Joshua Anthony

• Supervisor: Katerina Stavrianaki and Simon Day
• Funding: UCL Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction
• Email: joshua.anthony.19@ucl.ac.uk

Evaluating geophysical surveying methods to inform flood hazard risk assessment.

The current focus of my project is evaluating the usage of geophysical surveying methods to inform flood hazard risk assessment. These techniques can be used to characterise the sub-surface geology of water catchment areas (water content, soil and sediment content, porosity, stratigraphy, permeability, depth to bedrock, etc.). I aim to investigate how, with such data, one can identify and characterise water systems that may have changed due to natural or anthropogenic causes; and what inferences one can make about how these landscapes change over time.  

Considering the Somerset Levels as a case study, where much artificial drainage work has occurred, the objective is to identify historical water networks in order to understand how the landscape has responded to natural drivers and human interference, and subsequently inform risk assessments of flooding in the area.