Ian Foster
Biographic Data
| ID | 3756593 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ian Foster |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ian |
| FAMILY NAME | Foster |
| SIGNATURE | FOSTER I |
| AFFILIATIONS | Coventry University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7148-7619 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 29 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 116 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 28 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1986 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Confluence-based suspended sediment fingerprinting
In the Tsitsa River catchment of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, concerns regarding the sedimentation of a proposed large, multipurpose, in-channel water storage scheme prompted investigations of sub-catchment suspended sediment loads and yields. Confluence-based fingerprinting and source apportionment was undertaken to explore whether this simple approach could identify relative sub-catchment contributions to downstream sediment loads, …
Are ‘free-flowing rivers’ a good idea? The challenge of removing barriers from our rivers
The removal of barriers from rivers is a controversial topic. Barriers come in many forms including weirs, dams, sluices and bridges. Mills are listed in the 11th-century Domesday Book and shown on early Ordnance Survey (OS) maps, often with their use marked ‘corn’, etc. So, what are the arguments for removing them? As this article shows, these relate to the creation of more natural flow regimes and the re-establishment of a connection between th…
The Midlands of England
Archaeological and palaeoecological evidence relating to human activity in the English Midlands is scant compared to elsewhere in Britain. Knowledge of human activity in pre-Roman and Roman times is often fragmentary and disparate in parts of the region where it could be assumed that the resident population was small with little Roman impact. To examine these contentions, a palaeoenvironmental investigation from Aqualate Mere near Newport, Staffo…
Run‐off and sediment storage
Measures such as detention structures and buffer strips are widely used to limit off‐site damage of run‐off from eroding fields. The effectiveness of such measures varies greatly. However, ‘effectiveness’ is often narrowly defined and ignores the unintended consequences of damage to freshwater systems by sediments and other pollutants. Detention structures and buffer strips retain coarse sediment (>~100 μm diameter) but are less effective at reta…
Big Data and Social Science
Later Prehistoric and Norse Communities in the Northern Isles
Little is known about the impact that Norse communities had on the landscape of Orkney. To redress this, a palaeoenvironmental investigation was conducted from the infilled Loch of Tuquoy, a basin located close to the high-status Norse farmstead and Crosskirk at Tuquoy on Westray, Orkney. Pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, microscopic charcoal, sediment geochemistry and mineral magnetic measurements were performed on a 2.25 m core. The results sugg…
The future of language learning
A greater level of informal language learning is now taking place than at any time in human history. Much of that learning is linked to unprecedented levels of migration across the globe. This poses challenges to the identity of higher education language teachers, particularly in the UK, where numbers of modern language students have stagnated, despite repeated efforts to stimulate growth over the past 20 years. While numbers of non-specialist le…
Research Infrastructure for the Safe Analysis of Sensitive Data
To use administrative and other new data sources for the scientific study of human beings and human behavior, analysts need to be able both to connect to these new data and to deploy new methods for linking and analyzing the data. These efforts are often hindered by legal, technical, and operational difficulties. In this article, I examine how new digital research infrastructures can be used to reduce such barriers. Experiences with data stewards…
Did prehistoric and Roman mining and metallurgy have a significant impact on vegetation
Climate changes, lead pollution and soil erosion in south Greenland over the past 700 years
A peat core from southern Greenland provided a rare opportunity to investigate human-environment interactions, climate change and atmospheric pollution over the last ~ 700 years. X-ray fluorescence, gas chromatography-combustion, isotope ratio mass spectrometry, peat humification and fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy were applied and combined with palynological and archaeological evidence. Variations in peat mineral content seem to be relat…
Constraints and potentials of future irrigation water availability on agricultural production under climate change
Significance Freshwater availability is relevant to almost all socioeconomic and environmental impacts of climate and demographic change and their implications for sustainability. We compare ensembles of water supply and demand projections driven by ensemble output from five global climate models. Our results suggest reasons for concern. Direct climate impacts to maize, soybean, wheat, and rice involve losses of 400–2,600 Pcal (8–43% of present-d…
Identifying evidence for past mining and metallurgy from a record of metal contamination preserved in an ombrotrophic mire near Leadhills, SW Scotland, UK
This study presents a new 3600-year record of past metal contamination from a bog located close to the Leadhills and Wanlockhead orefield of southwest Scotland. A peat core, collected from Toddle Moss, was radiocarbon ( 14 C) dated and analysed for trace metal concentrations (by EMMA) and lead isotopes (by ICP-MS) to reconstruct the atmospheric deposition history of trace metal contamination, in particular, lead. The results show good agreement w…
A 3300-year atmospheric metal contamination record from Raeburn Flow raised bog, south west Scotland
Ancient copper and lead pollution records from a raised bog complex in Central Wales, UK
Using mineral magnetism to characterise ironworking and to detect its evidence in peat bogs
Global Environments through the Quaternary - By David E Anderson, Andrew S Goudie and Adrian G Parker
An examination of land use change due to irrigated agriculture in north‐eastern Jordan using geoinformatics
The Jordanian government has encouraged irrigated agriculture since the early 1990s by providing low cost loans to drill private wells. The impacts of this practice on land use change were examined within a small (362 km2) area of the Jordanian Badia using Geoinformatics. Aerial photographs, SPOT and Landsat TM imageries were used, in a GIS environment, to map and examine changes in the farming patterns since 1990. Field surveys and questionnaire…
Arthur Schnitzler
Late-Holocene North Atlantic climate ‘seesaws’, storminess changes and Greenland ice sheet (Gisp2) palaeoclimates
The oxygen-isotope record of palaeotemperature from Greenland ice cores has for many years been the kingpin of climate reconstructions for the North Atlantic region and northern Europe. An air temperature ‘seesaw’ between Greenland and northern Europe, first described in AD 1765, is also well known and is related to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Whereas the NAO index series is based on instrumental records of air pressure, the North Atlan…
Complex North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) Index signal of historic North Atlantic storm-track changes
Previous reports have suggested a link between increased storminess in the North Atlantic during recent years with a period of time during which the North Atlantic Oscillation Index has been strongly positive. New analyses of late nineteenth-century gale-day data for meteorological stations in northern Scotland and western Ireland indicate that the relatively high storminess that characterized this period was associated with monthly NAO Index val…
Evidence for Mediaeval soil erosion in the South Hams region of Devon, UK
A major theme of research into the causes of past and present soil erosion has been to determine the relative importance of climate and land-use change in influencing Holocene erosion rates. Previous work suggests that land-use change, especially the conversion of woodlands into agricultural land, is the main factor influencing long-term increases in soil erosion. A study of an extensive minerogenic sediment deposit in a wetland at Slapton Ley in…
Environmental protection and sustainable development in Tunisia
Tunisia is a North African country undergoing rapid development. It has a range of environmental problems including soil erosion, desertification, sedimentation and reduction in biological diversity that are partly caused by the climate and compounded by development processes such as industrialization, urbanization and population growth. Consequently, Tunisia is suffering from the inevitable conflicts between environmental protection on the one h…
Water and environmental systems’
We describe an innovative and successful method of empowering physical geography students in the process of learning hydrology. In the last eight years at Coventry University, we have set students the challenge of providing articles for their own journal as part of two modular courses. Although the basic challenge of presenting a paper for ‘publication’ has not changed, the organisation and structure of the assessment has evolved in the light of …
Learning in small groups in university geography courses
As class sizes have increased and staff‐student ratios have worsened, group work has been seen as one way in which the quality of the learning experience for students may be maintained or improved. This paper focuses on the use of learning in small groups to undertake geography projects. We explore how the advantages for students and staff of learning through group project work may be achieved, and how the potential disadvantages can be reduced o…
Control and independence strayegies for large geography classes
A variety of innovations from UK institutions are described that tackle the problems of larger geography classes and more students. Each is set out according to a common format. The introduction sets these UK innovations in the particular context of developments in North American higher education and in the wider context of control and independence strategies for dealing with higher student: staff ratios
Ancient copper and lead pollution records from a raised bog complex in Central Wales, UK
Soil Erosion on Agricultural Land
Learning in small groups in university geography courses
As class sizes have increased and staff‐student ratios have worsened, group work has been seen as one way in which the quality of the learning experience for students may be maintained or improved. This paper focuses on the use of learning in small groups to undertake geography projects. We explore how the advantages for students and staff of learning through group project work may be achieved, and how the potential disadvantages can be reduced o…
A 3300-year atmospheric metal contamination record from Raeburn Flow raised bog, south west Scotland
Using mineral magnetism to characterise ironworking and to detect its evidence in peat bogs
Late-Holocene North Atlantic climate ‘seesaws’, storminess changes and Greenland ice sheet (Gisp2) palaeoclimates
The oxygen-isotope record of palaeotemperature from Greenland ice cores has for many years been the kingpin of climate reconstructions for the North Atlantic region and northern Europe. An air temperature ‘seesaw’ between Greenland and northern Europe, first described in AD 1765, is also well known and is related to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Whereas the NAO index series is based on instrumental records of air pressure, the North Atlan…
Complex North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) Index signal of historic North Atlantic storm-track changes
Previous reports have suggested a link between increased storminess in the North Atlantic during recent years with a period of time during which the North Atlantic Oscillation Index has been strongly positive. New analyses of late nineteenth-century gale-day data for meteorological stations in northern Scotland and western Ireland indicate that the relatively high storminess that characterized this period was associated with monthly NAO Index val…
Evidence for Mediaeval soil erosion in the South Hams region of Devon, UK
A major theme of research into the causes of past and present soil erosion has been to determine the relative importance of climate and land-use change in influencing Holocene erosion rates. Previous work suggests that land-use change, especially the conversion of woodlands into agricultural land, is the main factor influencing long-term increases in soil erosion. A study of an extensive minerogenic sediment deposit in a wetland at Slapton Ley in…
Water and environmental systems’
We describe an innovative and successful method of empowering physical geography students in the process of learning hydrology. In the last eight years at Coventry University, we have set students the challenge of providing articles for their own journal as part of two modular courses. Although the basic challenge of presenting a paper for ‘publication’ has not changed, the organisation and structure of the assessment has evolved in the light of …
Identifying evidence for past mining and metallurgy from a record of metal contamination preserved in an ombrotrophic mire near Leadhills, SW Scotland, UK
This study presents a new 3600-year record of past metal contamination from a bog located close to the Leadhills and Wanlockhead orefield of southwest Scotland. A peat core, collected from Toddle Moss, was radiocarbon ( 14 C) dated and analysed for trace metal concentrations (by EMMA) and lead isotopes (by ICP-MS) to reconstruct the atmospheric deposition history of trace metal contamination, in particular, lead. The results show good agreement w…
Research Infrastructure for the Safe Analysis of Sensitive Data
To use administrative and other new data sources for the scientific study of human beings and human behavior, analysts need to be able both to connect to these new data and to deploy new methods for linking and analyzing the data. These efforts are often hindered by legal, technical, and operational difficulties. In this article, I examine how new digital research infrastructures can be used to reduce such barriers. Experiences with data stewards…
Did prehistoric and Roman mining and metallurgy have a significant impact on vegetation
The Midlands of England
Archaeological and palaeoecological evidence relating to human activity in the English Midlands is scant compared to elsewhere in Britain. Knowledge of human activity in pre-Roman and Roman times is often fragmentary and disparate in parts of the region where it could be assumed that the resident population was small with little Roman impact. To examine these contentions, a palaeoenvironmental investigation from Aqualate Mere near Newport, Staffo…
Hydrological Forecasting
Hydrological Forecasting
Shallow lake environments
Lake-catchments and environmental chemistry
Soil Erosion on Agricultural Land
Control and independence strayegies for large geography classes
A variety of innovations from UK institutions are described that tackle the problems of larger geography classes and more students. Each is set out according to a common format. The introduction sets these UK innovations in the particular context of developments in North American higher education and in the wider context of control and independence strategies for dealing with higher student: staff ratios
Water and environmental systems’
We describe an innovative and successful method of empowering physical geography students in the process of learning hydrology. In the last eight years at Coventry University, we have set students the challenge of providing articles for their own journal as part of two modular courses. Although the basic challenge of presenting a paper for ‘publication’ has not changed, the organisation and structure of the assessment has evolved in the light of …
Learning in small groups in university geography courses
As class sizes have increased and staff‐student ratios have worsened, group work has been seen as one way in which the quality of the learning experience for students may be maintained or improved. This paper focuses on the use of learning in small groups to undertake geography projects. We explore how the advantages for students and staff of learning through group project work may be achieved, and how the potential disadvantages can be reduced o…
Environmental protection and sustainable development in Tunisia
Tunisia is a North African country undergoing rapid development. It has a range of environmental problems including soil erosion, desertification, sedimentation and reduction in biological diversity that are partly caused by the climate and compounded by development processes such as industrialization, urbanization and population growth. Consequently, Tunisia is suffering from the inevitable conflicts between environmental protection on the one h…
Evidence for Mediaeval soil erosion in the South Hams region of Devon, UK
A major theme of research into the causes of past and present soil erosion has been to determine the relative importance of climate and land-use change in influencing Holocene erosion rates. Previous work suggests that land-use change, especially the conversion of woodlands into agricultural land, is the main factor influencing long-term increases in soil erosion. A study of an extensive minerogenic sediment deposit in a wetland at Slapton Ley in…
Complex North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) Index signal of historic North Atlantic storm-track changes
Previous reports have suggested a link between increased storminess in the North Atlantic during recent years with a period of time during which the North Atlantic Oscillation Index has been strongly positive. New analyses of late nineteenth-century gale-day data for meteorological stations in northern Scotland and western Ireland indicate that the relatively high storminess that characterized this period was associated with monthly NAO Index val…
Late-Holocene North Atlantic climate ‘seesaws’, storminess changes and Greenland ice sheet (Gisp2) palaeoclimates
The oxygen-isotope record of palaeotemperature from Greenland ice cores has for many years been the kingpin of climate reconstructions for the North Atlantic region and northern Europe. An air temperature ‘seesaw’ between Greenland and northern Europe, first described in AD 1765, is also well known and is related to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Whereas the NAO index series is based on instrumental records of air pressure, the North Atlan…
An examination of land use change due to irrigated agriculture in north‐eastern Jordan using geoinformatics
The Jordanian government has encouraged irrigated agriculture since the early 1990s by providing low cost loans to drill private wells. The impacts of this practice on land use change were examined within a small (362 km2) area of the Jordanian Badia using Geoinformatics. Aerial photographs, SPOT and Landsat TM imageries were used, in a GIS environment, to map and examine changes in the farming patterns since 1990. Field surveys and questionnaire…
Arthur Schnitzler
Using mineral magnetism to characterise ironworking and to detect its evidence in peat bogs
Global Environments through the Quaternary - By David E Anderson, Andrew S Goudie and Adrian G Parker
Ancient copper and lead pollution records from a raised bog complex in Central Wales, UK
Constraints and potentials of future irrigation water availability on agricultural production under climate change
Significance Freshwater availability is relevant to almost all socioeconomic and environmental impacts of climate and demographic change and their implications for sustainability. We compare ensembles of water supply and demand projections driven by ensemble output from five global climate models. Our results suggest reasons for concern. Direct climate impacts to maize, soybean, wheat, and rice involve losses of 400–2,600 Pcal (8–43% of present-d…
Identifying evidence for past mining and metallurgy from a record of metal contamination preserved in an ombrotrophic mire near Leadhills, SW Scotland, UK
This study presents a new 3600-year record of past metal contamination from a bog located close to the Leadhills and Wanlockhead orefield of southwest Scotland. A peat core, collected from Toddle Moss, was radiocarbon ( 14 C) dated and analysed for trace metal concentrations (by EMMA) and lead isotopes (by ICP-MS) to reconstruct the atmospheric deposition history of trace metal contamination, in particular, lead. The results show good agreement w…
A 3300-year atmospheric metal contamination record from Raeburn Flow raised bog, south west Scotland
Climate changes, lead pollution and soil erosion in south Greenland over the past 700 years
A peat core from southern Greenland provided a rare opportunity to investigate human-environment interactions, climate change and atmospheric pollution over the last ~ 700 years. X-ray fluorescence, gas chromatography-combustion, isotope ratio mass spectrometry, peat humification and fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy were applied and combined with palynological and archaeological evidence. Variations in peat mineral content seem to be relat…
Did prehistoric and Roman mining and metallurgy have a significant impact on vegetation
Research Infrastructure for the Safe Analysis of Sensitive Data
To use administrative and other new data sources for the scientific study of human beings and human behavior, analysts need to be able both to connect to these new data and to deploy new methods for linking and analyzing the data. These efforts are often hindered by legal, technical, and operational difficulties. In this article, I examine how new digital research infrastructures can be used to reduce such barriers. Experiences with data stewards…
The future of language learning
A greater level of informal language learning is now taking place than at any time in human history. Much of that learning is linked to unprecedented levels of migration across the globe. This poses challenges to the identity of higher education language teachers, particularly in the UK, where numbers of modern language students have stagnated, despite repeated efforts to stimulate growth over the past 20 years. While numbers of non-specialist le…
Big Data and Social Science
Later Prehistoric and Norse Communities in the Northern Isles
Little is known about the impact that Norse communities had on the landscape of Orkney. To redress this, a palaeoenvironmental investigation was conducted from the infilled Loch of Tuquoy, a basin located close to the high-status Norse farmstead and Crosskirk at Tuquoy on Westray, Orkney. Pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, microscopic charcoal, sediment geochemistry and mineral magnetic measurements were performed on a 2.25 m core. The results sugg…
Geography (21 works) · Archaeology (15 works) · Geology (15 works) · Environmental Science (14 works) · Ecology (10 works) · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research (10 works) · Soil erosion and sediment transport (8 works) · Agriculture (7 works) · Political science (7 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (6 works)