Can't do AGu, but it is Christmas so it is lager cocktails in Durham's very own champagne bar and lager cocktails

Our study link.springer.com/article/10.1..., led by Simon Matthias (Engineering) has made it to the Guardian www.theguardian.com/environment/... @durhamearthsci.bsky.social

I have just discovered a Jane Austen manuscript that the publishers rejected. In the novel she describes teaching time series analysis to MSc students - it is called "Variance and Variability"

How is carbon stored in salt marshes? Great fieldwork on the Solway Firth with postgrad Jinny. Always good to find a buried soil horizon. @durhamearthsci.bsky.social

Most English rivers are seeing fewer eutrophication events www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... however, some are getting worse and there is no one reason for those worsening trends. @durhamearthsci.bsky.social

What will be the impact of decarbonisation and the adoption of hydrogen power on water demand? New study by us and colleagues from Durham Engineering link.springer.com/article/10.1... @durhamearthsci.bsky.social

We have grown a squash outside in the north east of England - he is called Pascal. Pascal is a magic squash plant as we have never ever planted any squash plants.

Never been in to The Royal Institution before. @durhamearthsci.bsky.social

Hanna's (Zihan Yang) first paper onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... paired data on 317 sewage works and 232 control reaches for 22 years to find out what impact of sewage has. What was getting worse or what was getting better with time and why? @durhamearthsci.bsky.social @jlaknapp.bsky.social

For a peat to form you don't just need wet conditions you also need stagnant conditions link.springer.com/article/10.1... Our new study follows the thermodynamic profiles to show how fens and bogs significantly differ in when they become closed. @durhamearthsci.bsky.social

When we say sphagnum carpet I am not sure that you are supposed to be able to pick it up and fold it. This year's Sphagnum pioneers at Hatfield form a mat that dries out and detaches in ephemeral ponds. @durhamearthsci.bsky.social

How do peats form? Our experiments compares how self-weight compaction compares degradation processes. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... Spoiler - degradation is more important @durhamearthsci.bsky.social

The World Peatland project team at Leicester Science Park having just finished our today workshop @durhamearthsci.bsky.social

Happy birthday England, 1098 years young today.

Great to be back on nerd camp #grc #catchment GRC catchment science conference @durhamearthsci.bsky.social

Thanks to Michel Bechtold @michelbechtold.bsky.social for including our data from Hatfield Moors in this study to trial satellite methods for monitoring peat water tables @durhamearthsci.bsky.social

I have discovered that at egu #EGU20×5 you can have your evening beers out on the balcony

Proper EGU #egu2025. Vegan schnitzel, vegan beer and coding

Last min packing chaos for #EGU25 as one of the artists in residence! It’s my first ever time at #EGU (throwing myself in at the deep end)… please come say hi and talk to me 🤗

Spring reminder, as people start to think about gardening: NEVER buy compost with peat it in (inexplicably still on sale). If it does not say "peat free" in big letters, do not buy it. Peat is incredibly valuable in peat bogs, for rare biodiversity and as a carbon store. Don't put it on your garden!

Reversing eutrophication - we contributed the long UK records to the global database on chlorophyll-a for freshwaters essd.copernicus.org/preprints/es... Thanks to Camille Minaudo and Xavier Benito of University of Barcelona for inviting me to join in. @durhamearthsci.bsky.social

Teaching soil science I have never liked the possible acronyms for the factors controlling soil formation and so I invented my own - the claret carrot - could not find find a claret coloured carrot or a carrot toasting with claret. @durhamearthsci.bsky.social

Peatland restoration not keeping up - our new method for mapping peat health www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... British peats have seen revegetation (increased albedo), but not as fast as we should expect given controls and climate change. @durhamearthsci.bsky.social @ordnancesurvey.bsky.social

69% of British peatlands are on a downward trajectory and have been since 2001. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... We surveyed all British peatlands and applied the cold humid island hypothesis @durhamearthsci.bsky.social @ordnancesurvey.bsky.social

Our new research @durhamearthsci.bsky.social @uwaterloo.ca @bristoluni.bsky.social on the World's longest water quality record shows that despite success decreasing phosphorus the potential for algal growth uwaterloo.ca/water-instit...

Doing fieldwork on bogs of the Pennines you expect to get wet and cold, but you don't expect to become a cat rescuer. Found abandoned on the Pennine Way - we named her Marsden - now with RSPCA vet. @durhamearthsci.bsky.social

Thank you to Andrea Kelly from Broads Authority for making it possible for us to go peat coring in the Broads today. @durhamearthsci.bsky.social

Flooded, frozen-over stream - let me just check the field site risk assessment - nope, no mention of flooded frozen streams on that form and so must be safe to wade in.

I had planned for snow and ice but not for the thaw. Under there is reported to be the earthly remains of a raised bog @durhamearthsci.bsky.social

📣New Competition Funded @iapetusdtp.bsky.social PhD Opportunity Deadline: 3rd of January 2025 The project will be co-supervised by myself, @fredworrall.bsky.social and Jessica Elise (Natural England). Project Outline: tinyurl.com/7nvsmc53 How to apply: iapetus2.ac.uk/how-to-apply/

So what does change down a peat profile? Only consistent change across 13 locations was change in degree of unsaturation - formation of double bonds bsssjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... Peat soils move from biomass composition to lignin-like composition @durhamearthsci.bsky.social

How do peats form? Compaction, degradation leading to higher water tables and greater bulk density - right? No bsssjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... 22 cores and never saw bulk density increase with depth: density profiles reflect contemporary conditions @durhamearthsci.bsky.social

Thank you to AGU convention centre #agu2024 for providing washrooms specifically for Englishmen, i.e. those of us wearing a tie and carrying a cricket bat

H13V 04, come to hear about Bayesian network analysis of rivers. Room 150A at 1440. #Agu2024

Always a privilege to be here #agu2024 and excited for when this gets full tomorrow and I can wander through science to my nerdy content @durhamearthsci.bsky.social

🚨Job Alert!🚨 We are recruiting an Associate Professor in Environmental Sustainability! The post is associated with a new MSc in Environmental Sustainability which is due to start in October 2026. Please apply by 31 January, and please share this with your networks! durham.taleo.net/careersectio...

Great to be out on Bolton Fell Moss. Thank you to Natural England for allowing access to the intact raised bog - difficult to show the actual intact peat dome - this is England we don't have many of these left @durhamearthsci.bsky.social

Arise my mighty snow battalion for today we march on Durham and no rapid thaw will defeat us this time.

Our Hydrology/Hydrogeology/Water+ is now full (150 spots filled). Wow! This was quick...yet, very time consuming thing to do. However, it’s been great helping colleagues reconnect and make new contacts here. Time for a well-earned break before thinking about Part 2. Cheers! go.bsky.app/2h9ouZY

Is there an R community on here? R as in the stats software - it was one of the reasons I stayed too long on X.

Just declared my last post on twitter. Blue-sky now on my homepage. This place just feels cleaner.

📣New Funded PhD Opportunity The project will be co-supervised by myself, @fredworrall.bsky.social and Jessica Elise (Natural England). Deadline: 3rd of January 2025 How to apply: iapetus2.ac.uk/how-to-apply/