Alternative views in river system science by Martin Doyle, Duke University (USA)

UCD Earth Institute / UCD Dooge Centre for Water Resources Research research visitor talk by Martin Doyle, Duke University (USA) on Alternative views in river system science: Satellites, Sensors, and Rubber Duckies, 18 April 2024. Martin was introduced by UCD's John O'Sullivan.
Abstract: Rapid development of measurement platforms, from satellites to in situ sensors, are creating opportunities across the natural sciences. But they also create questions about how earth scientists analyse and conceptualize movement. Our methods and models rely on a presupposed reference frame of movement: does the observer remain stationary while objects move past them over time (in situ sensors); does the observer take a single snapshot in time (remote sensing); or does the observer move along the flowpath of the river (rubber duckie). We analyse the importance of reference frames by contrasting the extent to which alternative reference frames have been used and combined in studies of sediment transport, fish migration, and river biogeochemistry.