tools used by those partners: "The collaborative relationship between Atkins and NOC (e.g. through NERC Innovation projects) has successfully and significantly contributed to the knowledge base that now guides the development of offshore and seabed infrastructure" Dr Andrew Hart, Geohazards & Ground Modelling, Atkins The NOC in collaboration with industry partners Sonardyne are looking at the commercialisation of the new sensor technologies developed by NOC. "Close cooperation between Sonardyne and Dr Clare's group will result in new understanding of sediment transport and characterisation on the academic side, and productionalised devices on the commercial side, especially with respect to environmental risks to infrastructure." Dr Tom Culverhouse, Doppler Group Manager, Sonardyne International Ltd The knowledge, from both direct measurements and enhanced models have been used to develop the best practice for turbidity current hazard assessment. A new method for assessing submarine landslide hazard, lead-authored by Mike Clare of NOC, is now incorporated into national hazard planning in Canada [Src.8]. "In conducting our national assessment, and designing our database, we have made considerable efforts to use the classifications schemes provided in Clare et al., 2018. So we are one of the first Geological Surveys to implement this NOC- generated recommendation." Dr D. Gwyn Lintern, - Natural Resources Canada & Geological Survey of Canada Sources to corroborate the impact (indicative maximum of ten references) [Src.1] Mr Keith Schofield, General Manager of the International Cable Protection Committee (full letter of support available on request) "There is no doubt that the research supported by NERC has provided new knowledge that is of direct value to the submarine cable industry and advances marine science." [Src.2] Dr Andrew Hart, Technical Authority for Engineering Geomorphology, Geohazards & Ground Modelling, Atkins (full letter of support available on request) "The collaborative relationship between Atkins and NOC (e.g. through NERC Innovation projects) has successfully and significantly contributed to the knowledge base that now guides the development of offshore and seabed infrastructure (and specifically seabed pipelines, export power cables and telecommunication cables). We hope very much that the excellent research being conducted at the NOC and with their various research partners, and in turn the support to industry, will continue." [Src. 3] Mr Brian Mackenzie, Service Line Director, Marine Geoconsulting, Europe and Africa & Mr Grant Lewis, Engineering Geology and Geohazards Team Leader (full letter of support available on request) "Direct measurements of turbidity currents by the NOC, such as density and velocity, have been and are extremely valuable in developing more credible inputs to forward-looking numerical models. This also allows back-calculation of deposit geometry to check against the as-sampled conditions to validate models". [Src.4] Dr Tom Culverhouse, Doppler Group Manager, Sonardyne International Ltd (full letter of support available on request) "Monitoring sediment transport and geohazards in the offshore energy environment are of direct relevance to Sonardyne's main marker, developing markets (specifically renewable energy) and in-house R&D priorities (including) field deployments of acoustic instrumentation toward this purpose, and subsequent data capture and analysis. Sonardyne sees this as an important opportunity to maximise synergies between leaders in the UK research base and British industry and as such is fully aligned to the principles of joint research and innovation outlined in the UK's Industrial Strategy. In this context, we are potentially interested in being involved in the commercialisation of this research at the appropriate time." [Src. 5] Professor Richard Whitehouse, Chief Technical Director, HR Wallingford "The work completed by Dr Clare and associates provides access to published modern datasets on turbidity current behaviour in a comparative range of submarine settings. The summary paper on geophysical tools for monitoring geohazards with which we were directly associated also provides a helpful reference source. Overall the work will help to quantify impacts on subsea infrastructure and enable validation of existing models, point to further model developments for use by industry, and identify gaps to be filled by future field, laboratory and modelling initiatives." [Src.6] Dr David Hoyal Team Lead, Process Stratigraphy Project, ExxonMobil Upstream Research (full letter of support available on request) "Over the past few years (circa 2013), sediment transport and geohazards research at NOC has had a broad impact on oil and gas exploitation with new avenues of research and important implications for our business (e.g., Hodgson et al., 2018)" [Src.7] Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) Briefing note 31 (2019). [Src. 8] Dr D. Gwyn Lintern, Marine Geoscience Projects Lead - Natural Resources Canada & Geological Survey of Canada " In summary, the collaboration with NOC has given us exciting direct measurements of delta failure and turbidity current activity, but also allowed us to even get into these fjords with multibeam and sub-bottom profiling systems, moorings, and coring devices to conduct surveys for other types of marine geohazards. We have considered or implemented the results in several of our outputs. We very much hope to continue the collaboration with NOC." |
| First Year Of Impact | 2020 |
| Sector | Construction,Energy |
| Impact Types | Societal Economic Policy & public services |
| Description | Elected as member of the Science Strategy Group of the Natural Hazards Partnership (the steering organisation to the Cabinet Office for natural hazards; first meeting 5th June). The group provides guidance to researchers and industry on what research is needed in which areas to improve the understanding of risk posed by natural hazards, thus also informing the National Risk Register. In my role as KE Fellow, I have been able to act as a link between the ERIIP programme, NOC research, oil and gas/telecommunications industries and the Natural Hazard Partnership, to ensure more effective communication of approaches between different industries and disciplines. |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Membership of a guideline committee |
| Description | Guidance on measuring geohazards in deep water |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | Guidance has been provided to Chevron, ENI and Fugro on how to make measurements of geohazards in deep-water. On-going discussions are being held on the optimal monitoring deployments in challenging deep sea environments which will provide quantification of impact forces for critical seafloor infrastructure. The measurements that are made will be used in determining the appropriate routes and design of pipelines that carry oil and gas. The new knowledge will enable these companies to design more efficient and effective infrastructure routes. |
| Description | Presentation and Attendance at Natural Hazards Partnership Meetings with Cabinet Office to inform national risk assessment (continued contribution) |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Membership of a guideline committee |
| URL | http://www.naturalhazardspartnership.org.uk/ |
| Description | Presentation at Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology Brexit Conference |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| URL | https://secondreading.uk/brexit/brexit-can-research-light-the-way/ |
| Description | Developing a Global Listening Network for Turbidity Currents and Seafloor Processes |
| Amount | £800,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | NE/S009965/1 |
| Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2019 |
| End | 03/2022 |
| Description | Environmental Risks to Infrastructure Innovation Programme (incl additional ODA funding) |
| Amount | £140,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | NE/P009190/1 |
| Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 11/2016 |
| End | 10/2017 |
| Description | External industry funding |
| Amount | € 140,000 (EUR) |
| Organisation | ENI SpA |
| Sector | Private |
| Country | Italy |
| Start | 02/2017 |
| End | 01/2019 |
| Description | Improving resilience of telecommunication links to Small Island Developing States |
| Amount | £118,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2020 |
| End | 04/2021 |
| Description | Marine Environmental Advisor to International Cable Protection Committee |
| Amount | £40,400 (GBP) |
| Organisation | International Cable Protection Committee |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Start | 05/2019 |
| End | 05/2021 |
| Description | Sustainability of subsea cables |
| Amount | £18,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | International Cable Protection Committee |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Start | 05/2020 |
| End | 07/2021 |
| Title | A consistent global approach for the morphometric characterization of subaqueous landslides |
| Description | Quantitative metrics of subaqueous landslides are routinely recorded, but which ones, and how they are defined, depends on the end-user focus. Differences in focus can inhibit communication of knowledge between communities, and complicate comparative analysis. We outlined an approach specifically for consistent measurement of subaqueous landslide morphometrics to be used in the design of a broader, global open-source, peer-curated database. Examples from different settings illustrate how the approach can be applied, as well as the difficulties encountered when analysing different landslides and data types. Standardizing data collection for subaqueous landslides will result in more accurate geohazard predictions and resource estimation. Landslides are common in aquatic settings worldwide, from lakes and coastal environments to the deep sea. Fast-moving, large-volume landslides can potentially trigger destructive tsunamis. Landslides damage and disrupt global communication links and other critical marine infrastructure. Landslide deposits act as foci for localized, but important, deep-seafloor biological communities. Under burial, landslide deposits play an important role in a successful petroleum system. While the broad importance of understanding subaqueous landslide processes is evident, a number of important scientific questions have yet to receive the needed attention. Collecting quantitative data is a critical step to addressing questions surrounding subaqueous landslides. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | This approach is being used by both Canadian and New Zealand governments as part of their national risk assessments for tsunami hazard. Results of those will be published in 2019. |
| URL | http://sp.lyellcollection.org/content/early/2018/03/27/SP477.15.abstract |
| Title | New approaches for detailed measurement of deep sea hazards (turbidity currents) |
| Description | We published a paper providing lessons learned and new approaches for designing platforms to make detailed measurements of dec sea sediment flows called turbidity currents that pose a hazard to critical seafloor infrastructure. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The paper provides the information for others to learn from our past experiences and has already been used by at least two research groups in New Zealand and Austria. |
| URL | https://sp.lyellcollection.org/content/500/1/605.abstract |
| Title | Data for: Daily bathymetric surveys document how stratigraphy is built and its extreme incompleteness in submarine channels |
| Description | Ascii data for cumulative aggradation map ("cum_aggrad.txt") and stratigraphic completeness map (for all areas where stratigraphic completeness <0 "strat_compl_zero.txt" and where stratigraphic completeness >0 "strat_compl_positive.txt"). |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/nx5nycdb7h/1 |
| Title | Data for: Daily bathymetric surveys document how stratigraphy is built and its extreme incompleteness in submarine channels |
| Description | Ascii data for cumulative aggradation map ("cum_aggrad.txt") and stratigraphic completeness map (for all areas where stratigraphic completeness <0 "strat_compl_zero.txt" and where stratigraphic completeness >0 "strat_compl_positive.txt"). |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/nx5nycdb7h |
| Description | Collaboration with Atkins |
| Organisation | WS Atkins |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | From support letter from Dr Andrew Hart, Technical Authority for Engineering Geomorphology, Geohazards & Ground Modelling, Atkins: "Atkins would like to express continued support of the scientific research being undertaken by the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) and their research partners pertaining to geohazard modelling and offshore infrastructure. Atkins is one of the world's leading design, engineering and project management consultancies. We build long-term trusted partnerships to create a world where lives are enriched through the implementation of our ideas. In particular, Atkins' Ground Engineering Practice offers a global capacity for the geological and geotechnical assessment of ground conditions and support to the engineering design of structures in a wide range of environments, including in the offshore and subsea environments. As such, a key component of Atkin's business is the investigation and assessment of those ground conditions and geohazards that adversely impact, affect or constrain proposed oil and gas field development and offshore wind farms, as well as longitudinal seafloor structures, such as pipelines, export power cables and communication cables. This is typically based the integration and interpretation of available geophysical, bathymetric, sedimentological and geotechnical datasets, acquired by our clients. Therefore, as an organisation that is involved in the design and advisory services for onshore, nearshore, offshore and seafloor infrastructure, we strongly believe that the work being undertaken by Dr Clare and other researchers at the NOC is closely aligned to our industry's requirements and has specific relevance to our work. Atkins, and by default our clients and the wider industry, has benefitted and greatly appreciated the opportunities to participate in regular knowledge sharing sessions with Dr Clare and other colleagues from the NOC. Most recently, we hosted Dr Clare at our offices in Epsom to facilitate two-way knowledge transfer about turbidity current hazards, and to also ensure that he and his collaborators are aware of specific industry challenges and objectives. Such sessions have provided our technical staff with an improved understanding of the new approaches being developed to measure turbidity currents and inform geohazard assessments, such as those being developed by Dr Clare and his colleagues in the Monterey Canyon. While we have learned a lot about the behaviour of these flows, there are no direct measurements of the impacts of turbidity currents on seafloor cables or pipelines, except where the impacts were so severe that they broke them entirely. We know of industry examples where seafloor structures have been moved by turbidity currents but not broken, so not all flows lead to such extreme damage. Hence, the importance of the research being undertaken at the NOC." |
| Collaborator Contribution | Atkins staff have hosted workshops, provided access to project results to inform future research, and provided input to on-going Best Practice guidne for offshore practioners. |
| Impact | "The collaborative relationship between Atkins and NOC (e.g. through NERC Innovation projects) has successfully and significantly contributed to the knowledge base that now guides the development of offshore and seabed infrastructure (and specifically seabed pipelines, export power cables and telecommunication cables). We hope very much that the excellent research being conducted at the NOC and with their various research partners, and in turn the support to industry, will continue." |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Collaboration with ExxonMobil |
| Organisation | ExxonMobil |
| Department | ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | From support letter from Dr David Hoyal Team Lead, Process Stratigraphy Project, ExxonMobil Upstream Research: "Over the past few years (circa 2013), sediment transport and geohazards research at NOC has had a broad impact on oil and gas exploitation with new avenues of research and important implications for our business (e.g., Hodgson et al., 2018). For example, detailed flow measurements in the Squamish, Bute, Congo and Monterey deep-water systems provide a new understanding of turbidity current structure and sediment transport (Talling et al., 2015). Some of these results provide a completely new picture of these processes (e.g., Paull et al., 2018) and are not simply more detailed measurements of what we already knew. For example, the seminal paper of Vendettuoli et al., (2019) is a synthesis of a number of years of repeat bathymetric surveys to better understand how the stratigraphic record is built and preserved in a wider range of marine settings. Research on microplastics and contourites are providing brand new insights into how oil and gas reservoirs are created by the remobilization of sand and mud by ocean currents (e.g., Kane & Clare, 2019; Miramontes et al. 2019). In addition, recent work has significantly improved the recognition of submarine landslide deposits (Clare et al., 2018), and the processes of turbidity current and debris flow triggering (Clare et al., 2016; Hage et al., 2019), and is providing new insights into submarine engineering structure design including platforms and pipelines (Clare et al., in press). This research has proved invaluable at ExxonMobil both in supporting our own research efforts, and in providing completely new insights. Over the past decade, ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company (EMURC) has also pursued a comprehensive in-house program of sedimentary processes research to improve the commercial exploration, development and production of oil and gas from basin to reservoir scale (called Process Stratigraphy). New physics-based depositional models have been deployed to the business units that include an improved understanding of depositional processes, geometry and facies tied to parameters like gradient, grain size and mud content, with significant commercial impact. In addition, EMURC has developed a sophisticated numerical model to predict sand and mud deposits from turbidity currents. The ExxonMobil research program rests on a framework of in-house experiments tied to outcrop and high-resolution seismic data (e.g., Hamilton et al., 2017). However, a key missing element is modern oceanographic data like high-resolution bathymetry, shallow cores, and in particular, flow monitoring data which addresses timescales and questions that are difficult to resolve with the other data types. EMURC has turned to external research by well-established oceanographic institutions, in particular NOC, to answer questions like these. Since 2013, ExxonMobil has funded or been partners in a number of NOC/NERC projects. These include: 1. Geometries and dynamics supercritical bedforms I, 2013: Matthieu Cartigny (PI) & Peter Talling (Co-I) National Oceanography Centre; Esther Sumner (Co-I) Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Joris Eggenhuisen (Co-I); Utrecht University, George Postma (Co-I) Utrecht University, John Hughes-Clarke (Co-I) University of New Brunswick 2. Two NERC Studentships: Geometry and dynamics of supercritical bedforms II (2014): Sophie Hage & Age Vellinga supervised by Dr Matthieu Cartigny (NOC). Focus on two aspect of supercritical bedforms that are still poorly constrained: 1) what is the range of types of supercritical bedforms in both two- and three dimensions, (measurement) and 2) what controls their dynamics (numerical modeling in flow 3-D). 3. Field testing novel sensor systems for time-lapse monitoring of seafloor geohazards at global test sites (2017). Prof. Peter Talling, Earth Sciences & Geography Dept, Durham, Dr. Matthieu Cartigny, Geography & Earth Sciences, Durham. Prof. Jim McElwaine, Earth Sciences, Durham, Prof. Dan Parsons, University of Hull., Dr. Mike Clare, National Oceanography Centre. Student Natasha Chaplow. 4. Another project: How does substrate erosion determine turbidity behavior and reservoir geometry?, 2019, PIs Talling and Cartigny (Durham) was initiated while the PI's were at Durham and will also involve collaboration with NOC and EMURC. These projects include important turbidity current monitoring studies on the Squamish (BC), Butte (BC), Zaire and Monterey channels and fans many in collaboration with John Hughes Clarke at Univeristy of New Hampshire, and Charlie Paull at Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBARI)." "[P]enetration into the business has been greatly facilitated by research that can measure these systems at missing timescales - days to years. Papers that have facilitated this include Vendettuoli, Clare, et al. (2019); Hage, Cartigny, Clare et al. (2018) and other NOC collaborative papers." |
| Collaborator Contribution | ExxonMobil have provided funding for 2 x PhD students, supported and hosted workshops and knowledge exchange activities, and shared challenges that they face to inform ongoing research. |
| Impact | Over the past few years (circa 2013), sediment transport and geohazards research at NOC has had a broad impact on oil and gas exploitation with new avenues of research and important implications for our business (e.g., Hodgson et al., 2018). For example, detailed flow measurements in the Squamish, Bute, Congo and Monterey deep-water systems provide a new understanding of turbidity current structure and sediment transport (Talling et al., 2015). Some of these results provide a completely new picture of these processes (e.g., Paull et al., 2018) and are not simply more detailed measurements of what we already knew. For example, the seminal paper of Vendettuoli et al., (2019) is a synthesis of a number of years of repeat bathymetric surveys to better understand how the stratigraphic record is built and preserved in a wider range of marine settings. Research on microplastics and contourites are providing brand new insights into how oil and gas reservoirs are created by the remobilization of sand and mud by ocean currents (e.g., Kane & Clare, 2019; Miramontes et al. 2019). In addition, recent work has significantly improved the recognition of submarine landslide deposits (Clare et al., 2018), and the processes of turbidity current and debris flow triggering (Clare et al., 2016; Hage et al., 2019), and is providing new insights into submarine engineering structure design including platforms and pipelines (Clare et al., in press). This research has proved invaluable at ExxonMobil both in supporting our own research efforts, and in providing completely new insights. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Collaboration with Fugro |
| Organisation | Fugro |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | From support letter provided by Mr Brian Mackenzie, Service Line Director, Marine Geoconsulting, Europe and Africa & Mr Grant Lewis, Engineering Geology and Geohazards Team Leader: "Fugro GB Marine Limited would like to express continued support of the scientific research performed by the National Oceanography Centre pertaining to sediment transport and geohazard research. Fugro GB Marine Limited combines the expertise of industry specialists in engineering geology, geophysics, geohazards and geotechnical engineering to provide site characterisation services to clients. A key part of the consultancy business line concerns understanding the potential for recurrent geohazards to adversely impact, affect or constrain proposed oil and gas field development layouts, and longitudinal seafloor structures, such as pipelines. The potential impact of high-density sediment flows on a pipeline can lead to displacement, which may result in spanning issues, excess stress being exerted on sections of the pipe, or in severe cases, full bore rupture. The environmental and reputation implications to an operator may be severe if product is released from a broken line. Economic implications may be significant if production is lost or delayed. Therefore, an understanding of potential impact is crucially important, as avoidance or mitigation measures can be costly or, in some cases, prohibitive. Geohazard specialists from Fugro routinely perform assessments of frequency, magnitude and type of potential sediment density flows. This is largely based on integration of available geophysical, bathymetric, sedimentological and geotechnical data, which are acquired on behalf of oil and gas clients. This integrated interpretation is used to feed numerical models of predicted flow pathway, and outputs are provided in relation to a proposed pipeline. These include deposit geometry (i.e. run-out distance), height and width of flow, velocity and a determination of force imposed on the pipeline. This is then related to pipeline design parameters and seafloor soil conditions to determine the integrity of the pipeline in response to the impact (i.e. to determine the level of damage sustained). Currently large assumptions must be made in the modelling that is performed. Direct measurements of turbidity currents by the NOC, such as density and velocity, have been and are extremely valuable in developing more credible inputs to forward-looking numerical models. This also allows back-calculation of deposit geometry to check against the as-sampled conditions to validate models. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Fugro have hosted several workshops, provided guidance on data interpretation, and provided access to datasets to PhD students within Mike Clare's research group. |
| Impact | "Enhancement and validation of Fugro's modelling input and analysis allow for the most credible prediction of future geohazards and project risk, thus supporting decisions and design of cost effective solutions which contribute to a safe and liveable world. Fugro, our clients, and industry more generally, have also benefitted from regular knowledge sharing sessions with the NOC, which include meaningful updates on the work being performed by the research group such as that in the Monterey Canyon. These regular knowledge exchange sessions have increased Fugro's awareness of new approaches to measure turbidity currents and informed geohazard assessments." |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Collaboration with Sonardyne Ltd |
| Organisation | Sonardyne International Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | From a letter of support from Dr Thomas Culverhouse - Doppler Group Manager, Sonardyne International Ltd: "Sonardyne International Ltd. Is a privately owned UK company that is recognised as a world leader in the design and manufacture of underwater acoustic positioning and telemetry, inertial navigation, optical communications and sonar imaging systems. With over 40 years of experience in developing technology for harsh underwater environments, Sonardyne's sixth generation hardware platform (6G) is marker leading and was recognised by the Queens Award for Enterprise in Innovation in 2014. Offshore energy is currently Sonardyne's largest market, and the proposed study will directly benefit our customers in this industry. In addition, Sonardyne has a growing presence in other relevant industries, such as oceanography and marine resources. Sonardyne has established a close collaborative relationship with Dr Mike Clare, from the National Oceanography Centre (NOC). Knowledge exchange through this channel promises to deliver innovation that will drive the current and next generation of instruments to probe sediment flows via underwater acoustics. |
| Collaborator Contribution | "Novel ideas are being turned into prototype devices which we aim to deploy in the environments that form the focus of this study. Close cooperation between Sonardyne and Dr Clare's group will result in new understanding of sediment transport and characterisation on the academic side, and productionalised devices on the commercial side, especially with respect to environmental risks to infrastructure. [M]onitor[ing] sediment transport and geohazards in the offshore energy environment are of direct relevance to Sonardyne's main market, developing markets (specifically renewable energy) and in-house R&D priorities (including) field deployments of acoustic instrumentation toward this purpose, and subsequent data capture and analysis. Sonardyne sees this as an important opportunity to maximise synergies between leaders in the UK research base and British industry and as such is fully aligned to the principles of joint research and innovation outlined in the UK's Industrial Strategy. In this context, we are potentially interested in being involved in the commercialisation of this research at the appropriate time." |
| Impact | Ongoing - Knowledge exchange through this channel promises to deliver innovation that will drive the current and next generation of instruments to probe sediment flows via underwater acoustics. Novel ideas are being turned into prototype devices which we aim to deploy in the environments that form the focus of this study. Close cooperation between Sonardyne and Dr Clare's group will result in new understanding of sediment transport and characterisation on the academic side, and productionalised devices on the commercial side, especially with respect to environmental risks to infrastructure. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Enhanced collaborations with International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC) |
| Organisation | International Cable Protection Committee |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | I met with the ICPC (umbrella organisation at 170 cable companies) when I was invited to give a keynote address at their plenary meeting in 2018 in Cape Town. I shared findings and future directions for monitoring seafloor hazards, which led to me being invited to apply for (and awarded with) the role as Marine Environmental Advisor to the ICPC. This role will enable me to continue to perform knowledge exchange to a large industry community and to ensure that seafloor hazards research funded by UKRI continues to have wide reaching impact beyond the lifetime of these grants. |
| Collaborator Contribution | ICPC funded my travel, subsistence etc to attend at the plenary meeting and facilitated meetings with a large number of cable companies. Following my appointment (to start June 2019) as Marine Environmental Advisor, they will provide recurrent funding of £20K per year (ON AN OPEN ENDED BASIS) to support my time to enable knowledge exchange about marine hazards, and understanding impacts of seafloor infrastructure on the marine environment. |
| Impact | NERC funding enabled me to develop these links in a much deeper manner than would have been possible. I am currently contributing to the only recognised legal treatise on submarine cables with the ICPC. This collaboration involves engineers, geologists, biologists, and legal experts. Specific feedback from the ICPC: "The project has pioneered a quantified global perspective of cable faults caused by earthquakes and cyclones. Thus, it is possible to identify hazard 'hot spots' and their impact via the frequency and extent of damage sustained by multiple cable systems. Such information is essential for improving subsea cable routes and has been instrumental in the design of one new route through the cable-congested Strait of Luzon between Taiwan and the Philippines. The redesign allowed the cable to cross the highly active Gaoping Canyon at a location where turbidity currents waned to speeds that were not damaging to cables. This project highlighted the importance of meteorological disturbances as generators of cable-damaging turbidity currents. A suggestion made that these cyclone-related hazards were on the rise appears to have been proved correct. At least three studies now show that typhoons in the western Pacific are intensifying as ocean and atmosphere warm. As a result, the cable industry is now aware of an emerging hazard and routes should be designed accordingly, i.e. where possible avoid high discharge rivers that feed submarine canyons. There is no doubt that the research supported by NERC has provided new knowledge that is of direct value to the cable industry" Lionel Carter, marine environmental advisor, International Cable Protection Committee In 2022, this collaboration led to a successful NERC Urgency grant to understand the reasons for widespread subsea cable damage that disconnected Tonga from the internet. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | New collaborations initiated with government-run Ocean Networks Canada & Canadian Geological Survey |
| Organisation | Natural Resources Canada |
| Department | Geological Survey of Canada |
| Country | Canada |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | New collaborations initiated with government-run Ocean Networks Canada & Canadian Geological Survey, and UK industry organisations Schlumberger (Sensa) and Fiberlogix, which led to the submission of a first stage Innovation proposal for direct monitoring using fiberoptic technology. From support letter from Dr D. Gwyn Lintern, Marine Geoscience Projects Lead - Natural Resources Canada & Geological Survey of Canada: "As leader of marine geohazard projects for the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC), I am writing in response to a request by Dr. Michael Clare to provide evidence of the impact his group has had in our outcomes and products. On the west coast of Canada, we have numerous undeveloped fjords which are the subject of very large, but controversial, infrastructure projects. Most of these proposals are to build multibillion dollar ports to support our chief export economies. The GSC had a mandate to conduct regional seabed mapping and to interpret data to understand geological hazards in these areas. These including earthquakes, tsunamis and submarine mass sediment transport events. For instance, in Kitimat Arm (a fjord) in 1974 and 1975 there were destructive tsunamis created by catastrophic failures on the delta slopes. Dr. Clare and prior to that, Dr. Talling, and their colleagues at NOC have been highly active in Canada researching the causes and effects of turbidity currents in these developing fjords. Dr Clare organised and led scientific expeditions using Canadian vessels to numerous fjords including work on the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Vector and Scenitific research ship M.V. Strickland in 2016, 2017, and 2018, among others. Although we have ships and staff available, it was Dr. Clare's organisational efforts, and participation of the NOC students and scientists that gave us the critical resources to conduct these cruises. The experience we gained not only was some of the most exciting work we have conducted in recent years, and so was good for staff morale, but has increased the GSC's expertise in these previously poorly researched geographical features of our west coast. As for the question of Kitimat Arm, we still have not completely answered the question of why it failed catastrophically. However, it has been very informative to contrast this with other fjords that we have examined with the NOC group. NOC's research indicates that in two fjords, Bute Inlet and Howe Sound, turbidity currents originating the delta are occurring much more frequently that we had previously known (and handful of direct measurements). In fact, the work indicates hundreds of flows per year. In Howe Sound, this has the implication of removing sediment from the delta and so provides us a more refined sediment model for a port at the delta that requires frequent dredging (see EPIC, 2019). As well, NOCs work gives us some numbers on the frequency of failures of the delta lip, where these dredge basins are located. More importantly however, this fjord is otherwise similar to Kitimat, and the NOC work indicates a compelling reason why we might see catastrophic tsunamigenic failure of the delta in Kitimat, but not in Bute Inlet or Howe Sound- the frequent turbidity flows are the dominant form of failure keeping the delta slopes stable. Simply speaking, the NOC work has allowed us to more accurately determine risk in certain types of fjord environments as part of our mandated responsibilities. Some additional scientific advances of which we were a part, but which were led or supervised by NOC members are as follows. Turbidity current deposits are used for understanding past geohazards (earthquakes and landslides) as well as investigated as traps for hydrocarbon reserves. It had never really been understood how actual flows are retained in the geological record. The NOC work has now revealed information on this. Previously it was thought that river plumes could only generate turbidity currents if they had very high concentrations of sediment and so this was limited to a handful of rivers (Mulder and Syvitsky, 1995). It was later determined that flows could ignite by convective settling at moderate concentration (Parsons et al., 2001). In this paper, and in Canadian fjords, the NOC supervised team develop a theory of why we are seeing turbidity currents initiated at rivers with relatively dilute suspensions. This of course means the number of locations that turbidity currents potentially occur is greatly increased. The NOC collaborations not only allowed us to bring the ships into these fjords, but the group has transferred technological knowledge to our science department, and to our ships crew, including techniques which will allow us to study strong bottom flows while minimizing risk to scientific infrastructure. NOC introduced us to multianchor oceanographic moorings, which straddle the active channels while still allowing instruments to look down into them. We had been discussing such a setup for some time with the ships crew, but it was NOC who brought the plans to fruition and provide piece of mind to the captains. A second innovation was that the NOC work supported our experimentation with monitoring flows by using hydrophones, which can be deployed to the side of the active canyons rather than right in it. With the ability to show some success with the technique, the group including Durham, NOC, the GSC and others convincingly wrote a successful proposal to NERC to develop this further. We have summarized the NOC work in a recent paper describing our efforts to understand the national submarine landslide hazard in Canada (Lintern et al, 2019 accepted). This paper contributes to our National Tsunami Strategy Project under our Public Safety Geoscience Program. In conducting our national assessment, and designing our database, we have made considerable efforts to use the classifications schemes provided in Clare et al., 2018. So we are one of the first Geological Surveys to implement this NOC- generated recommendation. In summary, the collaboration with NOC has given us exciting direct measurements of delta failure and turbidity current activity, but also allowed us to even get into these fjords with multibeam and sub-bottom profiling systems, moorings, and coring devices to conduct surveys for other types of marine geohazards. We have considered or implemented the results in several of our outputs. We very much hope to continue the collaboration with NOC." |
| Collaborator Contribution | Contribution made by Canadian Geological Survey to provide reduced cost for ship time in 2018 (£5k per day instead of £50k per day) and provision of technical and logistical support for successful field work (for industry partners) in 2018. Paper was published on novel monitoring approaches using distributed fibre optic sensing led by industry collaborator Arthur Hartog at Schlumberger. |
| Impact | Fieldwork successfully completed in 2018 Our partner summarized collaborativework in a recent paper describing efforts to understand the national submarine landslide hazard in Canada (Lintern et al, 2019). This paper contributes to the CanadianNational Tsunami Strategy Project under the Public Safety Geoscience Program. This is one first Geological Surveys to implement a NOC- generated recommendation for landslide characterisation that arose from these NERC funded projects. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Attendance and presentation at Natural Hazards Partnership to Cabinet Office |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Presentation at three meetings of the Natural Hazards Partnership on: 1) the landslide-tsunami risk posed to the UK based on the findings for a recent NERC large grant (PI Peter Talling) to follow up from recent media coverage (Daily Mail, Times); 2) summary of ERIIP projects funded to date and mapping them on to the hazards considered for the UK National Risk Assessment; 3) Summary of multi-hazard research questions identified by infrastructure owners and operators; 4) Developing ideas for strategic programme area topics to support risk and resilience work by NHP/ |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016,2017 |
| URL | http://www.naturalhazardspartnership.org.uk/ |
| Description | Attended and contributed to Natural Hazards Partnership committee meetings (steering group to Cabinet Office on Natural Hazards) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Providing updates based on NOC research into hazards to inform ongoing updates of National Risk Assessment and National Risk Register. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021 |
| Description | Co-convened Shackleton Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Co-convened Shackleton Conference at the Geological Society of London to promote ERIIP programme to marine infrastructure industry and academia representatives (September 2017). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Contributed to working groups on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction(BBNJ) and Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Attended and presented at various working group meetings to understand the effects cables exert on the marine environment, and to determine the threats posed by deep sea mining and deep sea fishing in order to develop briefing documents for governments. Contributed to white paper on Fish Aggregating Devices and Best Practice and Emerging Issues document to be issued to various governments in 2021. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018,2020,2021 |
| Description | Contribution to Engineering Geology, Geohazards and Geomorphology Working Group |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Participated in several meetings with industry representatives (BP, Fugro, Jacobs, Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Innogy) to work on a best practice guide for industry practitioners in offshore engineering and risk assessment. The outcome was a launch of the working party at a 1 day event in the Geological Society to c. 100 industry representatives. Over the next 2 years we will be working on creating the best practice report which will be published by the Geological Society. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | Pre-2006,2018 |
| Description | Contribution to Offshore Engineering, Geohazards and Geomorphology working group to develop best practice report for offshore industry practitioners. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Contribution to developing best industry practice guidelines, to be published in 2022. My role is providing state of the art knowledge on offshore characterization and monitoring, ensuring that the industry participants (oil and gas, renewables, cables etc) are aware. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021 |
| Description | Created project website for hosting updates and project deliverables |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Website created to summarise KE fellowship as well as host information and deliverables. Several emails received as a result from other researchers with complementary interests. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://projects.noc.ac.uk/risk2infrastructure/ |
| Description | Delivered public talk in Kent on (11th Nov) on natural hazards for critical infrastructure to explain the understanding the risks posed |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Delivered public talk in Kent on (11th Nov) on natural hazards for critical infrastructure to explain the understanding the risks posed |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Engagement with oil and gas operators to understand existing and best practices for hazard assessment |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Engagement with oil and gas operators to understand existing and best practices for hazard assessment for offshore infrastructure and potential cross-overs for non-hydrocarbon infrastructure, including visits to company offices in Houston (ExxonMobil and Chevron, 14-15th Dec), Oxfordshire (Halliburton, 22nd Feb), and Basingstoke (ENI, 23rd Feb, 10th August, 31st Aug). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Engagement with subsea cable companies (Keynotes delivered at International Cable Protection Committee Plenary, European Subsea Cables Association Plenary, Submarine Networks London, SubOptic Foundation meeting) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Keynote addresses given by Mike Clare at multiple subsea cable-related events including International Cable Protection Committee Plenary, European Subsea Cables Association Plenary, Submarine Networks London, SubOptic Foundation meeting. These were opportunities to exchange knowledge, share findings from the research and understand industry challenges and how the science can help them address them. Industry partners have since reached out for future collaborations, to share data, and have reported improved practices (i.e. more resilience cable routes). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022,2023 |
| Description | Hazards for Marine Infrstructure Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | A successful collaborative workshop was held on 27th June 2016 at NOC Southampton to discuss new research into hazards for marine infrasrtucture. The 50 attendees included 23 representatives from 13 different companies with a specific interest in better understanding the risks to seafloor structures such as oil and gas pipelines, and telecommunications cables. Academic representatives presented new results from cutting edge experiments, field studies and numerical modelling, including representation from NOC, University of Southampton, Leeds University, Bangor University, Kings College London and Imperial College. Industry representatives from East Point GEO, D'Appolonia and Geotek outlined the present industry state of the art in geohazard assessment, in partiuclar highlighting some of the challenges posed in deepwater areas. This workshop provided a great opportunity for new collaborations between industry organisations that tackle real-world issues for seafloor infrastructure, and academics who are focused on quantifying marine processes including submarine slope failures and turbidity currents. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://projects.noc.ac.uk/risk2infrastructure/successful-industry-academia-collaboration-workshop |
| Description | Inputs to Indonesian Hydrographic Office on environmental impacts of subsea cables |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Mike Clare provided inputs to a report to Captain Oke Dwiyana Pribadi of the Pusat Hidro-Oseanografi Angkatan Laut (Indonesian Hydrographic Office) in relation to the environmental impacts of subsea power and telecommunications cables and their resilience to oceanographic and geological hazards. This has directly informed Indonesian decision making on cable routing and marine spatial planning. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Issued public-facing Environment Update to increase public awareness of subsea cables |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I issued the first of a planned bi-annual, marine-focused newsletter titled "Submarine Cable Protection and the Environment." The publication is a new and timely reference for all seabed users, the science community, and the general public who share the same vital goal as the ICPC- safeguarding submarine telecommunications and power cables worldwide. Exclusive to ICPC Members only, access to an historical archive of more than 200 issues of an "Environment Update" publication are available on-demand, but now the "Submarine Cable Protection and the Environment" publication is being made available twice a year to the industry and public. ICPC General Manager Mr Ryan Wopschall stated, "Having Mike's expertise on staff truly benefits the ICPC and its Members, but we also acknowledge his thorough research can benefit the broader submarine cable industry, other marine users and stakeholders, and the wider public. Mike has written articles that not only get readers to think about the importance of the marine environment in our local daily lives, but also provides insights into the sustainability and resiliency of global submarine cable infrastructure and its critical role in our world today." As of Nov 2020 this had been downloaded >1,100 times. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://iscpc.org/publications/submarine-cable-protection-and-the-environment/ |
| Description | Joined Deep Oceans Stewardship Initiative (DOSI) working group on Litter and Marine Debris |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Contributed to various working group meetings - now working on policy briefing document regarding litter in the marine environment. No impacts realized yet as this is work in progress. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017,2020,2021 |
| URL | https://www.dosi-project.org/topics/pollution/ |
| Description | Knowledge Transfer workshops with Fugro |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Four workshops have been held at Fugro in Wallingford, Oxfordshire to communicate the findings of recent research into turbidity current and landslide monitoring to improve risk assessments for offshore infrastructure. These have assisted in the scoping of field deployments of monitoring moorings in deep water developments, thus improving Fugro's ability to measure geohazards. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Knowledge gathering about multi-hazards, scour and innovative monitoring to inform future NERC call |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | A number of meetings were held in Dec 2016 and Jan 2017 with industry partners and academics to help define the scope of a "sandpit-type" workshop to be arranged early in 2017 as part of the ERIIP innovation programme. This discussion led to a paper which informed a discussion amongst member of the ERIIP committee in January 2017. Although "likelihood and impact of multi-hazard events" is a core theme of NERC's Environmental Risks to Infrastructure Innovation Programme, relatively few multi-hazard projects have been funded to date. NERC is trying to understand why this is and how to enable more project working on this important issue. I led the discussions with number of ERIIP members: HS2, National Grid, EDF, ScottishWater, Transport Scotland, HR Wallingford, as well as academics from Bristol, Oxford and Southampton Universities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016,2017 |
| Description | Liaison with Environmental Risks to Infrastructure Innovation Programme (ERIIP) industry members including company visits and telephone interviews |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Liaison with Environmental Risks to Infrastructure Innovation Programme (ERIIP) industry members including company visits and telephone interviews to discuss their concerns and challenges specifically relating to multi-hazards assessments, with a view to steering allocation of future ERIIP and NERC funding. Presented at ERIIP meeting on initial results and delivered preliminary report. It became apparent early on that infrastructure industries did not have a common working definition of "multi-hazard", nor necessarily the certainty of which of their hazard scenarios would fit within a definition. Initial work developed a common set of definitions for "multi-hazard" types for infrastructure industries and developed a number of scenarios to illustrate those types. This consultation has provided the first common-view across infrastructure industries and will improve academic-industry communication, lead to collaborations between industry organisations and has been used as the basis for follow up workshops to define future directions for NERC Innovation projects. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016,2017,2018 |
| Description | Media coverage of turbidity current research and threats for subsea cables |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Research profiled by multiple media outlets - providing increased understanding of the general public. New Scientist: "The mysterious underwater avalanches reshaping Earth" (https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg25734230-200-the-mysterious-underwater-avalanches-reshaping-earth/); Geographical Magazine feature "The largest marine landslide causes internet outages in Africa" https://geographical.co.uk/science-environment/largest-marine-landslide-causes-internet-outages; Scientific American: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/global-internet-connectivity-is-at-risk-from-climate-disasters/ BBC: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230201-how-undersea-cables-may-affect-marine-life The Times newspaper "How we rely on a fragile network of undersea cables" https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/how-we-rely-on-a-fragile-network-of-undersea-cables-6k9n8nrgr; BBC news coverage "Underwater avalanche continued for two days" https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-57382529 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022,2023 |
| URL | https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg25734230-200-the-mysterious-underwater-avalanches-reshaping-e... |
| Description | Media outreach |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Contributed to BBC Tomorrow's World/Science Museum online platform (https://blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/introducing-deep-sea-guardians-information-age/ ) and provided content for Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/research-culture/changing-expectations/dr-michael-clare/ |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Media, public and industry engagement on deep sea cables |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Interview on deep sea cables and benefits and issues regarding recycling - Mike Clare featured in Capacity Magazine (telecom industry magazine) https://www.capacitymedia.com/articles/3827192/greening-the-seas Mike Clare also delivered an online webinar on "Emerging environmental issues for subsea cables" for the membership of the International Cable Protection Committee (169 industry and government organisations with a vested interest in subsea cables). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.capacitymedia.com/articles/3827192/greening-the-seas |
| Description | Mike Clare gave an invited talk on 17th June 2020 for the International Association of Sedimentologists via the SedsOnline platform ("Observing turbidity currents in the wild: New insights from direct field-scale measurements") |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Presentation was attended by 106 scientists from around the world. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://sedsonline.com/meetings-library |
| Description | Multiple meetings with industry partner ENI to discuss geohazards assessment for their offshore developments |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Meetings at ENI offices to discuss their challenges, how NERC funded research can help them address that, analyse their data etc. Feedback has been positive and is being used to identify more effective field layout plans. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017,2018,2019 |
| Description | Performed review of geohazards assessment for proposed offshore power cable |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Providing guidance to METOC/INTERTEK based on analysis of offshore bathymetry data to inform the safe routing of an offshore power cable. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Presentation at Oceanology International Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation at online Oceanology International conference on developing listening networks for deep-sea geohazards (Mike Clare) - 26th Nov 2020. The event had 2843 attendees, 117 countries were represented. My presentation received 322 viewers on demand, 603 total views, with 217 total viewing hours. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://noc.ac.uk/news/oceanology-international-2020 |
| Description | Presentation at Submarine Networks International Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Mike Clare gave an invited keynote on marine geohazards for subsea telecommunications cables networks, which prompted follow up discussions for collaboration and to access related research findings. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.terrapinn.com/conference/submarine-networks-world-europe/index.stm |
| Description | Presentation for student chapter of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists on Monitoring Turbidity Currents - 28th Nov. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Presentation highlighting results of recent research - >200 people attended in person. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017,2020 |
| Description | Presentation on subsea cables and biodiversity (BBNJ discussions) at European Commission |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Mike Clare attended briefing and consultations with the EU Working Party on the Law of the Sea (known by the acronym COMAR) on BBNJ treaty at the European Commission, Brussels to educate about the socioeconomic importance of submarine cables (particularly for the EU and developing states), and submarine cables as a sustainable use of the oceans. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Presentation to industry conference (Oceanology International) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Presented to 130 industry representatives on offshore geohazards assessments with positive feedback from the conference convenor from BP "You were as impressive as ever and wowed (I believe the word is) the young BP staff present who had never seen you! To numbers. The room had seats for 176. I suspect you had about 120-130 after lunch. After the extended tea break we were down to only 36 - I counted that. You had around three times that. The second morning session was probably c 175 (a few empty seats but plenty standing)." Andy Hill, BP |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Presented at European Subsea Cables Association Annual Plenary and support ESCA in discussions with OSPAR Commission |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | I was invited to present on climate change, cables and the environment at the ESCA plenary meeting and was subsequently invited to support ESCA in their discussions on the Best Environmental Practices of Cable Installation and Maintenance and relevant sections of an ongoing Quality Status Review for the OSPAR Commission (where ESCA as official Observer Status). I have attended and presented at meetings for the Environmental Impacts of Human Activities (EIHA) of the OSPAR Commission and successfully proposed an update to guidance documents on the environmental effects of subsea cables that will feed into future planning of routes in deep water, and in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction. I will continue to support ESCA and liaise with various national parties involved in these updates over the coming months. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021 |
| Description | Presented at International Cable Protection Committee annual plenary meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Gave invited talk as Marine Environmental Advisor to the 160 member organizations to the ICPC (incl. industry and government representatives from >30 countries) providing updates on state of knowledge regarding threats to subsea cables (incl climate change), climate change effects on vulnerable ecosystems and environmental effects of subsea cables, and developments in novel monitoring in the deep-sea to better understand marine hazards. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Presented on new approaches to direct monitoring of natural hazards for offshore infrastructure |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Presented on new approaches to direct monitoring of natural hazards for offshore infrastructure to audience of c.500 industry representatives at Offshore Site Investigation and Geotechnics international conference in London (September). Output delivered initially as a white paper, developed with industry partners from HR Wallingford, and later accepted as a peer-reviewed paper (http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/517514/). These new approaches provide UK industry organisations, such as partner Fugro GeoConsulting Ltd and Atkins Ltd, with new approaches to quantify impact and risk posed to critical seafloor infrasrtucture which underpins our day to day communication links (cables) and energy supplies (pipelines). Minimising the risk posed to offshore infrastructure, reduces the likelihood of broken communications (which could costs the UK £Bs in lost financial trading for instance) or the loss of harmful hydrocarbons to the environment. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Presented to Treasury and BEIS |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Presented to Treasury and BEIS on environmental risks to infrastructure and showcase novel direct monitoring approaches developed through NERC funding at visit to NOC Southampton (1st February 2017). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010,2017 |
| Description | Promoting ERIIP Programme |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Presentations at conferences and specially convened meetings to promote ERIIP programme and emerging approaches for marine hazards assessment: SPITFIRE Coastal Conference, Southampton (18th October), Shackleton Conference at Geological Society of London (Sept), American Geophysics Union, New Orleans (Co-chaired session, Dec), British Sedimentology Research Group Annual Meeting, Newcastle (Dec). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Provision of guidance on threats to subsea telecom cables based on recent monitoring analysis |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Various technical workshops, online presentations and webinars with telecom companies incl. Google, Vodafone, BT, Alcatel, Angola Cables and the International Cable Protection Committee. New routes for subsea cables were revised as a result of this engagement which should ensure that future connections are more resilient. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018,2020,2021 |
| Description | Ran 4 day training course on offshore geohazards assessment |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Ran 4 day training course on offshore geohazards assessment using data shared by industry fellowship partner to help early career researchers better understand industry challenges and risks posed to infrastructure (Sept). - this was in collaboration with the NERC Oil and Gas Centre for Doctoral Training. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Ran a one day Hackathon (8th Sept) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Ran a one day Hackathon (8th Sept) bringing together scientists, industry representatives, statisticians and others from around the world (China, USA, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Spain) to tackle issues concerning how natural hazards interact with each other and important infrastructure. By collectively analysing real data the groups addressed real problems with new and untested methods. One problem was how to understand the impact of combined environmental conditions that lead to extreme hazardous consequences (such as storm surges, tsunamis, landsliding etc). We were able to facilitate transfer of learnings from different disciplines, fields and sectors. For example, landslide scientists learnt how earthquake and storm researchers communicate probability and deal with antecedent conditioning. The applicability of approaches used in the modelling of volcanic eruptions was discussed in relation to flood forecasting. Following the hackathon, at least two proposals have been developed for submission to NERC to tackle statistical analysis of combined hazard scenarios with a view to addressing key industry challenges. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Ran follow-up 1 day joint industry-academia workshop exploring potential directions for funding and research in industry-relevant multihazards analysis |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Ran 1 day joint industry-academia workshop exploring potential directions for funding and research in industry-relevant multihazards analysis (Oct). Outcome delivered as a report to NERC and ERIIP industry partners in November 2017 and is acting as a steer to future funding calls. This document will act as a summary of the current state of knowledge shared between academia and industry and works as the basis for a proposed knowledge gathering call under the NERC Innovation ERIIP programme. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Scour and sediment transport workshop with HR Wallingford |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | A technical meeting was held at HR Wallingford with Mike Clare, Esther Sumner (lecturer at Southampton University) and technical specialists from HRW, Richard Whitehouse and John Harris. The aim was to understand the physical modelling facilities available at HR Wallingford for future industry-facing research, and how to improve assessments of scour around offshore structures. One outcome was an industry-focussed paper on the direct monitoring of scour and sediment mobility around seafloor infrastructure with Clare and HRW specialists as authors. This will be presented at the Offshore Site Investigation Group plenary meeting in September, to an international audience of industry specialists. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | State of the Art Offshore Site Characterisation: Engineering Geology, Geomorphology and Geohazards Talk |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Mike Clare gave an invited presentation (in collaboration with Chris Martin of Arup) to the Engineering Group of the Geological Society on "State of the Art Offshore Site Characterisation: Engineering Geology, Geomorphology and Geohazards" (6th April 2022) which was attended by c.100 geotechnical engineering industry practitioners. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Subaqueous landslide database international workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A workshop was held in London with 20 attendees from UK, USA, Germany, Spain, Israel, Malta, Ireland and Greece, to discuss the practicalities of building a global subaqueous landslide database that would be a valuable tool for both industry and academia. The outcome is to develop a white paper and build a proof of concept database to be tested by the group. A further aim is to progress a larger proposal to support the full database. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Turbidity current hazard workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | 2 day workshop to highlight advances and opportunities to perform offshore industry hazard assessments. The workshop aimed to identify future collaborative research directions that will help industry. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Use of autonomous technologies to improve infrastructure assessments (EDF) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Presentations were given to EDF specialists to understand how autononomous marine technology can be used to make better (high resolution, more efficient) quantifications of the risk posed to offshore infrastructure (including jellyfish, algal blooms, seaweed growth and scour). A follow up discussion was held with their biology specialist with future proposals planned. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016,2017 |
| Description | Visits to Global Marine and Alcatel Submarine Networks to discuss environmental impacts of deep sea cables |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Technical workshops held at company offices to discuss impact of seafloor cables in the N Atlantic. Follow up meetings planned to share data and set up collaborative research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Visits with non-ERIIP industry organisations |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Visits with non-ERIIP industry organisations, to discuss needs and challenges for infrastructure assessments (esp. scour, marine hazards), and to share new research findings on statistical assessment and emerging direct monitoring approaches, including: Fugro (22nd Feb, Oxfordshire); Sonardyne (1st March, Southampton); Fugro and D'Appolonia (14-16th March, 21st-23rd Nov, Bremen); HR Wallingford (14th July, 13th Sept, 1st Dec). Chevron (30th March), ICPC (11th April), BP (13th April, 6th June, 13th June), Schulmberger (19th April), East Point Geo (20th April), Sonardyne and MARS Innovation Centre (Jan), Natural Resources Canada (7th May), Atkins (7th June, 24th July), POST (11th October), Ocean Networks Canda (27th Nov). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017,2019 |
| Description | Workshop held with ASV Ltd |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Meeting held with ASV ltd to discuss how to develop collaborative project to monitor scour evolution around monopoles installed at offshore wind farms. As a result of the project a proposal was submitted to make high resolution measurements of currents and the seafloor to determine when and how much scour develops to improve foundation design and infrastructure protection. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | onvened 2 day international workshop with 23 international attendees |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Convened 2 day international workshop with 23 international attendees including industry fellowship partners CH2M Hill and Fugro, and representatives from the IGCP S4SLIDE project (23-24 Jan). The meeting led to a white paper, which I lead-authored, on a consistent global approach to submarine landslide characterisation to improve hazards assessments for marine infrastructure (https://eartharxiv.org/j5mh7/). This initiative ensures that UK companies can contribute to, and benefit from, a growing global initiative to ensure standardisation of submarine landslide characterisation. Access to the compiled and standardised data will provide a new resource for organisations that deal with offshore asset insurance, repair, natural hazard assessment, and oil and gas |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |