• Reader (School of Geographical and Earth Sciences)

telephone: 01413305406
email: Jim.Hansom@glasgow.ac.uk

I am a geomorphologist with research interests in coastal processes and forms and the practical use of this knowledge in the management of coasts, as well as in polar environmental change and its management.

Coastal processes and management in mid and high latitudes

My research in the coastal field is demonstrated by a strong international publication record and in Knowledge Transfer of my research into the actions and policies of government agencies charged with coastal stewardship. This direct linkage of my research into strategy and policy is distinctive and, on the Scottish coast, unique. My contribution to coastal research can be summarised in 2 contexts:

1) Recent path-breaking work (with Hall (St Andrews, Geoscience) and Barltrop (Glasgow and Strathclyde Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering)) on the effect of extreme storm wave impact on coasts and the modeling of these in wave tanks has international collaboration and overlaps with hurricane and tsunami research work. The suite of 4 journal papers on aspects of extreme storm waves has drawn comments such as “seminal work” and “landmark studies” in review and demonstrates the overlapping signatures of storm waves and tsunami, rendering some tsunami diagnoses invalid and crucially impacting on palaeo-tsunami recurrence intervals. NERC-funded Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating of tsunami deposits raises other important caveats about palaeo-tsunami recurrence intervals. In conjunction with Prof. Paul Bishop and Dr David Sanderson (SUERC), this work aims to establish the effect of non-zeroed “old” sediment on the accuracy of OSL age dating of past tsunami deposits. Other OSL-related work includes the dating of coastal sand dune activity in the northern isles of Scotland.

2) My coastal research has utilised sediment budget approaches using remote sensing to identify suspended sediment variability and erosion and I have championed the use of Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) to produce partitioned sediment budgets to establish past and present change in the face of sea level change, an approach now adopted by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) as its standard research reporting methodology. Much of my research effort has been directed at better management of coasts and I was one of the first to draw attention to the issue in 1986 and have championed integrated shoreline and coastal zone management research. This research blend of sediment budget, sea level, erosion and management is unparalled in Scotland, resulting in invited co-authorship of Coastal Geomorphology of Great Britain (2003), the benchmark volume of key coastal sites, for the UK Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC). Other work has examined the sediment budget and interaction of river and coastal gravels, the responses of lakeshores to high energy events: particularly in Loch Lomond, and sediment recycling within saltmarshes (in conjuction with Prof Gus Mackenzie, SUERC and Dr Mhairi Harvey, GES, via the deposition of radionuclide contaminated sediment in the Solway Firth).

Polar environmental change and management

Following the publication of Antarctic Environments and Resources - a geographical perspective, 1998 (Addison, Wesley, Longman), I co-led an RSGS expedition to South Georgia, a subAntarctic island in order to establish the nature of climate and environmental changes that have occurred over the last 20,000 years. South Georgia is an oceanic “dipstick” in the mid-Scotia Sea and ideally placed to investigate the apparent disjunct of climate history experienced by Antarctica in comparison with the mid latitudes. This interdisciplinary work is in conjunction with Drs Steve Moreton (SUERC), Dave Evans and Mike Bentley (Durham University), Gunhild Rosqvist (Stockholm University), Sarah Davies (Aberystwyth University), Alun Hubbard (Aberystwyth University), Valerie Haynes (Stirling University) and co-leader Prof. John Gordon (St Andrews University).

Current research

I have been recently invited onto the International editorial panel for the upcoming 12-volume major reference work entitled Treatise of Estuarine and Coastal Science, to be puiblished by Elsevier. Together with Prof Burg Flemming, Senckenberg Marine Institute, Wilhelmshaven, I have responsibility for Vol 3: the Sedimentology and Geomorphology of Coasts and Estuaries.

I am the PI on an SNH-funded project called Shorelook which aims to establish the pattern and rate of past coastal morphological and habitat change, assess the present status and develop scenarios of future change for key sites on the coast where future management issues are likely to develop.

Biography

I undertook a PhD in the University of Aberdeen dealing with beach development in the subAntarctic island of South Georgia. I was appointed at the University of Glasgow in 1991 having previously worked at the University of Sheffield and before that at University College Dublin. In 1990 I held a visting post at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. I am editor-in–chief of the Scottish Geographical Journal, Hon President of the Scottish Association of Geography Teachers and a past Deputy Chair of the West Areas Board of Scottish Natural Heritage. I have extensive experience in using research in its applied context to address coastal issues and problems.

Bishop, P. and Hansom, J. 2005. OSL 'ages' and depositional settings of December 26 2004 tsunami deposits in Phuket, S Thailand, £22,068 (NERC NE/D521373/1). Co-Investigator: D. Sanderson (Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, East Kilbride)

Bishop, P., Hansom, J.D., Evans, D.J.A. & Dawson, A.G., 2005-6 Cosmogenic 10Be exposure dating of the emerged cobble/boulder beaches and ice marginal features of Islay and Jura, W. Scotland. NERC. (Cosmogenic dating provision: £10,420).

Hansom, J. D. 2002-2004. Assessment of the rates and causes of change in Scotland’s beaches and dunes. £21,000 (Scottish Natural Heritage).

Hansom, J.D. and Rennie, A. 2002-2004 Airborne remote sensing of sand dunes on Coll and Tiree: re-locating recently buried archaoelogical sites threatened by erosion. NERC (ATM flights, GPR equipment and data provision). Co-investigators: S.Winterbottom (University of Stirling and T. Dawson (University of St.Andrews).

Hansom, J.D. and Evans, D.J.A. 2002-2006 Environmental history of South Georgia, sub-Antarctic, since the Last Glacial Maximum. Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland/National Geographic/Royal Scottish Geographic Society (£70,000). Co-investigators: S. Moreton (SUERC), N. Rosqvist (University of Stockholm), M. Bentley (University of Durham), S. Davies (University of Aberystwyth), J. Gordon (University of St Andrews), A.Hubbard (University of Edinburgh) and V.Haynes (University of Stirling).

• Mohammad Saif Al-Busaidi (PhD candidate)
• Vanessa Collingridge (PhD candidate)
• Delia M. Gheorghiu (PhD candidate)
• Bruce Robertson (PhD candidate)