just a big downer

Matt King

29.9.09
Satellite images reveal just how quickly the Antarctic Ice Sheet is changing. But how long has this been going on? Revisiting old studies can illuminate a complex situation, as Matt King explains.

Antarctica is a big, complex place. Its ice sheet is vast in area and thickness, and yet measurements that help us understand it only began during the 1960s. But the real revolution occurred in the 1990s with the launch of satellites that, for the first time, allowed almost continuous measurement of ice height and speed over nearly the entire continent.

And as the stack of those measurements has grown, week on week, year on year, the picture has become increasingly clear: while much of the ice sheet is showing little sign of change, important regions are shifting dramatically. Scientists are concerned about how fast the ice is going into the oceans.

After the passing of the initial shockwave caused by these measurements, one key question that needed an answer was this: how long has it been going on? Clearly these signals did not start when the satellites were switched on!

see full PlanetEarth article

TechFest 2009

Tom Bramald

29.9.09
The School has just completed its annual contribution to the Scottish Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths festival, TechFest 800 miles, 6 schools in 5 days, and almost 250 students aged between 14 and 18 ... it was a busy week!

Tom Bramald delivered a variety of events to students of geography, maths and physics, showing them how their students relate to the science of geomatics. The weather was kind and so all sessions were able to be completed outdoors with GPS receivers, levels, theodolites and a total station all being used by students. One school has already been in touch to thank the university for the "brilliant morning" that was delivered.

TechFest is just one of a number of schools events that the school supports each year. If you would like more information about what the School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences may be able to offer secondary students, please contact Tom Bramald.

Pieter Schenck award 2009 for Helen Talbot

Helen Talbot

17.9.09
The European Association of Organic Geochemists (EOAG) at the 24th International Meeting on Organic Geochemistry (IMOG) last week in Bremen presented Helen Talbot with the prestigious Pieter Schenck Award. This award is given every second year to a scientist who has made a major contribution in any specific area of organic geochemistry or a related field. (For more details on the award see http://eaog.ncl.ac.uk/awards/awards.html). This outstanding achievement places Helen internationally at a peer level with previous award winners and current global champions in their fields, including Jaap Sinninghe Damste, Kate Freeman, Kliti Grice, Marcel Kuypers, and Rich Pancost.

Helen Talbot is internationally recognized, in particular for her innovative research on novel hopanoid biomarkers (bacteriohopanepolyols, BHPs) using advanced LC-MS techniques. Over the years she has developed her multi-disciplinary work into four overlapping areas that contribute to the biogeosciences: “Extreme environments”, “Methane cycling”, “Soil biomarkers”, and “Bacterial biomarker signatures and the regulation of their expression”. These research strands are underpinned by “Method development”, without which no real progress can be achieved.

This award, in the best possible way, confirms the international leadership Helen has taken over recent years in constantly pushing analytical and research boundaries in organic geochemistry and developing the foundation for further success of the Newcastle Geoscience Group. The increasing number of guest researchers coming from all over the world to work with Helen on BHPs and other biomarkers confirms her ever growing standing in the international research arena and lays the foundation for future directions in biomarker research in CEGS and other world-leading organic geochemistry groups.

Congratulations on this remarkable success !

Geochemical Society best paper award

Martin Jones

17.9.09
The Geochemical Society (of America) OGD Best Paper award 2009 for the most outstanding contribution in organic geochemistry, has been won by “Crude-oil biodegradation via methanogenesis in subsurface petroleum reservoirs” (Nature, 451, 2008) by D.M. Jones, I.M. Head, N.D. Gray, J.J. Adams, A.K. Rowan, C.M. Aitken, B. Bennett, H. Huang, A. Brown, B.F.J. Bowler, T. Oldenburg, M. Erdmann and S.R. Larter. The paper was the result of a collaboration between members of the CeGs Geochemistry group at Newcastle and the Petroleum Reservoir Group (PRG) at the University of Calgary. It shows that crude oil is commonly anaerobically biodegraded to methane, proposes pathways for this process and suggests that this could be engineered to improve energy recovery from petroleum reservoirs.

The award was presented at the 24th International Meeting on Organic Geochemistry (IMOG) in Bremen in September and was introduced by Professor Kliti Grice of the awards committee who read out some of the comments of the judges, including one by a senior oil industry scientist who noted that … “The work has had a dramatic effect on current thinking about in-reservoir biodegradation, and the concepts in [the] paper are already in wide use within the academic and industrial geochemical communities. Indeed, in many respects it has revolutionized our thinking with regard to microbial degradation as a component of petroleum systems.”

In his acceptance speech, Martin Jones on behalf of all the co-authors, thanked the committee for the prestigious award and said that the work in the paper was a truly multidisciplinary team effort, involving organic and petroleum geochemists, modellers and microbiologists and that all of the team found it a very exciting and enjoyable project to work on. He also thanked all those who had helped and supported the work, including the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and especially the members of the oil companies in the BACCHUS joint industry project consortium, who were the main sponsors of the work.

AAPG best paper award

Andrew Aplin

10.9.09
Andrew Aplin was recently awarded  the Wallace E Pratt Memorial Award by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists at their annual meeting in Denver. The award is for the best paper published in AAPG Bulletin in 2007.Andrew co-authored the paper, entitled “Seal Bypass Systems”, with Joe Cartwright (Cardiff) and Mads Huuse (Aberdeen).

The work arose from the Caprocks Joint Industry Project (http://www.ceg.ncl.ac.uk/caprocks/) and details the way in which the seals to petroleum reservoirs may be compromised by sub-vertical, seismic-scale geological features which allow relatively rapid fluid loss from underlying reservoirs. The work is important not only for petroleum exploration but also to inform the choice of suitable sites for underground CO2 storage.

ancient oceans offer new insight into the origins of animal life

Simon Poulton

10.9.09
Analysis of a rock type found only in the world’s oldest oceans has shed new light on how large animals first got a foothold on the Earth.

A scientific team including scientists from Newcastle University have for the first time managed to plot the rise and fall of oxygen levels in the Earth’s atmosphere over the last 3.8 billion years. By analysing the isotopes of chromium in iron-rich sediments formed in the ancient oceans, the team found that a rise in atmospheric oxygen levels 580 million years ago was closely followed by the evolution of animal life.

Published today in the academic journal Nature, the data offers new insight into how animal life – and ultimately humans – first came to roam the planet. “Because animals evolved in the sea, most previous research has focussed on oceanic oxygen levels,” explains Newcastle University’s Dr Simon Poulton, one of the authors of the paper. “Our research confirms for the first time that a rise in atmospheric oxygen was the driving force for oxygenation of the oceans 580 million years ago, and that this was the catalyst for the evolution of large complex animals.”

Distinctive chromium isotope signals occur when continental rocks are altered and weathered as a result of oxygen levels rising in the atmosphere. The chromium released by this weathering is then washed into the seas and deposited in the deepest oceans - trapped in iron-rich rocks on the sea bed.

Using this new data, the research team - led by Professor Robert Frei at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark - has not only been able to establish the trigger for the evolution of animals, but have also demonstrated that oxygen began to pulse into the atmosphere earlier than previously thought.

“Oxygen levels actually began to rise 2.8 billion years ago” explains Dr Poulton. “But instead of this rise being steady and gradual over time, what we saw in our data was a very unstable situation with short-lived episodes of free oxygen in the atmosphere early in Earth’s history, followed by plummeting levels around 2 billion years ago. “It was not until a second rise in atmospheric oxygen 580 million years ago that larger complex animals were able to get a foothold on the Earth.”

The full paper can be found at: Nature, 2009; 461 (7261): 250 DOI: 10.1038/nature08266

british science festival

Simon Poulton

10.9.09
The 2009 British Science Festival, one of Europe’s largest science festivals, is currently taking place at the University of Surrey. The week long programme attracts thousands of people, ranging from school children through to academics, who participate in a wide variety of scientific activities. Simon Poulton, from the Geoscience Group in the School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, gave a keynote lecture in a session on ‘Innovations in Evolution’, providing an overview of 3 billion years of chemical, atmospheric and biological evolution on the early Earth. The festival attracts extensive media attention and the talk was picked up by the Irish Times: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0908/1224254065738.html

funding opportunities for businesses

Clare Gordon

19.8.09
Small and medium businesses wishing to maintain good levels of training could be entitled to funding for organisations and individuals to invest in skills development. The University may be able to assist with course fees for those employed by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) located in the North East of England via its Business Voucher Scheme.

The Newcastle University Business Voucher Scheme is part of the University's ten-step action plan to help boost the North East regional economy and will provide a voucher worth up to £5000 to small and medium-sized businesses and organisations, which can be redeemed against a wide range of University provided activities and services. The voucher is available to eligible organisations and is funded by the University directly, from its savings on the recent decrease in the VAT rate. The Scheme will run from 1st February 2009. For details please go to www.ncl.ac.uk/business/tensteps/voucher.phtml or to apply please email business@ncl.ac.uk

The Royal Academy of Engineering Professional Development Awards also has awards of up to £15,000 will be made to selected company training programmes for the financial year 2009/2010 which focus on the development of their engineering staff. A company's proposed programme must relate in a clear way to its business plan or current strategic objectives and prizes of £1,000 are being offered for each of the five most innovative applications. The application, consisting of the training programme, company form and a participant form for each individual involved must be submitted before 23 October 2009. Companies will be notified as to the outcome of their application by early January 2010. For further details please go to www.raeng.org.uk/education/professional/profdev/default.htm

Funding can be used for places on CPD courses delivered by the School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences. For further details please go to http://www.ceg.ncl.ac.uk/cpd/index.htm or email cpd@ncl.ac.uk

a national infrastructure for the 21st century

David Parker

5.8.09
The Council for Science and Technology has, at the request of the Prime Minster, recently produced a report entitled 'A National Infrastructure for the 21st Century'. Pages 4-5 contain an executive summary, whilst the major challenges we face in the UK with our infrastructure are discussed on pages 19-20: it focuses on water, transport and energy infrastructure systems. One of the recommendations is more effective collaboration between infrastructure operators, academia and other stakeholders.

demonstration test catchments project

Paul Quinn

5.8.09
Following a national call, Dr Paul Quinn has been invited to sit on the Advisory Panel of The Demonstration Test Catchments project. This is to be a new 5 year, long term, Defra, EA funded project looking at pollution, climate, flooding and ecological issues. The appointment reflects the activity of Paul's Team in the area of catchment management
(www.ncl.ac.uk/iq) and the key role they played in helping the River Eden to be selected as one of the first Demonstration Test Catchments. Some background to the call is given below.

'Defra and the Environment Agency are seeking applications to join an expert panel to advise on the specification of multi-disciplinary, landscape scale environmental research.

The Demonstration Test Catchments Project
Research on diffuse water pollution over recent years has developed an evidence base of the sources, pathways and receptors for individual pollutants at a plot or field scale. Defra and the Environment Agency are establishing a series of catchment-scale platforms to host long-term, large-scale research projects to assess the effectiveness of on-farm abatement measures applied through integrated farming systems for delivering environmental benefits...'

For more information see:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/science/funding/documents/2009/demo-catchments-advisory-panel.pdf

IIT Delhi students work with CeG

Jennifer Harrison

5.8.09
Two students from IIT Delhi worked with us in CeG for 8 weeks this summer. Both Surabhi and Mitali were enthusiastic, hard working young ladies and got on very well within the teams in which they were placed (CLUWRR and TORG).
 
The School generously supported this activity which has been useful to continue fostering the link with IIT Delhi, not to mention being extremely beneficial for us and of course the students themselves.

Surabhi Bhandari said 'this internship has indeed been an unparalleled learning experience both academically and otherwise, that has provided us with valuable exposure to high level research. '

Both Surabhi Bhandari and Mitali Bhandari provided final reports.

EU aid cooperation re-impact project meeting

Jennifer Harrison

14.7.09
In June the Devonshire Building was host to visitors from India, China, South Africa, Uganda and Austria; all brought to Newcastle by the EU Aid Cooperation Office’s Re-Impact project for an interim partners’ meeting. Principal Investigator Dr Jaime Amezaga and Project Manager Jennifer Harrison held full day meetings with the project partners from 22nd to 26th June. Dr Natalie Kruse, Dr James Garratt and Aengus McCullough, all researchers under the project, were also present and joined in the discussions regarding the progression of the initiative towards its objectives. One particular item of interest was the unveiling of the EXCLAIM2 visualisation tool, a version of which shows the Amuru catchment in Uganda and is available from the web: http://128.240.60.1:9090/exclaim/launch.html.

Following on from the Newcastle meeting, a number of Re-Impact partners travelled to Hamburg for the 17th European Biomass Conference from 29th June to 3rd July 09. This proved to be a packed out event which enjoyed the attendance of scientists, policy makers, and industrial producers from across the continent, not to mention those numerous overseas attendees. On Tuesday 31st June Re-Impact partners co-hosted the opening Side Event of the conference: “Bioenergy for Rural Development in Africa and Asia”. Described as "stimulating", and covered generously in the following Daily Conference Bulletin (available online: http://www.ceg.ncl.ac.uk/reimpact/Related%20Documents/Daily_Bulletin_1_July.pdf, this successful event provoked discussion amongst the panellists and audience alike – who together represented numerous Africa and Asian countries as well as interested European parties. The agenda, and slides from the presentations given on the day, are available from the Re-Impact website: http://www.ceg.ncl.ac.uk/reimpact/SideEvent.htm.

In the conference session “Sustainability and Certification” held on 1 July, Jennifer Harrison was invited to give an oral presentation on “Developing A Sustainability Framework for Assessing Bioenergy Projects”. Focusing on the situation relating to Bioenergy in India and framed within a planning for sustainability perspective, this paper provides an analysis of the currently available methodologies for assessing the varied impacts, both positive and negative, of bioenergy production. Dr Amezaga gave an oral presentation on “RE-Impact: Forest Based Bioenergy for Sustainable Development in developing countries” in the “National and Regional Policies” session held on 3rd July. The Re-Impact case studies show the need for more evidence based policies that take into account land use and equity issues in rural development, and Dr Amezaga concluded that bioenergy projects need to be based on sound management models with technical and economic viability.

The Re-Impact project continues until 13 September 2010; for more information please see the website: http://www.ceg.ncl.ac.uk/reimpact/index.htm or email Jennifer at j.a.harrison@ncl.ac.uk.

sustainable innovation award

Nicola Greene

13.7.09
Congratulations to Nicola Greene who recently won the student section of the ‘Sustainable Innovation Award’ presented by Engineers Ireland in conjunction with Dublin Airport Authority. The award sought exciting and innovative design proposals for a specific element of the new €4 billion development of Dublin Airport City. Nicola’s project titled “Green Roofs coupled with Rainwater Harvesting” was deemed the most suitable for implementation, thus earning her a €1,500 prize. Nicola is an Irish student, taking the MSc course in Sustainable Management of the Water Environment. She attributed much of her project content to information she has gathered over the course of her study in Newcastle University and hopes to see her design implemented when construction on Dublin Airport City begins in 2010. For more information see: www.dublinairportcity.ie

steaming ahead on major waste plant

Lynsay Blake

13.7.09
The Journal article

IT'S a far cry from the rag-and-bone Steptoe and Son image. Dealing with rubbish is now big business and one Tyneside firm is keen to get its share.

Construction is well under way at Graphite Resources' Derwenthaugh EcoParc near the A1 in Gateshead.The £50m EcoParc is set to be one of the biggest autoclaving plants in the world and will use steam technology to sterilise ordinary black bag rubbish at temperatures of up to 160 degrees, so that it can be used as a product rather than be sent to landfill.

This is an important issue, since councils are set to be hit in coming years by rising tax on landfill. The charges for every tonne put into landfill will rise by £8 extra a year as set out in this year’s Budget.But at the EcoParc, 80% of rubbish which would otherwise have gone to landfill could be recovered, potentially saving money for the council and taxpayers.

Director William Thompson said this unique selling point had already helped Graphite to sign up commercial contracts.He said: “We have built this because it’s going to be needed. We will be cheaper than landfill very shortly because there’s no alternative.“One of the big advantages we have is that we’re away, funded and ready to go. We’re a viable option.”

The autoclaving plant, which should be running in December, uses a technique which has been employed for years in treating clinical waste.Trucks will arrive at the site carrying household waste and weigh in, before driving into the hangar-like building.Negative pressure will be created inside so the air will be sucked in when the doors are open, stopping rubbish and smells from escaping.

The waste will be tipped inside and will be manually checked for any items which should not be there, before conveyors take it up to the autoclaves, which are like large tanks. There the rubbish will be heated to 160 degrees and kept at that temperature for about 45 minutes.

After treatment separation equipment will pull out glass, plastic and metal which can be recycled. The rest of the rubbish, such as paper, cardboard and food, ends up as a kind of mush, and this can be treated further to produce gas to heat houses or power cars.Graphite has a partnership with Newcastle University to develop CellMatt, a by-product of the treatment process.

Newcastle University postgraduate Lynsay Blake, 29, has just been given the role of developing CellMatt, a cellulose-rich product, which could be used to produce biofuel to power vehicles.

The company is also hoping to install an anaerobic digester on the site, which would use some of the autoclave product to produce gas to fire the large boilers which power the autoclaves.Mr Thompson said: “We’re looking very hard at anaerobic digestion because it would allow us to generate power and be totally self-sufficient.”

The Derwenthaugh plant does not meet expectations of a dirty waste plant, boasting plush offices, a roof terrace and viewing platforms inside so people can watch how the process works.Mr Thompson said: “We set out to raise the bar. In the future this is what all waste treatment facilities will be like. The ideas is that you will become proud to work in the waste industry, rather than the Steptoe and Son image.”

Richard Dawson awarded EPSRC career acceleration fellowship

Richard Dawson

6.7.09
Richard Dawson has been awarded a prestigious EPSRC fellowship. The fellowship, worth £800k, will support Richard and a research team for five years. The work will build upon Richard's existing research funded by the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change research to develop a new generation of integrated assessment and decision making tools to enable engineers and urban planners to respond to the challenges of intensifying global change in cities. The focus will be on improving our understanding of the interactions between climate impacts, resource flows and adaptation of engineering infrastructure.

This fellowship joins an impressive array of sustainable cities research already undertaken by colleagues in CEGs and underlines the schools position as a leading authority on sustainable engineering and adaptation to climate change impacts.

NBTN postgraduate travel planning network 2nd meeting

Gareth Evans and Justin Cairns

6.7.09
The second meeting of the National Business Travel Network’s (NBTN) Postgraduate Travel Planning Network took place at the Department for Transport on Wednesday 1st July. The network is supported by the DfT, funded by the NBTN and is intended to bring together academic researchers, businesses, consultants and Government organisations to act as a “conduit” between the different groups.

The remit of NBTN is to encourage businesses – specifically the FTSE 350 – to take up travel planning and adopt alternative ways of working. The inaugural meeting took place in Loughborough back in October 2008, which established the network and set out the aims and objectives of the network. Gareth Evans and Justin Cairns represented CeG at this second meeting, which discussed the recent developments in Travel Planning and examples of good practice, identified where there were still gaps in the research with the primary intention of defining a future agenda for Travel Planning.

One key finding of the meeting was that although Travel Planning is gaining momentum in the UK amongst local authorities, NHS Trusts, educational establishments and other public organisations, there are still some significant barriers facing the wider implementation of Travel Planning in the private sector. The reworking of term “Travel Planning” is perhaps one of the key barriers to be overcome, as it was proposed that this terminology was too limited in its scope. There is a real need to shift the perception of Travel Planning away from something that is merely a means of encouraging employees to consider greener, sustainable modes of travel, both for their commute and when travelling for work purposes.

Existing case studies have demonstrated real potential in the promotion of Travel Planning as something that can be fully integrated into organisations’ business cases and objectives. The major target is to demonstrate to the business world how Travel Planning can deliver tangible benefits which can be fully quantified in real terms. Newcastle University’s Travel Plan can be found here.

For more information about the NBTN go to http://www.nbtn.org.uk/