The sections below summarise my research interests. Please click on the pictures for more information.
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Extending flood chronologies using documentary and geomorphological techniques
Flooding is one of the biggest challenges facing communities and governments across Wales and the world, and it is predicted that the size and frequency of flooding will increase in the future due to climate change. Environmental managers are trying to plan for this, but in Wales and the rest of the UK, river discharge has only been measured for 50-60 years.
We need to extend river records back much further than this to understand how flood (and drought) characteristics have changed in the long term and how they have responded to past changes in the environment. Studying historical documents (newspapers, letters etc), as well as geomorphological evidence enables us to do this and I have worked on a number of projects in this field in Wales, Ireland and Patagonia.
Papers
Longfield, S.A., Faulkner, D, Macklin, M.G., Jones, A.F., Foulds, S.A., Kjeldsen, T.R., Brewer, P.A. & Griffiths, H.M. (2018) Incorporating sedimentological data in UK flood estimation. Journal of Flood Risk Management.
Foulds, S.A., Griffiths, H.M., Macklin, M.G. and Brewer, P.A., 2014. Geomorphological records of extreme floods and their relationship to decadal-scale climate change. Geomorphology, 216, pp.193-207.
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The historical and cultural geographies of flooding and water
The management of flooding, and water more generally, requires an understanding of people's perceptions as well as an understanding of the hydrological or geomorphological factors. These perceptions may have deep roots in the historical and cultural experiences of individuals, communities and nations, and again, historical documents and literature are an extremely valuable source in understanding them.
My work considers perceptions in Wales and beyond through the analysis of medieval literature (e.g. poems of the Poets of the Nobility), newspaper reports, and more recent literature (e.g. the cultural response to the flooding of Capel Celyn).
Papers
Griffiths, H.M., Salisbury, T.E. & Tooth. S. (2017) ‘May God place a bridge over the River Tywi : interrogating flood perceptions and memories in Welsh medieval poetry, Cultural Histories, Memories and Extreme Weather A Historical Geography Perspective, Routledge Series in Historical Geography, London, Routledge, p. 93-111.
Griffiths, H. M. (2014). Water under the bridge? Nature, memory and hydropolitics. Cultural Geographies, 21(3), 449-474.
Griffiths, H. M. & Salisbury, T.E. (2013) ‘The tears I shed were Noah's flood’: medieval genre, floods and the fluvial landscape in the poetry of Guto'r Glyn , Journal of Historical Geography, 40, 94-104
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Rates and patters of geomorphological processes
Geomorphology - the science that explores landforms and the processes that create them - has been my main area of research and teaching since I studied for a PhD on the rates of erosion and deposition on Welsh rivers in the historic period.
I now focus on how rivers erode through bedrock over long timescales by the formation of potholes and gorges, interactions between rivers and large woody debris and the geomorphological effects of micro-hydropower schemes. Most of this research occurs on the rivers of Wales but I have also worked on rivers in South Africa and have studied geomorphological change through the use of remote sensing.
Papers
Kamintzis, J.E., Irvine-Fynn, T.D.L., Holt, T.O., Jones, J.P.P., Tooth, S., Griffiths, H.M. and Hubbard, B., 2018. Knickpoint evolution in a supraglacial stream. Geografiska Annaler: Series A, Physical Geography, pp.1-18.
Petropoulos, G.P., Kalivas, D.P., Griffiths, H.M. and Dimou, P.P., 2015. Remote sensing and GIS analysis for mapping spatio-temporal changes of erosion and deposition of two Mediterranean river deltas: The case of the Axios and Aliakmonas rivers, Greece. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 35, pp.217-228.
Petropoulos, G.P., Griffiths, H.M. and Kalivas, D.P., 2014. Quantifying spatial and temporal vegetation recovery dynamics following a wildfire event in a Mediterranean landscape using EO data and GIS . Applied Geography, 50, pp.120-131.
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Art-science collaborations
By combining my interests in geomorphology and poetry I have developed a great interest in the ways scientists, artists (including poets and writers, visual artists, musicians, etc.) and social scientists can work together to solve problems. Thus far, my work in this field has focused on considering whether scientific concepts (e.g, the Anthropocene, the geomorphological characteristics of tourist sites such as the Devil’s Bridge waterfalls) can be made more effective using artistic methods (e.g. poetry).
I currently supervise a PhD student, Sioned Llywelyn, who works on sites of geomorphological interest in Wales, and I have also contributed to the work of the Visualising Geomorphology Working Group of the British Society for Geomorphology Society.
Papers
Griffiths, H.M., 2018. Three poems on flood histories in rural Ireland . Cultural Geographies, 25(2), pp.369-374.
Griffiths, H.M., Goodwin, G., Keevil, T., Salisbury, E., Tooth, S. and Roberts, D., 2017. Searching for an Anthropo(s)cene in the Uplands of Mid Wales . GeoHumanities, 3(2), pp.567-579.
Tooth, S., Viles, H.A., Dickinson, A., Dixon, S.J., Falcini, A., Griffiths, H.M., Hawkins, H., Lloyd‐Jones, J., Ruddock, J., Thorndycraft, V.R., & Whalley, B. (2016) Visualizing geomorphology: improving communication of data and concepts through engagement with the arts . Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 10.1002/esp.3990.
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CHERISH
I currently contribute to the geomorphological work of the CHERISH (Climate, Heritage and Environments of Reefs, Islands and Headlands) project in collaboration with colleagues from Aberystwyth and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, the Discovery Programme in Ireland and the Irish Geological Survey. The aim of the project is to increase awareness and understanding of the effects of climate change on the fragile communities and heritage of the coasts of Wales and Ireland. The project is funded by the European Union.
link to here 1
Papers
2019
Kamintzis, J.E., Irvine-Fynn, T.D.L., Holt, T.O., Jones, J.P.P., Tooth, S., Griffiths, H.M. and Hubbard, B., 2018. Knickpoint evolution in a supraglacial stream. Geografiska Annaler: Series A, Physical Geography, pp.1-18.
2018
Longfield, S.A., Faulkner, D, Macklin, M.G., Jones, A.F., Foulds, S.A., Kjeldsen, T.R., Brewer, P.A. & Griffiths, H.M. (2018) Incorporating sedimentological data in UK flood estimation. Journal of Flood Risk Management, https://doi.org/10.1111/jfr3.12449.
Griffiths, H.M., 2018. Three poems on flood histories in rural Ireland. Cultural Geographies, 25(2), pp.369-374.
Rose, M., Cooper, D. and Griffiths, H., (2018) Acknowledging the work of poetry: a collaborative commentary on Tim Cresswell’s Fence, Cultural Geographies, 25 (1) pp. 257-262.
2017
Griffiths, H.M., Goodwin, G., Keevil, T., Salisbury, E., Tooth, S. and Roberts, D., 2017. Searching for an Anthropo(s)cene in the Uplands of Mid Wales. GeoHumanities, 3(2), pp.567-579.
Griffiths, H.M., Salisbury, T.E. & Tooth. S. (2017) ‘May God place a bridge over the River Tywi’: interrogating flood perceptions and memories in Welsh medieval poetry, Cultural
Histories, Memories and Extreme Weather A Historical Geography Perspective, Routledge Series in Historical Geography, London, Routledge, p. 93-111.
2016
Tooth, S., Viles, H.A., Dickinson, A., Dixon, S.J., Falcini, A., Griffiths, H.M., Hawkins, H.,Lloyd‐Jones, J., Ruddock, J., Thorndycraft, V.R., & Whalley, B. (2016) Visualizing geomorphology: improving communication of data and concepts through engagement with the arts. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 10.1002/esp.3990.
Petropoulos, G.P., Ireland, G., Lamine, S., Griffiths, H.M., Ghilain, N., Anagnostopoulos, V., North, M.R., Srivastava, P.K. and Georgopoulou, H., 2016. Operational evapotranspiration estimates from SEVIRI in support of sustainable water management. International journal of applied earth observation and geoinformation, 49, pp.175-187.
Petropoulos, G.P., Ireland, G., Griffiths, H., Islam, T., Kalivas, D., Anagnostopoulos, V., Hodges, C. and Srivastava, P.K., 2016. Spatiotemporal Estimates of Surface Soil Moisture from Space Using the T s/VI Feature Space. In Satellite Soil Moisture Retrieval (pp. 91-108).
2015
Griffiths, H., 2015. Placing Y Paith (1) in poetry. Poetry Wales, 51(1), pp.26-28.
Petropoulos, G.P., Ireland, G., Griffiths, H.M., Kennedy, M.C., Ioannou-Katidis, P. and Kalivas, D.P., 2015. Extending the Global Sensitivity Analysis of the SimSphere model in the Context of its Future Exploitation by the Scientific Community. Water, 7(5), pp.2101-2141.
Petropoulos, G.P., Kalivas, D.P., Griffiths, H.M. and Dimou, P.P., 2015. Remote sensing and GIS analysis for mapping spatio-temporal changes of erosion and deposition of two Mediterranean river deltas: The case of the Axios and Aliakmonas rivers, Greece. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 35, pp.217-228.
2014
Griffiths, H. M. (2014). Water under the bridge? Nature, memory and hydropolitics. Cultural Geographies, 21(3), 449-474.
Foulds, S. A., Griffiths, H. M., Macklin, M. G., & Brewer, P. A. (2014). Geomorphological records of extreme floods and their relationship to decadal-scale climate change. Geomorphology, 216, 193-207.
Petropoulos, G.P., Griffiths, H.M., Carlson, T.N., Ioannou-Katidis, P. and Holt, T., 2014. SimSphere model sensitivity analysis towards establishing its use for deriving key parameters characterising land surface interactions. Geoscientific Model Development, 7(5), pp.1873-1887.
Petropoulos, G.P., Griffiths, H.M. and Kalivas, D.P., 2014. Quantifying spatial and temporal vegetation recovery dynamics following a wildfire event in a Mediterranean landscape using EO data and GIS. Applied Geography, 50, pp.120-131.
Petropoulos, G.P., Griffiths, H.M., Ioannou-Katidis, P. and Srivastava, P.K., 2014. Sensitivity exploration of SimSphere land surface model towards its use for operational products development from Earth observation data. In Remote Sensing Applications in Environmental Research (pp. 35-56). Springer, Cham.
Rowberry, M.D., Battiau-Queney, Y., Walsh, P., Błażejowski, B., Bout-Roumazeilles, V., Trentesaux, A., Křížová, L. and Griffiths, H., 2014. The weathered Carboniferous limestone at Bullslaughter Bay, South Wales: the first example of ghost-rock recorded in the British Isles. Geologica Belgica, 17(1), pp.33-42.
2013
Griffiths, H. M. & Salisbury, T.E. (2013) ‘The tears I shed were Noah's flood’: medieval genre, floods and the fluvial landscape in the poetry of Guto'r Glyn, Journal of Historical Geography, 40, 94-104
Petropoulos, G.P., Griffiths, H.M. and Tarantola, S., 2013. A sensitivity analysis of the SimSphere SVAT model in the context of EO-based operational products development. Environmental modelling & software, 49, pp.166-179.
Petropoulos, G.P., Griffiths, H.M., Dorigo, W., Xaver, A. and Gruber, A., 2013. Surface soil moisture estimation: Significance, controls, and conventional measurement techniques. Remote sensing of energy fluxes and soil moisture content, pp.29-48.
Petropoulos, G.P., Carlson, T.N. and Griffiths, H.M., 2013. Turbulent Fluxes of Heat and Moisture at the Earth’s Land Surface: Importance, Controlling Parameters, and Conventional Measurement Techniques. Remote Sensing of Energy Fluxes and Soil Moisture Content; Petropoulos, GP, Ed, pp.3-28