From 2013 to 2017 I was a NERC-sponsored PhD student at the University of Manchester, UK. My research developed land surface flooding and erosion modelling software so that it could be integrated with more realistic rainfall inputs such as rainfall radar data, and numerical weather prediction model output. My project involved porting and optimising a numerical model to an HPC (High-performance computing) system. With these improved models, we can better investigate how natural landscapes respond to the severe storms. Specifically I investigated how hydrodynamic models of river catchments are sensitive to the spatial variability of rainfall input data, compared to other uncertainties such as gemorphological change during flood events. I focused on case studies of UK flooding from intense rainfall events.

Publications

Clubb, F.J. , Mudd, S.M., Milodowski, D.T., Valters, D.A., Slater, L.J., Hurst, M.D., and Limaye, A.B (2017) Geomorphometric delineation of floodplains and terraces from objectively defined topographic thresholds, Earth Surf. Dynam.

Valters, D.A. (2016). Section 5.6.12: Modelling Geomorphic Systems: Landscape Evolution. In: Cook, S.J., Clarke, L.E. & Nield, J.M. (Eds.) Geomorphological Techniques (Online Edition). British Society for Geomorphology; London, UK. ISSN: 2047-0371.

Mudd, S.M., Attal, M., Milodowski, D.T., Grieve, S.W.D. and Valters, D.A. (2014). A statistical framework to quantify spatial variation in channel gradients using the integral method of channel profile analysis, Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, DOI: 10.1002/2013JF002981

Conference Abstracts & Presentations

Valters, D.A. (2016). Frontiers in geomorphological computing. British Society for Geomorphology, 2016 AGM, Plymouth, UK. Also presented at the Research Software Engineers 1st annual conference, Manchester, UK. Poster.

Valters, D.A., and Brocklehurst, S.H. (2016). Topographic signatures of spatially-limited storm morphologies revealed from numerical landscape evolution modelling Geophysical Research Abstracts, EGU General Assembly, Abstract EGU2016-14328-1. Poster.

Valters, D.A., Brocklehurst, S.H., and Schultz, D.M (2015). Sensitivity of hydro-geomorphic processes to catchment-scale variations in rainfall distribution. Geophysical Research Abstracts, EGU General Assembly, Abstract EGU2015-9909. PICO Presentation

Valters, D.A., Brocklehurst, S.H., and Schultz, D.M (2014). The Geomorphic Effects of Stormier Weather and Climates, British Society for Geomorphology, Annual General Meeting. Oral Presentation

Valters, D.A. and Mudd, S.M. (2014). Extracting tectonic information using the integral method of river profile analysis: applications along the Wasatch fault, Utah, Geophysical Research Abstracts, EGU General Assembly, Abstract EGU2014-16074-1. Poster

Mudd, S.M., Attal, M., Milodowski, D.T., Grieve, S.W.D. and Valters, D.A. (2014). A statistical technique for identifying channels of different steepness in transient landscapes, Geophysical Research Abstracts, EGU General Assembly, Abstract EGU2014-15780.