COST 623 Meeting: Working Group 1 – Scale Issues

Programme organiser: John Wainwright, Department of Geography, King’s College London, Strand, London, WC2R 2LS, UK. E-mail: john.wainwright@kcl.ac.uk

Local organisers: Juan Puigdefabregas, Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas, CSIC, General Segura, 1, 04001 Almería, Spain. E-mail: puigdefa@eeza.csic.es, and Adolfo Calvo, Departament de Geografia, Universitat de València, Aptat 22060, 46001 València, Spain. E-mail: Adolfo.Calvo@uv.es.

The aim of the meeting will be to provide a forum for the presentation and discussion of recent developments in understanding the linkages that operate through a catchment system, so that the delivery of sediment from its source on hillslopes through to a catchment outlet can be better understood. In so doing, the aim of the meeting will contribute to the COST 623 Workgroup 1 on "Linking processes across temporal and spatial scales". It is anticipated that issues of spatial and temporal scaling of processes and parameter measurements will be addressed at the meeting. Participants will be invited to present papers, but specific time will be set aside for workshop discussions of the issues raised. There will also be an associated field trip to evaluate some of the issues raised in a field context.

The meeting will develop along five major themes:

1. Linking slope and channel processes – issues relating to the understanding of the processes which affect sediment delivery from hillslopes into channels. These linkages may relate to topographic form or hydrological processes, for example.
2. Linking slope and channel measurements – how direct and indirect measurements can be made to quantify the fluxes of sediment from the hillslope system.
3. The rôle of the floodplain – the effects of the presence or absence of a floodplain on the transfer of water and sediments.
4. Long time-scale perspectives – the dynamics of catchment systems over long time periods as a means of evaluating our understanding of the effects of process for periods which extend beyond instrumental records.
5. Modelling and parameter scaling – the development of erosion models which work at catchment scales or at a variety of scales; issues relating to the parameterization and testing of such models.

The location of the meeting will be the Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas, CSIC, Almería. Further details of location and accommodation will be provided later. There is limited support available for EU scientists wishing to attend.

Deadline for submission of abstracts is 31^st March 2000. Please contact John Wainwright by e-mail, fax (+44 20 7848 2287) or post if you are interested in presenting a paper or poster at the meeting.

Last updated 14/01/2000 16:02:13 GMT Standard Time