Grace Garner

Doctoral Researcher

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Grace Garner

Contact details

Telephone +44 (0)121 414 5682

Email gxg627@bham.ac.uk

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

About

PhD Title: River and stream temperature in a changing climate

Supervisors: David Hannah, Jon Sadler, Harriet Orr (Environment Agency), Iain Malcolm (Marine Scotland Science)

Grace’s doctoral research investigates the effects of a changing climate on river and stream temperature in the UK and more specifically: the climatological, meteorological and hydrological processes that influence spatio-temporal thermal heterogeneity at varying spatial scales of importance. This research is funded by a Natural Environment Research Council PhD studentship. Ongoing work is concerned with:

  • characterising thermal regimes throughout England and Wales and the strength of their associations with climate; 
  • understanding the effects of riparian forest canopies and extreme hydro-meteorological conditions on water temperature and heat exchanges at low stream-order sites of the Scottish Dee; 
  • energy balance determination as water temperature changes under a forest canopy in a low stream-order reach of the Scottish Dee; and 
  • modeling of summer maximum water temperatures throughout the (reservoir regulated) Welsh Dee catchment.

The outcomes of this research are intended to improve the scientific basis for management decisions regarding river temperature.

Qualifications

MSc Water Resources Technology and Management, Distinction (Birmingham, 2010)

BSc Geography (hons.), First class (Birmingham, 2009)

Biography

Grace has an Undergraduate degree in Geography from the University of Birmingham; her dissertation research concerned modification of the influence of climate on river flow drought event characteristics, for which she won the School of Geography’s David Linton Prize. This was followed by a Masters degree in Water Resources Technology and Management in the School of Civil Engineering, also at Birmingham. During the Masters degree Grace completed an industrial research project with the Water Management team at British Waterways, where she worked on present and future water resource supply and use efficiency scenarios for the Monmouthshire and Brecon canal in south-east Wales.

Research

Research interests

Hydroclimatology; hydrometeorology; climate change effects on surface water; environmental modeling

Research group

Water Sciences

Other activities

Awards

  • Travel grant to attend the EGU General Assembly (British Hydrological Society, 2012)
  • Conference funds (University of Birmingham Graduate School, 2012)
  • Conference funds (University of Birmingham Graduate School, 2011)
  • NERC PhD studentship (NERC, 2010)
  • David Linton prize in physical geography (University of Birmingham, 2009)

Conferences Convened

  • Convener of British Hydrological Society National Meeting on River Temperature (Birmingham, 2011)
  • Convener of British Hydrological Society Early Career Hydrology Symposium (Birmingham, 2012)
  • Convener of the Water Sciences seminar series (GEES, Birmingham, 2011-)

Memberships

  • Member of the British Hydrological Society (BHS)
  • Member of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS)
  • Member of the International Commission on Water Quality (ICWQ)

Grace is a proficient user of the R software package for graphics, data analysis, mapping and modeling. She is a member of the Birmingham R User Meetings (BRUM) group and is keen to promote the use and development of this free, open source software environment.

Publications

Papers

Hannah DM, Garner G (2012) Changes in UK river water temperature over the 20th century and possible changes over the 21st century, Living with Environmental Change (LWEC): Climate Change Impacts Report Card for the Water Sector.

Garner G, Hannah DM, Malcolm IA, Sadler JP (2012) Inter-annual variability in spring and summer stream temperature dynamics, above-stream energy balance processes and riparian micro-climate: a comparison of forest and moorland environments. In British Hydrological Societies 11th Symposium, ‘Hydrology for a Changing World’. BHS: Dundee

Garner G, Hannah DM, Sadler JP, Orr HG, River temperature regimes within England and Wales: large-scale patterns, inter-annual variability and associations with climate (In prep.)

Oral Papers

Garner G, Hannah DM, Sadler JP, Orr HG, Climatic sensitivity of river temperature regimes in England and Wales, Water @ Leeds Symposium, Catchments and Ecosystems Session, Leeds, July 2012

Garner G, Hannah DM, Malcolm IA, Sadler JP, Inter-annual variability in spring and summer stream temperature dynamics, above-stream energy balance processes and riparian micro-climate: a comparison of forest and moorland environments, BHS National Symposium: Hydrology for a Changing World Ecohydrology session, Dundee, July 2012

Garner G, Hannah DM, Sadler JP, Orr HG, Climatic sensitivity of river temperature regimes in England and Wales, EGU General Assembly, Hydrological change: Regional hydrological behaviour under transient climate and land use conditions, Vienna, April 2012

Poster Presentations

Garner G, Hannah DM, Malcolm IA, Sadler JP, Inter-annual variability of stream temperature, micro-climate and heat exchange dynamics: a comparison of forest and moorland environments, EGU General Assembly, Environmental and anthropogenic change affecting catchments session, Vienna, April 2012, Vienna, April 2012

Garner G, Hannah DM, Sadler JP, Orr HG, Climatic sensitivity of river temperature regimes in England and Wales, AGU Fall Meeting, General Hydrology session, San Francisco, December 2011

Garner G, Hannah DM, Sadler JP, Orr HG, Spatial variability in the thermal regime of rivers in England and Wales, BHS National Meeting on River Temperature: research and management in a changing climate, Birmingham, May 2011

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