# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
It's not particularly clever or novel to hate Shoreditch.

In fact, I'm sure if you spoke to half the people on the streets of Shoreditch, they'd tell you that they hate Shoreditch and are only there as some sort of ironic exercise in nostalgia slumming.

But bear with me here. What I hate more than Shoreditch itself is the idea of Shoreditch and the way that so many of London's neighbourhoods have been Shoreditched, are being Shoreditched or will be Shoreditched.

Of course, I do hate Shoreditch in the straightforward, obvious way too. I hate the stupid beards and skinny jeans. I hate the "dirty burgers" and the knowing appropriation of 1980s icons that were never any good to begin with. I hate the fact that every venue looks the same. And I wish every single hipsterpreneur who dreams of opening a pop-up restaurant (backed by Pop's money) would just pop off.

But, as I say, Shoreditch is just a metonym for all those unlucky pieces of real estate that have had the hipster formula applied to them. The real problem is hipsters themselves. That global tribe of urban 20- and 30-somethings who, in their quest to be different, have wound up virtually identical. Go into any hipster venue and you'll see. From the microbrewery ales and ironically-drunk mass-market lagers to upcycled furniture and jumble-sale '70s suburban art, they're all cool by numbers. The people dress the same, they eat the same and the conversations sound the same.

Shoreditch is a formula, a brand. It's as much a part of mainstream consumer culture as iPhones and Sky TV and as global as Starbucks. So, let's look at how an area gets Shoreditched.

You find a previously unnoticed urban neighbourhood, ideally one that's a bit down on its luck. Pioneer hipsters move in and coolhunters ensure it starts trending on Twitter. A year later, the mainstream media notices and, for the next 12 months, the neighbourhood is byword for urban cool. Soon property prices soar pushing the original residents out, the bankers (always a trailing indicator) begin to move in and a Foxtons opens. Finally, the New York Times runs a piece in which it "discovers" the area and the cycle is complete. The last hipsters move on and find a new neighbourhood to play with.

This is where poor Shoreditch finds itself now. Its alternative crown was lost years ago to Dalston which, in turn, had it snatched by Peckham. If you head to Shoreditch on a Saturday evening these days it really is as "bridge and tunnel" as its detractors (and one-time champions) claim. A roiling, boiling mass of fight-ready designer-labelled out-of-towners smashed on sugary cocktails and bad cocaine, a cold-climate Ayia Napa. Notting Hill doesn't know how lucky it is to have merely become a ghetto for bankers.
READ: In defence of the Shoreditchification effect, by a self-confessed hipster
Of course, you could argue that being Shoreditched is nothing new, that it's just a hip form of gentrification. In the early noughties, the American urbanist Richard Florida coined the phrase "the Creative Class" to describe the young, trendy and creative who regenerated previously run-down inner city areas. But what Florida missed was the relentless churn and accelerated neophilia of Shoreditch-style gentrification. The gap between Notting Hill and Shoreditch was a decade. The gap between Shoreditch and Dalston, a couple of years. Peckham was declared pretty much over before the first Korean taco van had a chance to park.

Now, the bearded seers of gentrification are turning their gaze to Crystal Palace and Streatham, Walthamstow and Tottenham. Doubtless these suburban nowheres will have their six months in the sun before they're chewed up and forgotten, with only a few boarded-up "dirty food" restaurants and doubled house prices to remind residents that, sometime in the mid 2010s, they were written about (then sneered at) by Vice journalists. A few weeks back, I heard someone joking about Croydon being the next hipster destination and found myself a) thinking that it really could happen and b) wondering if pop-up KFCs could become "a thing".

So, what is the solution? The solution is to treat places like proper neighbourhoods rather than Apple products with a two-year upgrade cycle. Here I hold up Camden as an example. OK, I know I have a vested interest, but Camden was cool in 1994 (and even 1984) and it's still cool in 2014. It has, dare I say it, sustainable coolness. True, at no point in time will be it be as achingly "now" as a speakeasy in a repurposed public loo in Camberwell selling dirty cocktails in jam jars, but that's the point. Sustainable cool knows which bandwagons to ignore.

So, what is the special sauce that makes sustainable coolness? The answer is in one neighbourhood that has managed to go from nothing to something that's still cool 15 years later. This is the London Bridge area - and, like Camden, it has a unique attraction: Borough Market. And herein lies a lesson. The people that set up the retail market in the 90s did so when the area was a dump, the ancient wholesale market was in decline and Jamie Oliver was a sous chef. Although Borough Market in its current incarnation seems to have appeared, fully formed, sometime around 2003, it took ten years of dedicated hard work, most of it with no obvious reward, to get it to that point.

True, it's is a lot harder than getting 10,000 Twitter followers for your pop-up cold-war-themed speakeasy. But people will still be coming to SE1 and NW1 in 2024. Whereas the hipsters will be down in Croydon (AKA Shoreditch 6.0), Instagramming pictures of McDonald's cartons and wondering if that lairy-looking group of blokes are the most ironic dressers ever or a group of local chavs about to beat them up very unironically.
Follow Alex Proud on Twitter Gallerist and club owner Alex Proud is the founder of Proud Galleriesand Proud Camden and appears on Channel 4's Four Rooms

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why this 'Shoreditchification' of London must stop

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
It's not particularly clever or novel to hate Shoreditch. In fact, I'm sure if you spoke to half the people on the streets of Shoreditch, they'd tell you that they hate Shoreditch and are only there as some sort of ironic exercise in nostalgia slumming. But bear with me here.

# data[].attributes.body
You need to have your NEA at a point at which you'd be happy to submit.

# data[].attributes.body
Outline the stadium – then apply your method to locate a non-predetermined starting for the derive.

As you walk:

·       Slow pace

·       Take in your surroundings – look up (idea: sensory mapping)

·       Interpret the sense of place

o   Associate identity (flags, cultural references, clothing, football shirts?)

o   What do you see that you wouldn’t see in Brent?

o   How do you feel? What memories are conjured? (insider / outsider; safe / happy / sad / lonely)

·       No time limit / no rules / record in a way you feel comfortable

# data[].attributes.headline
History and future of Detroit (BBC news article) Changing Places

# data[].attributes.subject
History and future of Detroit (BBC news article) Changing Places

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Rick Novasky has never forgotten the day back in the 1980s when he was working a shift in the ticket office at Detroit's Michigan Central Station.

"A gentleman walked up to the ticket window with tears rolling down his cheeks," he says. "I asked him if he needed help. The man just pointed toward the subway where everybody boarded the trains and said, 'that's where I last saw my oldest brother back in 1943. He turned around, waved to us and then got on his train. We never saw him again. He was killed in the Pacific.'

"That was some 30 years ago," says Novasky, a tremor in his voice, "and it still hits me even today."

Michigan Central was once one of the grandest railway stations in the United States - the gateway to a fabulously wealthy city, dominated by the auto industry.

Thousands of workers passed through the building in search of new lives - immigrants from Europe and the Middle East along with black workers, part of the "great migration" northwards, from the prejudice and poverty of the agricultural South.

But Detroit's days of lavish prosperity are long gone. The station has been closed and abandoned for more than 30 years. Its tower, like the keep of a derelict fortress, is a poignant symbol of a once-great city's decline.

Now Michigan Central is being given a new life by the industry that created Detroit's wealth. In 2018 the Ford Motor Company bought the building and began the huge task of refurbishing it as the centrepiece of a new campus, devoted to high-tech vehicles and the future of transportation.

Looming over the Corktown neighbourhood, the station is going to be transformed, along with the local area. What does the history of Michigan Central tell us about the rise, fall, and perhaps rise again of Motor City?

Detroit's new railway station opened for business in December 1913 without much fanfare. It was forced into service early because the station it was set to replace was destroyed by a fire.

Michigan Central was designed in the then-popular Beaux Arts style by architects who had previously worked together on New York's Grand Central Station.

The structure was dominated by a 15-storey tower. When built, it was the tallest railway station in the world.

It looked out over 18 tracks, raised above street level on a broad viaduct. Only two of those tracks remain, carrying heavy freight trains operated by Canadian Pacific.

Just a short distance away the tracks from Michigan Central enter a tunnel, diving under the Detroit River into Canada.

This was the route taken by many of the famous trains that connected the city with New York - the Twilight Limited, the Mercury and the Wolverine - names redolent of the golden age of rail travel. The Empire State Express connected Detroit and Cleveland with Buffalo and New York. It was inaugurated on 7 December 1941 (the same day as the bombing of Pearl Harbor - unfortunately for the New York Central Railroad's publicity department).

During World War Two the station was a hive of activity with troops arriving and departing. Former Detroit cop Ray Downing remembers seeing his older brother and uncle off at Michigan Central and meeting them whenever they came home on leave. "The station was absolutely packed," he says. "The building was just cavernous - it meant a new world to me every time I went there."

During the early 1960s Downing was based at a police precinct just around the corner from Michigan Central.

It's the mundane nature of the job he recalls - searching for lost children, dealing with drunks and so on. Despite Detroit's subsequent reputation for crime and violence, he remembers it fondly. "Even in a neighbourhood with a railway station, it was reasonably peaceful and law-abiding," he says.

Michigan Central was the place where workers arrived to take up new jobs in the growing automobile industry.

"It was the Ellis Island of Detroit," says labour historian and lecturer Steve Babson.

In 1908, Henry Ford's Piquette Avenue factory began turning out the first of the famous Model-T cars - a stripped down, simplified automobile that ushered in the era of mass motoring.

Before Ford, building a motor car had been a highly skilled job for craftsmen.

But Ford brought in technologies for a mass production process. Huge stamping presses to take sheet metal and turn it into the key body components of a car, small disc grinders powerful enough to remove surplus metal, and even new types of paint.

"The reason the Ford Model-T was black," says Babson, "was because it was the only paint that would dry fast enough to keep pace with the production process."

Mass production needed workers, and lots of them. They came from all over the globe.

Many of them arrived from Britain, via Canada. But as early as 1907 the Detroit Board of Commerce asked the immigrant reception centre at Ellis Island in New York harbour to direct skilled workers to the city - immigrants from Italy, Poland and elsewhere in Eastern Europe.

Workers came from further afield too. The city came to have one of the largest Chaldean Catholic communities outside Iraq, with the first members arriving in the 1920s.

In 1906 the workforce in Detroit stood at about 80,000. By 1911 it was 175,000 and growing. Over a 30-year period there was a fivefold increase in Detroit's population - most of that by 1925. The first step many of them made in the city was on the platform at Michigan Central.

World War One saw a significant rise in the arrival of black workers from the American South, as immigration routes from Europe were closed off. Agricultural difficulties after the war only encouraged more southerners - black and white - to leave the land and seek their future in Detroit.

By now Detroit was one of the wealthiest cities in the US. But the good times were brief. The crash of 1929 and the depression of the 1930s hit the city hard.

Recovery was slow and sporadic. Things were only gradually improving by the late 1930s. World War Two pumped a new shot of adrenalin into Detroit's industrial veins. Most of the auto-makers were turned over to war production and Detroit became the veritable arsenal of democracy.

After the war the motor industry thought it would simply return to the way things were. The US emerged from World War Two as the world's dominant economic power. But as Babson puts it: "The motor industry's decline was established by its dominance."

US manufacturers concentrated on upmarket vehicles, leaving entry-level models to others. Japanese imports - initially of low quality, but quickly improving - took a larger and larger share of the market.

Efforts to counter them produced some disastrous vehicles like the Chevrolet Vega, which rotted from within and the Ford Pinto, which was prone to catch fire in accidents.

Detroit was changing too. In July 1967, tensions caused by racism, unemployment and police brutality ignited into five days of full-scale rioting, after a raid on a drinking club in an African-American neighbourhood.

Forty-three people died - most of whom were African-American - and more than 1,000 were injured. More than 400 buildings were damaged so badly they had to be demolished.

"The heaviest casualty was the city itself," according to its first black mayor, Coleman Young. "The riot," he said, "put Detroit on the fast track to economic desolation."

The more affluent - usually white - residents had already been moving to the suburbs. The riots accelerated this process. An estimated 22,000 people left the city in 1966. Two years later, that figure hit 80,000.

Many of the areas destroyed in the rioting were never rebuilt and the scars remain visible to this day.

In 1988 the dwindling railway service ended. Michigan Central was closed and abandoned. But worse was to come. The auto industry remained essential for Detroit's future but it was not faring well. In 2009 both General Motors and Chrysler filed for bankruptcy. And just four years later - in July 2013 - the city itself went the same way, the largest municipality ever to go bankrupt in the US.

US manufacturers concentrated on upmarket vehicles, leaving entry-level models to others. Japanese imports - initially of low quality, but quickly improving - took a larger and larger share of the market.

Efforts to counter them produced some disastrous vehicles like the Chevrolet Vega, which rotted from within and the Ford Pinto, which was prone to catch fire in accidents.

Detroit was changing too. In July 1967, tensions caused by racism, unemployment and police brutality ignited into five days of full-scale rioting, after a raid on a drinking club in an African-American neighbourhood.

Forty-three people died - most of whom were African-American - and more than 1,000 were injured. More than 400 buildings were damaged so badly they had to be demolished.

"The heaviest casualty was the city itself," according to its first black mayor, Coleman Young. "The riot," he said, "put Detroit on the fast track to economic desolation."

The more affluent - usually white - residents had already been moving to the suburbs. The riots accelerated this process. An estimated 22,000 people left the city in 1966. Two years later, that figure hit 80,000.

Many of the areas destroyed in the rioting were never rebuilt and the scars remain visible to this day.

In 1988 the dwindling railway service ended. Michigan Central was closed and abandoned. But worse was to come. The auto industry remained essential for Detroit's future but it was not faring well. In 2009 both General Motors and Chrysler filed for bankruptcy. And just four years later - in July 2013 - the city itself went the same way, the largest municipality ever to go bankrupt in the US.

"Watch your step and don't tread on the sheets of plywood - usually there's a big hole underneath."

The warning is from Richard Bardelli, the manager of construction for Ford Land. Bardelli was born in Detroit. He has always lived here, and has spent some 30 years driving past the abandoned station building wishing something could be done about it. Now he is in charge of making it happen.

Working from the original plans for the station, he explains that his first task is to dry the building out and assess the scale of any damage.

Looking up at the tower, he points out darker spots in the stonework that indicate water infiltration. The building has a steel frame but many winters of freezing and thawing mean some of the limestone is coming away. "We will take some of that brick out," he says cheerily, "check the steel behind it and see what needs to be done."

Inside the station is a lofty hall lit by high steel-framed windows, the glass long since smashed. The walls of cracked plaster are sprinkled with graffiti but there is no missing the almost ecclesiastical grandeur of the place. There is a stillness, a calm, a sense of purpose, despite all the debris and scaffolding.

The ground floor is divided into three main areas - a waiting room (where you can still see the outlines of the heavy wooden seats on the floor), an arcade, and the main concourse. The ticket counter is just off the arcade and, from the concourse, gates lead to subways that took passengers up to the platforms above.

Bardelli is fast becoming as much architectural historian as construction engineer. He points upwards to the ceiling which comprises thousands of small tiles. This technique is called Guastavino vaulting, he says - self-supporting arches made up of layers of terracotta tiles: "There are about 20,000 of them up there. We are going to take down or re-point every piece. Luckily it's in pretty good shape." The scale of the restoration work is fast becoming apparent.

The old station had a range of public facilities split between the sexes, reflecting the social mores of the time.

"On the women's side there was a tea room and rest room at the eastern end of the building," Bardelli says.

"At the western end there was the men's reading room, tea room and so on. There was a large restaurant and areas for shops."

The plan is that a good part of the restored building will again be public space. For the moment, though, the building is an empty shell, stripped by vandals of anything that could be removed.

Michigan Central still has a place in many Detroiters' hearts. As soon as plans were announced to renovate the station, local people began to return fixtures and artefacts which had found their way elsewhere.

In one case an anonymous caller rang to say that he had left a large station clock in an abandoned location, and that Ford needed to send somebody over to recover it quickly. That clock was once mounted on the covered roof over the carriage entrance.

This prompted the company to put out a call for any other objects or artefacts to be returned - no questions asked. In came a variety of items - door plates, elevator call buttons, office lamps, ornate staircase finials, even old fire extinguishers.

Every item that has been returned has a story. Joe Mifsud - local businessman and entrepreneur - is co-owner of a new restaurant, The Cork and Gabel on Michigan Avenue. You can see the front of the station building from its doorway.

For some years he has been buying lots in the area and on one he found a huge piece of masonry.

"I guessed it was a drinking fountain," he says. "I knew it had to have come from the station. It just got moved around on a pallet for years as we bought up the rest of the property. It just shuffled from one space to the next."

When he heard about Ford's purchase of the building he rang them and they said: "Please, bring it over."

Mifsud is a local, a third-generation Corktown native. He remembers "skating" on the station's highly polished floor as a boy.

Mifsud began developing businesses in the area some 13 years ago. He accepts that at the time things were pretty grim. When he purchased his restaurant building (it used to be an old doughnut factory), it was abandoned with no doors and windows.

So what prompted him to take the risk? "We're on a major artery, Michigan Avenue," he says. "It's close to downtown Detroit. I just thought it had to come back. And we're so close to the heart of the city that it would come our way. And thank goodness it did."

Bill Ford, the executive chairman of Ford Motor Company and great-grandson of Henry Ford, remembers the Detroit of his youth: "Everything I did... was in the city - my barber, my doctor, my dentist, [where] I bought my clothes. The city was where everything happened."

Re-purposing the station is in one sense going back to his famous family's roots. Corktown, not surprisingly, derives its name from the fact that it was settled by Irish immigrants from County Cork. That too is where the Ford family has its origins.

But this is a move driven by judgement as much as sentiment. "The decay of the train station was a symbol for the decay of Detroit," says Ford. "I would drive by this train station on a very frequent basis and it always really bothered me - there was so much that was positive starting to take place in the city. But this was always sitting there as a reminder, the past was always looming."

He was determined that if there was ever a chance to do something with the building he would step in. And the profound changes in the automobile industry provided just such an opportunity.

Fewer young people are getting driving licences, patterns of car ownership are changing. Not far ahead the prospect of autonomous vehicles and electric propulsion looms large.

"Our future was looking very different," he says. "Ford needed to attract talent from all around the world."

He devised a plan to purchase not just Michigan Central, but other buildings in the Corktown area, and build what he calls "a mobility campus".

"We are going to create a neighbourhood where we can test out a lot of the new ideas."

The aim is to develop an attractive environment akin to the high-tech campuses of Silicon Valley in California.

One of Detroit's leading industry analysts, Michelle Krebs, agrees with Ford that the company's future cannot simply be in building cars: "In the future the money will be made in the services around the car."

However, she says that this brings fresh challenges for Ford and its competitors: "Before, they all competed against each other. Now they're competing not just against each other but also against technology companies."

The new campus will employ 2,500 Ford workers along with a similar number from partner companies. Throughout Corktown there could be several thousand more jobs linked to the project in one way or another.

Pamela Alexander, the director of community development for Ford's philanthropic arm, the Motor Company Fund, is keen to stress what she says is the company's long-standing commitment to the area.

It is investing in training and affordable housing. A newsletter goes out to all local households. "Ford was listening to the community," she says, "even before the announcement of the terminal project."

Ford mounted a Halloween party at the station last year (this is a city, she points out, where in many areas it is not safe for kids to go out and trick-or-treat). There was also a Winter Fest over nine evenings with refreshments and a light show on the station building.

Ford is making all the right noises. But change inevitably means disruption and there are all sorts of concerns among the local community.

Tricia Talley is is uneasy with the phrase "rebirth of Detroit". There were always people here, she says. "The 'rebirth' is mainly about white people coming back to the centre of the city."

As president of the North Corktown Neighbourhood Association (NCNA), she was initially excited at news of the Ford project. But she remains concerned that not enough jobs will go to Corktown residents - "the people who stayed and weathered the storm".

Talley first came to the area in 2006. At that time much of North Corktown was empty. As gentrification slowly got under way, young white people began moving in - "urban pioneers" as she calls them, just a touch ironically. "We even got bike lanes," she says.

The trendy new hotel restaurant in which she's sitting is itself a small example of the change in the neighbourhood. A decade or so ago the building was a dive, renting out rooms in three-hour blocks and infamously providing vending machines dispensing lighters, condoms and women's underwear.

Sitting with Talley is Rhonda Greene, another Corktown resident on the NCNA's board. She says she also has mixed feelings about the project. "If that building comes back to life," she tells me, "then the Corktown area too will come back to life. We wanted the city's attention," she says. However, she worries that Ford's "louder voice" may drown out those of local people.

Both women agree that there must be no false dawn. But as Greene notes sadly, "we are used to being disappointed."

House prices are certainly going up. Local estate agents Ryan Cooley and Lauren Bruyninga have been watching the changes to the area for more than a decade. Cooley says about 80% of their business is now residential property. In 2008 the average sales price was about $35,000. In 2018, it was $250,000.

Bruyninga says when she first came to Detroit, "people would come downtown to work and then five o'clock would happen, and the whole city would be dead - I mean desolate, scary, quiet. But now you see the downtown is developed - it's pushing to the outskirts - and hopefully it will push out to the neighbourhoods as well."

Local councillor Raquel Castaneda-Lopez represents District 6, encompassing Corktown, North Corktown and the surrounding neighbourhoods that will be affected by the Ford project.

Castaneda-Lopez was happy that Ford bought Michigan Central because the property had been blighted for many years.

But she worries about over-reliance upon Ford. "Part of the reason Detroit is in the condition it is," she explains, "is because we depended solely upon the automobile industry to build us up. And then as the auto industry moved out and left the city there was a lot of decay."

She resists the notion that Ford is "saving" Corktown, pointing to the small-business owners on Michigan Avenue's commercial quarter who stuck it out and contributed to the area's resurgence.

"Ultimately," she says, "it's the small businesses that tend to employ locally and have a more significant impact on local economies."

Ford is receiving large tax incentives from Detroit in return for investing locally. The figures are complicated but some estimates say the company is getting an initial package of tax breaks of up to $207m, in return for investing $738m across its five Corktown sites.

"We really are doing this for our future," Bill Ford insists. "This isn't a tax play. If we had never showed up those revenues would never have come to these neighbourhoods. Anywhere we go and build a facility, the local community works with us. That's true in America. That's true anywhere in the world."

Ten minutes by car from Michigan Central, the Detroit Institute of Arts provides a similar parable of the city's rise and fall.

Housed in a grand building on Woodward Avenue (just across the road from an equally grand public library), the institute, like Michigan Central, evokes the high point of Detroit's success.

It has one of the most extensive art collections in the United States - one that would grace any capital city in the world. But then at one time Detroit was richer than any capital city.

Highlights of the institute include a variety of Dutch Masters including a Rembrandt. But one of its most famous treasures is inextricably linked to the auto industry.

The Detroit Industry Murals were painted between 1932 and 1933 by the great Mexican artist Diego Rivera (husband to the artist Frida Kahlo).

These massive artworks were commissioned directly for the institute, and they depict car manufacturing at the Ford company's River Rouge plant.

There are two main frescoes on the north and south walls. One shows the assembly of V8 engine blocks, while the other depicts completed transmissions rolling along the production line.

Henry Ford's son, Edsel (Bill's grandfather) contributed $20,000 to help defray the costs of the project. He is depicted at the right-hand side of one of the panels.

Few cities in modern times have seen a downturn in fortune as spectacular as Detroit. Urban blight and decay are not unusual. But the scale and scope of what happened to Detroit are.

Well within living memory, the population of the city has collapsed. From more than 1.8 million in 1950, it stood at a little over 700,000 by 2010. And with the collapse in population came a collapse in local tax income. Increasingly the city could not pay for itself or the basic services that its remaining residents needed.

In 2013 the emergency manager appointed to run the city's affairs was looking for assets that could be liquidated, and floated the idea of selling many of the institute's artworks - "just like the furniture out of an office building", according to local art historian Jeffrey Abt.

Eventually, what Abt describes as a "grand bargain" was reached and the 2,800 artworks earmarked for sale (worth a total of between $750-$800m) remain in the institute's collection.

While a price can be put on artworks, it is almost impossible to calculate the human cost of Detroit's decline.

It was in effect depopulated. Tens of thousands of buildings were empty and abandoned. Detroit became a city with a failing heart and a poor, mainly black, population. It was surrounded by more affluent, often white suburbs, with little interest in the goings-on at City Hall.

This was the city I first visited some 20 years ago.

I know enough history to know that nothing is final... [Detroit] will go through its ups and downs
Lowell Boileau, artist and archivist

Downtown was bleak and forbidding. It is the only city I have ever seen with abandoned skyscrapers. At night it was dark and dangerous. In the neighbourhoods surrounding the city, many streets looked like war-zones.

Every third or fourth house was either burnt out or an empty lot. Those that remained were dilapidated and forlorn. Whole blocks of streets had been abandoned, and grass was growing through the foundations creating urban prairies.

There wasn't much in the way of a tourist industry in Detroit. Visitors might come to see the home of the Motown music phenomenon. Otherwise, it seemed that there was only abandonment and ruins - grand names from the past such as the once swanky Book-Cadillac Hotel, or slowly collapsing factories like the Packard Plant and the Fisher Body Plant 21.

Lowell Boileau - artist, enthusiast for Detroit's future and my guide on successive visits to the city, established a website to commemorate many of these great old buildings. He called it The Fabulous Ruins of Detroit. Over them all - sentinel-like - stood the crumbling edifice of Michigan Central.

Boileau says he was delighted by Ford's purchase of the station. Downtown Detroit had been undergoing a resurgence, but there was still "this huge ruin of a building, made worse by the fact that there were no other buildings around it - a symbol of the city's failure".

Detroit was a city beyond crisis. Even today there are still vast numbers of empty lots and abandoned areas.

Lowell is sanguine about the city's long-term prospects.

"I don't know what the future will hold," he says. "But this is the pounding heart of Detroit, the historical centre of the city and you have to have a healthy heart before those limbs out there can prosper.

"Visitors now come to Detroit and suddenly they are not seeing abandoned buildings in the centre of the city. They're seeing a vibrant happening place, with these beautiful 1920s-era buildings glistening again."

Boileau rhapsodises about his home city: "I know that Jerusalem has been destroyed many times. I know Rome has been sacked. I know cities go through cycles and Detroit has similarly gone through that.

"I know enough history," he says, "to know that nothing is final. It will go through its ups and downs."

When the final train left and the station closed its doors in 1988 the local newspaper - the Detroit Free Press - tried to put this sombre moment into a wider context. "The shutdown of Michigan Central," it declared, "should be the occasion of serious reflection about what we once were; what we have lost; and what, given sufficient will, we could regain."

So, might the trains ever come back to Michigan Central one day? Bill Ford does not rule this out completely.

"Right now, the tracks stop about a mile short of the station. But yes, I would love the trains to come back.

"Obviously," he adds, "that's not within Ford's control but we're already starting to talk to some of the regional transportation people about just that. It's very early days, but I think it would be wonderful."

Ten minutes by car from Michigan Central, the Detroit Institute of Arts provides a similar parable of the city's rise and fall.

Housed in a grand building on Woodward Avenue (just across the road from an equally grand public library), the institute, like Michigan Central, evokes the high-point of Detroit's success.

It has one of the most extensive art collections in the United States - one that would grace any capital city in the world. But then at one time Detroit was richer than any capital city.

Highlights of the institute include a variety of Dutch Masters including a Rembrandt. But one of its most famous treasures is inextricably linked to the auto industry.

The Detroit Industry Murals were painted between 1932 and 1933 by the great Mexican artist Diego Rivera (husband to the artist Frida Kahlo).

These massive artworks were commissioned directly for the institute, and they depict car manufacturing at the Ford company's River Rouge plant.

There are two main frescoes on the north and south walls. One depicts the assembly of V8 engine blocks, while the other shows completed transmissions rolling along the production line.

Henry Ford's son, Edsel Ford (Bill's grandfather) contributed $20,000 to help defray the costs of the project. He is depicted at the right-hand side of one of the panels.

Few cities in modern times have seen a downturn in fortune as spectacular as Detroit. Urban blight and decay are not unusual. But the scale and scope of what happened to Detroit are.

Well within living memory, the population of the city has collapsed. From more than 1.8 million in 1950, it stood at a little over 700,000 by 2010. And with the collapse in population came a collapse in local tax income. Increasingly the city could not pay for itself or the basic services that its remaining residents needed.

In 2013 the emergency manager appointed to run the city's affairs was looking for assets that could be liquidated, and floated the idea of selling many of the institute's artworks - "just like the furniture out of an office building", according to local art historian Jeffrey Abt.

Eventually, what Abt describes as a "grand bargain" was reached and the 2,800 artworks earmarked for sale (worth a total of between $750-$800m) remain in the institute's collection.

While a price can be put on artworks, it is almost impossible to calculate the human cost of Detroit's decline.

It was in effect depopulated. Tens of thousands of buildings were empty and abandoned. Detroit became a city with a failing heart and a poor, mainly black, population. It was surrounded by more affluent, often white suburbs, with little interest in the goings-on at City Hall.

This was the city I first visited some 20 years ago.

Downtown was bleak and forbidding. It is the only city I have ever seen with abandoned sky-scrapers. At night it was dark and dangerous. In the neighbourhoods surrounding the city, many streets looked like war-zones.

Every third or fourth house was either burnt out or an empty lot. Those that remained were dilapidated and forlorn. Whole blocks of streets had been abandoned, and grass was growing through the foundations creating urban prairies.

There wasn't much in the way of a tourist industry in Detroit. Visitors might come to see the home of the Motown music phenomenon. Otherwise, it seemed that there was only abandonment and ruins - grand names from the past such as the once swanky Book-Cadillac Hotel, or slowly collapsing factories like the Packard Plant and the Fisher Body Plant 21.

Lowell Boileau - artist, enthusiast for Detroit's future and my guide on successive visits to the city - established a website to commemorate many of these great old buildings. He called it The Fabulous Ruins of Detroit. Over them all - sentinel-like - stood the crumbling edifice of Michigan Central.

Boileau says he was delighted by Ford's purchase of the station. Downtown Detroit had been undergoing a resurgence, but there was still "this huge ruin of a building, made worse by the fact that there were no other buildings around it - a symbol of the city's failure".

Detroit was a city beyond crisis. Even today there are still vast numbers of empty lots and abandoned areas.

Lowell is sanguine about the city's long-term prospects.

"I don't know what the future will hold," he says. "But this is the pounding heart of Detroit, the historical centre of the city and you have to have a healthy heart before those limbs out there can prosper.

"Visitors now come to Detroit and suddenly they are not seeing abandoned buildings in the centre of the city. They're seeing a vibrant happening place, with these beautiful 1920s-era buildings glistening again."

Boileau rhapsodises about his home city: "I know that Jerusalem has been destroyed many times. I know Rome has been sacked. I know cities go through cycles and Detroit has similarly gone through that.

"I know enough history," he says, "to know that nothing is final. It will go through its ups and downs."

When the final train left and the station closed its doors in 1988 the local newspaper - the Detroit Free Press - tried to put this sombre moment into a wider context. "The shutdown of Michigan Central," it declared, "should be the occasion of serious reflection about what we once were; what we have lost; and what, given sufficient will, we could regain."

So, might the trains ever come back to Michigan Central one day? Bill Ford does not rule this out completely.

"Right now, the tracks stop about a mile short of the station. But yes, I would love the trains to come back.

"Obviously," he adds, "that's not within Ford's control but we're already starting to talk to some of the regional transportation people about just that. It's very early days, but I think it would be wonderful."

Author: Jonathan Marcus

Photography: Ryan Southen

Additional photography: Getty Images, Alamy, EPA, Ford Media, Wayne State University Archive, Jonathan Marcus, Detroit Public Library

Produced and edited by Ben Milne

Publication date: 11 July 2019

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Michigan Central and the rebirth of Detroit

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Rick Novasky has never forgotten the day back in the 1980s when he was working a shift in the ticket office at Detroit's Michigan Central Station. "A gentleman walked up to the ticket window with tears rolling down his cheeks," he says. "I asked him if he needed help.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
London could feel as hot as Barcelona by 2050, with Edinburgh's climate more like Paris, Leeds feeling like Melbourne and Cardiff like Montevideo.

That's from a study looking at how a 2C temperature increase could change the world's 520 major cities.

And that's not as good as it might sound.

More than a fifth, including Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, will experience conditions big cities haven't seen before, the Crowther Lab says.

London could suffer from the type of extreme drought that hit Barcelona in 2008 - when it was forced to import drinking water from France at a cost of £20 million.

The 2C rise by 2050 is comparing the present day to what temperatures were in the "pre-industrial period" - usually considered to be between the years 1850 and 1900 - when fossil-fuel burning hadn't yet changed the climate.

That temperature increase would result in the average UK temperature during summer's hottest month increasing by about six degrees to 27C.

Scientists hope pairing up cities will help people visualise the impact climate change could have within their own lifetimes.

"History has repeatedly shown us that data and facts alone do not inspire humans to change their beliefs or act," lead author Jean-Francois Bastin said.

The study, published in the journal PLOS One, suggests summers and winters in Europe will get warmer, with average increases of 3.5C and 4.7C respectively.

It's the equivalent to a city shifting 620 miles (1,000km) further south - with those furthest away from the equator being most affected.

Will the world really get 2C warmer?

Governments around the world have pledged to limit rising temperatures to 1.5C by 2050.

The global temperature has already increased by 1C above pre-industrial levels, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says.

And at the current rate of warming - 0.2C per decade - global warming will reach 1.5C between 2030 and 2052.

The UN body has warned that exceeding 1.5C warming will push us into "a highly uncertain world" - adding that "the current global commitments are not sufficient to prevent temperature rise above 2C, let alone 1.5C".

It estimates that under current national commitments, average temperature increases will range from 2.9C to 3.4C by 2100.

To keep us below 1.5C, the panel says carbon emissions need to be cut by 45% by 2030, and reach net zero by 2050.

'Outside of human experience'

So this study's projections are actually quite optimistic, imagining a future where action has been taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Its authors worked from a scenario where emissions peak in 2040 and then begin to decline.

The report predicts that three quarters of the world's major cities will experience dramatic climate shifts under those conditions.

"This study helps to put climate change in the context of human experience - and more importantly, shows that many places will see entirely new climates that are outside of current human experience," said Professor Richard Betts, from the Met Office Hadley Centre, who was commenting on the study.

The University of Reading's Professor Mike Lockwood warned about the damage that could be done to infrastructure.

"Bringing Barcelona's climate to London sounds like it could be a good thing - if you don't suffer from asthma or have a heart condition, that is - except London clay shrinks and is brittle if it gets too dry and then swells and expands when very wet.

"As ever, there is destructive and unforeseen devil in the details of climate change."

Europe has experienced extremes already this summer, with two months' worth of rainfall falling in a day in some parts of the UK, followed by a heatwave made five times more likely because of climate change.

Professor Gabi Hegerl, from the University of Edinburgh, said this study "doesn't capture individual events like unprecedented heatwaves, droughts and heavy rainfall or flooding".

She added: "Also, sea level rise will add to the difficulties faced by many of these cities."

It's not good news - but it's important not to feel overwhelmed by the scale of the climate crisis.

And if you do feel a bit anxious about the future, here are some tips on being a bit more eco-friendly in every day life.

Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
London 'to be as hot as Barcelona by 2050'

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
London could feel as hot as Barcelona by 2050, with Edinburgh's climate more like Paris, Leeds feeling like Melbourne and Cardiff like Montevideo. That's from a study looking at how a 2C temperature increase could change the world's 520 major cities. And that's not as good as it might sound.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Thousands of people living on the coast could see the value of their homes fall as the Welsh government agrees to stop defending some properties from the sea.

Defences in 48 areas will no longer be maintained putting 1,300 homes at risk of being lost.

Homeowners say the plan will have a "disastrous impact" and will leave them unable to sell their homes.

Natural Resources Minister Carl Sargeant said some residents could be relocated.

BBC Wales' Week In Week Out programme has found that shoreline management plans for affected areas shows homeowners might be unaware of the risks and the impact the plan will have on the value of their property.

Fairbourne in Gwynedd has already seen a significant drop in house values since the programme revealed in February that 420 homes could be lost in the village by 2055.

The council said it can maintain defences for 40 years, but Week in Week Out has been told that people wanting to buy in the village cannot get mortgages as companies want security for 60 years.

Huw Gosling, who lives in one of 30 seafront homes at risk in Newton, Porthcawl, said he knew nothing of the plans to stop defending homes before he was contacted by BBC Wales.

"That's worrying because the effect that would have on our houses would obviously be quite disastrous as far as we're concerned," he said.

"I would imagine the next stage would be the houses would be unsalable and eventually fall over."

Coastal communities in numbers

Bridgend council said it had followed communication guidelines and would work with those affected.

Senior coastal engineer Greg Guthrie, who wrote the shoreline plan for Cardigan Bay, Anglesey and Gwynedd, said it would be "daft" to continue to defend some areas and to do so could cause future problems.

Chartered surveyor Philip Wilbourn, who has advised the UK government on the issue, said any plan which states seaside properties will not be defended was bound to have an impact on house prices.

Natural Resources Minister Carl Sargeant said it would be difficult to justify the spending needed to defend some areas in future.

Asked if those affected would be compensated, he said each case would have to be examined individually.

"It might be a cheaper option to support a community to move on," he said.
Week in Week Out is on BBC One Wales, Tuesday, 28 October at 22:35 GMT.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Thousands of people living on the coast could see the value of their homes fall as the Welsh government agrees to stop defending some properties from the sea. Defences in 48 areas will no longer be maintained putting 1,300 homes at risk of being lost.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A brand image generates a unique set of ideas, feelings and attitudes in people. To remain competitive, large companies sometimes alter or completely replace their images and relaunch themselves as fresh corporate brands. Similarly, competition between urban places to attract new investment, tourists and residents has led many areas to establish completely new brand identities.

International events are often used by urban areas to create a new place image and act as a catalyst or process for fresh development and change. Barcelona has a history of reinventing itself using events dating back to 1888. The Universal Exhibition was held in Ciutadella, today the largest park in Barcelona, an oasis of leisure and culture in the centre of a busy city. Its 1929 World Exhibition is todayâ€™s main exhibition centre in PlaÃ§a EspaÃ±a. The 1992 Olympic Games changed the whole concept of a city which previously lived with its back to the sea and its legacy has been a successful and enduring 'Barcelona Olympic City' brand.

Rebranding an area can help people become aware of the existence of new place products such the beaches constructed for Barcelona's Olympics. Urban localities may be regarded as 'products' in the sense that they provide labour, land, premises and industrial infrastructures to businesses, housing, shopping, leisure and other amenities to residents, while offering cultural and heritage products to tourists.

Rebranding can also address the issue of 'MacDonaldisation' common in tourist destinations, and help differentiate an area from other places. The promotion of an urban place as a product will be enhanced, giving it a substantial competitive edge.

Rebranding helps to discard negative imagery connected with an industrial heritage. Old industrial centres are frequently defined in the media by severe economic and social deprivation, homelessness, high levels of crime, vandalism, public disorder, pollution and a lack of civic amenities. As a consequence, they have increasingly needed to reposition themselves as centres of leisure and amenity rather than of production and heavy industry.

Rebranding, carefully planned, can help engender civic pride. Barcelona used its 1992 Olympic Games to generate city-wide development. The process was presented as a 'one city' exercise in that it offered something to everyone, and was an effective means of uniting a city around a public project. Decisions relating to Olympic development were taken at all levels, creating a sense of local ownership and helping to re-assert Catalan pride and identity.

Barcelona has also added a new verb to the Spanish language to highlight changes in the character of its once infamous inner city Raval district. The aim is to attract new visitors to the district, create pride of belonging amongst its residents and help develop a new brand image for the neighbourhood.

Rebranding: simply add a new verb to the language

The Barcelona City Council wants to improve the perception of one of its most marginal and insecure inner city districts: the Raval. The campaign seeks to project a more cohesive image of the neighbourhood but without losing its characteristic identity and personality.

El Raval: Ravalejar

Ravalejar

Urban Regeneration and Re-imaging District Rebranding
An increasingly common practice is for a cityâ€™s authorities to attach a fresh brand identity to a particular locality within the city, especially when the area has been redeveloped so extensively that its basic character has changed. Many inner city districts of 'industrial' cities went into decline in the 1960s and 70s, resulting in high levels of economic and social deprivation. Often the people who continued to reside in these districts were unskilled and unemployed. Government policy both in Western Europe and North America has been to enhance the attractiveness of depressed inner city areas by stimulating both business investment and the inflow of new residents.

There are many examples of district rebranding within urban conurbations. For instance, plans were proposed in 2002 to transform Londonâ€™s Bishopsgate Goodsyard area into the 'Covent Garden of the East End', with a raised 'park in the sky' alongside 'green paths and modern amenities'. Controversy surrounded the development, however, as the district was the centre of one of Britainâ€™s largest Bangladeshi communities and housed a local market and many small ethnic-minority owned businesses. Another example of district rebranding was the 1996 'Londonâ€™s Wild' campaign which attempted to rebrand some of Londonâ€™s central tourist areas as vibrant and exciting, with a 24-hours a day night-life and culture (rather than their being traditional historical places dominated by museums and art galleries).

The modern approach to district rebranding is to try to make a location a desirable place in which to live (as well as to invest and develop industrial activity) and one that outsiders will want to visit for social and recreational purposes and in order to shop and spend money. Hence an urban regeneration programme might devote as much attention to removing graffiti, laying flower beds and refurbishing facades as it does to the conversion of old warehouses into cheap business premises. The availability of parks, libraries, swimming pools, theatres and museums may be deemed as important as the creation as new manufacturing premises, car parks and convention centers.

Although the marketing of an area cannot of itself physically improve the district it is undoubtedly the case that, in the words of Hultink and Hart (1998), 'the world will not automatically beat a path to the door of a better mousetrap'. Rather, the advantages of new developments must be communicated forcefully and meaningfully to the public. Successful urban regeneration can only be achieved when people become aware of the existence of new place products and recognize that they possess real benefits. This implies a critical role for the marketing function during the process of rebranding.
The Problems Involved
Urban regeneration typically involves the rebranding of the area concerned and can fundamentally change the character of a district. This may be highly controversial because the changes involved might result in the importation of financially well off residents, business infrastructures, and cultural and leisure facilities more suited to better off people than to poorer pre-existing inhabitants (who might be driven out by rising property prices and rents).

A brand image suitable for one group of stakeholders (business investors for instance) may be inappropriate for others (e.g. pre-existing residents). Ideally, the brand assigned to a place will reflect its attributes, characteristics and core identity. In many cases, however, the area that is to be rebranded will have a history of social and economic problems and may be extremely diverse in terms of local residents' ethnicity, social class, culture, lifestyle, income levels and types of employment. There need be no unity of purpose among resident groups, each of which may perceive the 'city product' differently. Consequently it might be difficult to develop a brand that convinces everyone, from local citizens to potential foreign investors.

Pre-existing residents of a community may want its brand image to project the districtâ€™s local distinctiveness and the aspirations and cultures of current inhabitants. Urban development agencies, conversely, may seek to establish place brands grounded purely on commercial advantages, e.g. the availability of cheap labour, government incentives, low costs, ancillary business services, technology infrastructures, and an areaâ€™s international links and orientation. Such messages may have little meaning for local residents.

Urban development authorities may well be taking decisions about which groups they wish to attract from outside and which preexisting categories of resident they want to retain and nurture. Many urban places have multiple stakeholders (old and new residents, business investors, retailers, domestic and foreign visitors, owners of sporting and leisure venues, etc.) and conflicts among them may occur. The UK Department of the Environment (1998) reported 'continuous warfare' between local residents and business interests over proposals for the redevelopment (and by implication the rebranding) of certain districts in several English cities and noted how 'resident communities' did not always experience the benefits of regeneration programmes as much as newcomers, tourists, visitors, and others from outside.

The challenge for the marketing manager is therefore to merge multiple identities within a specific location into a concise and easily understood brand which appeals to business investors and tourists but without compromising urban local culture and the distinct pre-existing characteristics of the area.
The Process of rebranding
The main steps in rebranding comprise name creation and registration, the design of a logo and associated visual image, market research, and advertising. More fundamentally, rebranding might be seen either as a tactical issue whereby the new brand is operationally attached to the place product, or as an important strategic matter in which all the processes of the urban development authority revolve around the construction and development of the new brand.
The 'new look' Raval: an urban rebranding success?
Source: The Rebranding of City Places, Roger Bennett and Sharmila Savani 2003.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Urban Rebranding: the reinvention of city places

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A brand image generates a unique set of ideas, feelings and attitudes in people. To remain competitive, large companies sometimes alter or completely replace their images and relaunch themselves as fresh corporate brands. Similarly, competition between urban places to attract new investment, tourists and residents has led many areas to establish completely new brand identities.

# data[].attributes.body
Conceptual Model of Retail Development

# data[].attributes.body
Geography of crime/fear

# data[].attributes.body
Sense of place (article)

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.geog.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/users/jagnew/416.pdf

# data[].attributes.body
Management of coastal erosion (academic article)

# data[].attributes.body
Coastal flooding and erosion risk in Wales

# data[].attributes.body
Where is protected in coastal wales ?

# data[].attributes.body
Coastal management in Wales (Government policy) p84 onwards

# data[].attributes.body
Living with coastal change in Wales

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Learn about the National Trusts approach to coastal adaptation in Wales

# data[].attributes.body
Sand dunes face challenges across Western Europe

# data[].attributes.body
Sand dunes Methry Mawr SMP report (p43)

# data[].attributes.body
Protect Merthyr mawr?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Sand dunes that were used in the film Lawrence of Arabia are set to be protected as part of a new two-year project.

The dunes in Merthyr Mawr stretch across 840 acres and are the second highest sand dune in Europe.

They will be enhanced by Bridgend Council, alongside those found in Kenfig.

It will involve increasing biodiversity, improving habitats, restoring some paths and boundaries.

The project has received £312,541 from Welsh Government and European funding.

Kenfig and Merthyr Mawr were once joined together as part of one belt of sand that ran all the way from the Ogmore Estuary to the Gower Peninsula.

They are now separated by Porthcawl, two golf courses and established farmland.

Councillor Charles Smith said: "Sand dunes are listed as one of the habitats most at risk in Europe, with many becoming smothered by thick vegetation and invasive scrub in recent decades."

He said the project would allow further conservation work "to help the dunes remain as shifting sandy habitats with a mixture of open sand, pools of water and varied vegetation".

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Merthyr Mawr and Kenfig sand dunes set to be protected

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Sand dunes that were used in the film Lawrence of Arabia are set to be protected as part of a new two-year project. The dunes in Merthyr Mawr stretch across 840 acres and are the second highest sand dune in Europe. They will be enhanced by Bridgend Council, alongside those found in Kenfig.

# data[].attributes.body
Muamel : should we protect Methyr Mawr sand dunes?

# data[].attributes.body
Porthcawl coastal development plan

# data[].attributes.body
Sand dunes Wales

# data[].attributes.body
A new exhibition in Wembley Park with historical images and videos.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Wembley Park welcomes Getty Images Gallery

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Wembley Park, North West London's world-famous cultural neighbourhood, is delighted to announce Getty Images Gallery's first exhibition.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Greenhouse gas emissions in the UK will be cut to almost zero by 2050, under the terms of a new government plan to tackle climate change.

Prime Minister Theresa May said there was a "moral duty to leave this world in a better condition than what we inherited".

Cutting emissions would benefit public health and cut NHS costs, she said.

Britain is the first major nation to propose this target - and it has been widely praised by green groups.

But some say the phase-out is too late to protect the climate, and others fear that the task is impossible.

The UK already has a 2050 target - to reduce emissions by 80%. That was agreed by MPs under the Climate Change Act in 2008, but will now be amended to the new, much tougher, goal.

The actual terminology used by the government is "net zero" greenhouse gases by 2050.

That means emissions from homes, transport, farming and industry will have to be avoided completely or - in the most difficult examples - offset by planting trees or sucking CO2 out of the atmosphere.

Its report said if other countries followed the UK, there was a 50-50 chance of staying below the recommended 1.5C temperature rise by 2100.

A 1.5C rise is considered the threshold for dangerous climate change.

"All eyes will now turn on the rest of the EU to match this pledge."

Theresa May said the UK led the world to wealth through fossil fuels in the industrial revolution, so it was appropriate for Britain to lead in the opposite direction.

"We have made huge progress in growing our economy and the jobs market while slashing emissions," she said.

"Now is the time to go further and faster to safeguard the environment for our children. We must lead the world to a cleaner, greener form of growth."

Number 10 said it was "imperative" other countries followed suit, so there would be a review within five years to ensure other nations were taking similarly ambitious action and British industries were not facing unfair competition.

Northern Ireland is the only devolved administration which does not have its own climate change legislation and emissions targets.

How will it affect people?

If ministers decided to clamp down on meat-eating or on flying, that would meet serious opposition.

But the government will attempt to make the clean revolution as painless as possible. Technology improvements like LED light bulbs, for instance, save emissions without people noticing.

The same is true if people get hydrogen central heating instead of gas, or if they are obliged to drive electric cars rather than petrol vehicles.

But there will need to be a massive investment in clean energy generation - and that has to be funded by someone.

The government hasn't yet spelled out if the cost will fall on bill-payers, or tax-payers, or the fossil fuel firms that have caused climate change.

And then there's the international dimension. Prof Dieter Helm, from the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University, said: "From the UK's end, doing this unilaterally, we have to be very careful that we don't simply say: 'we're going to reduce the emissions from our cars and our power stations here in Britain, but we're going to carry on importing those emissions from overseas.'

"We don't make very much in this country. Manufacturing is only 20% of the economy. Most of the stuff that you go and buy in the supermarket... it's all imported."

What will this cost?

The cash will have to come from somewhere, he said - maybe from schools, hospitals and the police.

However, Chris Skidmore, the acting energy minister, said the costs would amount to between 1 and 2% of the UK's GDP - which was the same amount factored in to reach the previous 80% reduction target. Therefore it would not be the case that there would be less money to spend elsewhere, he said.

He added that the green economy would generate jobs and the cost of green technologies was coming down all the time.

The climate change contrarian Bjorn Lomborg, author of Skeptical Environmentalist, said: "Mr Hammond is right to highlight the cost - and in fact, he is likely to be underestimating the real price tag."

Campaigners said Mr Hammond's sums did not take into account the benefits of cleaner air and a more stable climate.

Will the proposal stick?

Following the Committee on Climate Change's recommendations last month, scientists, campaigners and health professionals have been urging Mrs May to bring in a net zero target before she stands down.

The government will lay a "statutory instrument" in the Commons on Wednesday - a tactic that allows it to be fast-tracked through both houses of Parliament if other parties agree - which on this issue they generally do.

Like any government decision it could be overturned by future governments.

But the majority of Tory leadership candidates are backing it - and revoking the Act would need a majority Commons vote at a time when the public appear very concerned about the climate.

Mrs May has taken the unusual step of announcing that a group of young people will advise the government on priorities for environmental action. They will start their review in July.

This is seen as a nod towards young voters, many of whom have recently taken to the streets protesting that their environment was being destroyed.

What other problems stand in the way?

The magnitude of the task is clear. The UK is already slipping away from its mid-term carbon targets of cutting emissions by 80% by 2050.

"Achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions is necessary, feasible and cost-effective," said professor Phil Taylor, head of engineering at Newcastle University.

"But UK policy is still way off the mark and the foundations are not in place to be able to meet this target.

"Even with all the evidence before us we are still opening new coal mines, extending Heathrow airport and pushing forward with fracking.

"We have unambitious building regulations, and our drive to phase out petrol and diesel cars by 2040 is too late."

Dr Shaun Fitzgerald, director of the Royal Institution, warned that the public might not support carbon-cutting measures such as turning down thermostats in the home.

And he questioned the ability of the government to insulate enough houses in time. "The prize for improving the efficiency of buildings is significant," he said.

"However, there is a practical challenge in terms of the number of sufficient skilled workers to undertake the work, and then of course the barrier of getting homeowners to get the work done."

There will be major difficulties, too, in supplying low-carbon heating to homes and industries as natural gas is phased out.

Doug Parr, Greenpeace UK's chief scientist, said it was a "big moment" for the climate but there were questions around plans to allow for international carbon credits which allow the UK to pay to offset its emissions elsewhere in the world.

Such off-setting had a history of failure, was not cost-efficient and shifting the burden to developing nations undermined the commitment, he told the Guardian.

Chris Skidmore, the acting energy minister, said the government did not "intend" to use international carbon credits but had kept it "as an option". "We need to be able to decarbonise in the best possible way so we don't want to rule it out," he said.

Mrs May's announcement indicates that she has taken notice of potential industrial pitfalls.

To assuage Treasury fears about competitiveness, she has stipulated that the net zero policy should be reviewed in five years to see whether other nations were taking similar actions.

Meanwhile, the radical green group Extinction Rebellion is warning that the climate is changing so fast that 2050 is far too late to eliminate emissions in order to ensure that temperature rise stays well under 2C.

Interactive content: Upgrade your browser for the full experience. Alternatively, click here for a list of climate change terms and what they mean.

Climate change translator

What do all the terms mean?
Skip to main story

1.5 degrees

Keeping the rise in global average temperature below 1.5 degrees Celsius will avoid the worst impacts of climate change, scientists say. That's compared with 'pre-industrial' times. The world has already warmed about 1C since then.

2 degrees

The original target for limiting the rise in global average temperature. Recent research points to 1.5 degrees being a far safer limit.

3 degrees

The current likely rise in average global temperature by the year 2100 if countries keep their promises to cut emissions of greenhouse gases, which are driving climate change.

4 degrees

A prediction of the likely rise in average temperature by 2100 if no further action is taken. This would see major sea-level rise, with many coastal areas becoming uninhabitable, as well as regular severe heatwaves and massive disruption to agriculture.

Adaptation

An action that helps cope with the effects of climate change - for example building houses on stilts to protect from flooding, constructing barriers to hold back rising sea levels or growing crops which can survive high temperatures and drought.

AGW

Stands for 'Anthropogenic Global Warming', which means the rise in temperatures caused by human activity like the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil. This produces carbon dioxide and other so-called greenhouse gases, which trap heat in the atmosphere and cause the planet to become warmer. This is in addition to changes in the climate which happen because of natural processes.

Arctic ice

The Arctic Ocean freezes in winter and much of it then thaws in summer, and the area thawing has increased by 40% over the past few decades. The Arctic region is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet.

Attribution

Attribution is the process by which scientists try to explain whether climate change has made a particular weather event - like a heatwave - more likely.

Average temperature

The average temperature of the world is calculated with the help of temperature readings taken from weather stations, satellites and ships and buoys at sea. Currently it stands at 14.9C.

BECCS

Stands for 'Bio Energy with Carbon Capture and Storage'. It's the name for a system in which crops are grown (which draws in carbon dioxide from the air) and when they are burned to make electricity, carbon emissions are captured and then stored. Scientists see this is a key way to keep the lights on while not adding to global warming, but the technology is in its infancy.

Biofuel

A fuel derived from renewable, biological sources, including crops such as maize, palm oil and sugar cane, and some forms of agricultural waste.

Biomass

Biomass is plant or animal material used to produce energy or as raw materials for other products. The simplest example is cow dung; another is compressed wood pellets, which are now used in some power stations.

Carbon

Carbon is a chemical element which is sometimes described as a building block for all life on Earth because it is found in most plant and animal life. It is also found in fuels like petrol, coal and natural gas, and when burned, is emitted as a gas called carbon dioxide.

Carbon capture

The trapping and removal of carbon dioxide gas from the air. The gas can then be reused, or injected into deep underground reservoirs. Carbon capture is sometimes referred to as geological sequestration. The technology is currently in its infancy.

Carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide is a gas in the Earth's atmosphere. It occurs naturally and is also a by-product of human activities such as burning fossil fuels. It is the principal greenhouse gas produced by human activity.

Carbon footprint

The amount of carbon emitted by an individual or organisation in a given period of time, or the amount of carbon emitted during the manufacture of a product.

Carbon neutral

A process where there is no net release of carbon dioxide (CO2). For example, growing biomass takes CO2 out of the atmosphere, while burning it releases the gas again. The process would be carbon neutral if the amount taken out and the amount released were identical. A company or country can also achieve carbon neutrality by means of carbon offsetting. The phrase 'net zero' has the same meaning.

Carbon offsetting

Carbon offsetting is most commonly used in relation to air travel. It allows passengers to pay extra to help compensate for the carbon emissions produced from their flight. The money is then invested in environmental projects - like planting trees or installing solar panels - which reduce the carbon dioxide in the air by the same amount. Some activists have criticised carbon offsetting as an excuse to continue polluting, arguing that it does little to change behaviour.

Carbon sink

Anything which absorbs more carbon dioxide than it emits. In nature, the main carbon sinks are rainforests, oceans and soil.

CCU

Stands for 'Carbon Capture and Utilisation'. This consists of using technology to draw carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and turn it into products like biofuels and plastics.

Climate change

A pattern of change affecting global or regional climate, as measured by average temperature and rainfall, and how often extreme weather events like heatwaves or heavy rains happen. This variation may be caused by both natural processes and by humans. Global warming is an informal term used to describe climate change caused by humans.

Climate model

Climate models are computer simulations of how the atmosphere, oceans, land, plants and ice behave under various levels of greenhouse gases. This helps scientists come up with projections for what Earth will be like as global warming continues. The models do not produce exact predictions, but instead suggest ranges of possible outcomes.

Climate negotiations

Climate negotiations take place every year as the United Nations brings governments together to discuss action to stop climate change. The goal is usually a collective agreement to reduce carbon emissions by certain dates. The latest of these is the Paris Agreement of 2015 which set the targets of limiting warming to 2C or 1.5C if possible. Negotiations are always difficult because many countries are heavily dependent on fossil fuels and worry about the effects of any change on their economies.

CO2

Means carbon dioxide, a naturally occurring gas which is also a major product of human activity such as burning fossil fuels. Increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere means more heat is retained, causing the planet to warm up.

COP

Stands for 'Conference of the Parties'. It is the name for the annual UN negotiations on climate change under what is called the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (see UNFCCC). The aim is to prevent dangerous human interference with the climate.

Copenhagen

A UN climate summit was held in Copenhagen in 2009 which descended into acrimony and ended with countries only agreeing a non-binding accord that climate change was "one of the greatest challenges of the present day". The event is widely regarded as one of the least productive since climate negotiations began.

Coral bleaching

Coral bleaching refers the change in colour of coral reefs when the ocean temperature rises above a certain level, forcing the corals to eject the algae they normally co-exist with - this turns them white. Coral can recover if the water cools, but lasting damage can be done if it remains too hot.

Deforestation

The clearing of forests to make way for farming such as soy crops to feed livestock or palm oil for consumer products. This releases significant levels of carbon dioxide as trees are burned.

Deniers

Climate deniers believe that climate change is only taking place because of natural processes and that human activity has no role. They dispute the work of many thousands of experts around the world, whose research has been peer-reviewed and published and is based on research stretching back more than a century.

Emissions

Emissions are any release of gases such as carbon dioxide which cause global warming, a major cause of climate change. They can be small scale in the form of exhaust from a car or methane from a cow, or larger-scale such as those from coal-burning power stations and heavy industries.

Extreme weather

Extreme weather is any type of unusual, severe or unseasonal weather. Examples could be major heat waves, with temperature records broken, extended droughts as well as cold spells and heavier than usual rainfall. Scientists predict that extreme weather will become more common as the world becomes warmer.

Feedback loop

In a feedback loop, rising temperatures change the environment in ways that affect the rate of warming. Feedback loops can add to the rate of warming or reduce it. As the Arctic sea-ice melts, the surface changes from being a bright reflective white to a darker blue or green, which allows more of the Sun's rays to be absorbed. So less ice means more warming and more melting.

Fossil fuels

Fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas were formed when tiny plants and animals flourished in the ancient past, absorbing carbon from the atmosphere, before dying and being crushed over millions of years. When burned, they release carbon dioxide.

Geo-engineering

Geo-engineering is any technology which could be used to halt or even reverse climate change. Examples range from extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it underground, to more far-fetched ideas such as deploying vast mirrors in space to deflect the Sun's rays. Some scientists say geo-engineering may prove essential because not enough is being done to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Others warn that the technologies are unproven and could have unforeseen consequences.

Global temperature

Usually a reference to temperature averaged across the entire planet.

Global warming

The steady rise in global average temperature in recent decades, which experts say is mostly caused by human-produced greenhouse gas emissions. The long-term trend continues upwards with 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 being the warmest years on record.

Green energy

Green energy, sometimes called renewable energy, is generated from natural, replenishable sources. Examples are wind and solar power as well as biomass, made from compressed wood pellets.

Greenhouse gases

Natural and human-produced gases that trap heat in the atmosphere and warm the surface. The Kyoto Protocol restricts emissions of six greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, perfluorocarbons, hydrofluorocarbons, and sulphur hexafluoride.

Gulf Stream

The Gulf Stream is a warm ocean current which originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows up the east coast of the United States and across the Atlantic Ocean. Scientists believe Europe would be significantly cooler without it. There is a fear that the stream could be disrupted if rising temperatures melt more polar ice, bringing an influx of freshwater.

Hydrocarbon

A hydrocarbon is a substance consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. The major fossil fuels - coal, oil and gas - are hydrocarbons and as such, are the main source of emissions linked to climate change.

IPCC

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a scientific body established by the United Nations and the World Meteorological Organization. Its role is to examine and assess the latest scientific research into climate change. Its report in 2018 warned that the rise in global temperatures should be limited to 1.5C to avoid dangerous impacts.

Jetstream

A jetstream is a narrow band of fast-flowing air at high altitude which acts as major influence on the weather. Jetstreams could be disrupted by warming in polar regions, and this may make extreme weather like Europe's hot summer of 2018 more common.

Kyoto Protocol

A set of rules agreed at Kyoto in Japan in 1997, in which 84 developed countries agreed to reduce their combined emissions by 5.2% of their level in 1990.

Lukewarmers

A term used to describe people who believe that climate change is real, and being driven by human activity, but that its effects will not be as bad as predicted by scientists.

Methane

Methane is a gas which traps about 30 times more heat than carbon dioxide. It is produced by human activity from agriculture - cows emit large amounts - as well as waste dumps and leaks from coal mining. Methane is also emitted naturally from wetlands, termites and wildfires. One big concern is that carbon held in frozen ground in arctic regions will be released as methane as temperatures rise and the ground thaws. This could cause extra, unpredictable global warming.

Mitigation

Action that will reduce human-driven climate change. This includes reducing greenhouse gas emissions by switching to renewable power, or capturing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere by planting forests.

Net zero

A term used to describe any process where there is no net release of carbon dioxide (CO2). For example, growing biomass takes CO2 out of the atmosphere, while burning it releases the gas again. The process would be net zero if the amount taken out and the amount released were identical. A company or country can also achieve net zero by means of carbon offsetting. Net zero processes or manufactured items are sometimes also describbed as being 'carbon neutral'.

Ocean acidification

The ocean absorbs approximately a quarter of human produced carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, which helps to reduce the effect of climate change. However, when the CO2 dissolves in seawater, carbonic acid is formed. Carbon emissions from industry in the last 200 years have already begun to alter the chemistry of the world's oceans. If this trend continues, marine creatures will find it harder to build their shells and skeletal structures, and coral reefs will be killed off. This would have serious consequences for people who rely on them as fishing grounds.

Ozone layer

The ozone layer is part of Earth's high atmosphere which contains a large concentration of gas molecules comprising three oxygen atoms called ozone. Ozone helps filter out harmful ultraviolet light from the Sun, which can increase the risk of skin cancer. In the 1980s and 1990s, industrial gases called chlorofluorocarbons (or CFCs) were banned because they damaged the ozone layer. These gases are also potent greenhouse gases, contributing to global warming.

PPM / ppm

An abbreviation for 'parts per million', used to describe the concentration of a gas such as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggested in 2007 that the world should aim to stabilise greenhouse gas levels at 450 ppm CO2 equivalent in order to avert dangerous climate change. Some scientists, and many of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, argue that the safe upper limit is 350ppm. Modern levels of CO2 broke through 400ppm (at the Mauna Loa Laboratory in Hawaii) in 2013, and continue to climb at about 2-3ppm per year.

Pre-industrial

Scientists use a baseline with which to compare the modern rise in temperatures on Earth. The baseline often quoted is 1850-1900, and global temperatures have risen by about 1C since then. The reality, of course, is that industry actually got going much earlier, but there is nonetheless a perceptible uptick in the levels of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by 1850-1900 and the period is deemed therefore to be a useful marker.

Renewable energy

Normally refers to energy sources such as biomass (such as wood and biogas), the flow of water, geothermal (heat from within the earth), wind, and solar.

Runaway climate change

Describes how the climate change may suddenly change after passing a 'tipping point', making it even harder to stop or reverse. In 2018, the IPCC said that global emissions must be reduced by 45% by 2030, and to net zero by 2050 to have 50% chance of limiting temperature rises to 1.5C this century.

Sea ice

Sea-ice is found in polar regions. It grows in extent and thickness in autumn and winter, and melts in spring and summer. The amount of sea-ice in the Arctic is seen as a key indicator of climate trends because the region is warming faster than most other locations on Earth. The smallest ever extent (in the satellite era) of Arctic sea-ice was recorded in September 2012. The 3.41 million square kilometers was 44% below the 1981-2010 average.

Sea level rises

Rising sea levels are predicted to be one of the most drastic impacts of climate change. In this context, there are two main causes for sea-level rise: (1) the expansion of seawater as the oceans warm; and (2) the run-off into the ocean of water from melting ice sheet and glaciers. Current sea levels are about 20cm higher on average than they were in 1900. Year on year, sea levels are presently going up by just over 3mm.

Sustainability

Sustainability means consuming the planet's resources at a rate at which they can be replenished. It's sometimes known as 'sustainable development'. Types of renewable energy such as solar or wind power are described as sustainable, while using wood from managed forests where trees are replanted according to how many are cut down is another example.

Tipping point

Describes how the climate may suddenly change after passing a 'tipping point', making it even harder to stop or reverse. Scientists say it is urgent that policy-makers halve global carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 or risk triggering changes that could be irreversible.

UNFCCC

Stands for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This is an international treaty, signed at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, which stated that countries should work to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere to avoid dangerous climate change.

Main story continues below.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Climate change: UK government to commit to 2050 target

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Greenhouse gas emissions in the UK will be cut to almost zero by 2050, under the terms of a new government plan to tackle climate change. Prime Minister Theresa May said there was a "moral duty to leave this world in a better condition than what we inherited".

# data[].attributes.body
Crime (Fatima)

# data[].attributes.body
Potential investigation by the Carbon Brief

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Huge waves break over Brighton seafront during Storm Imogen, February 2016. Credit: Simon Dack/Alamy Live News.

UK policy CCC: England's coastal defences need 'urgent' rethink to cope with climate change

New policies are "urgently" needed to protect homes and landscapes from coastal flooding and erosion in the long term, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) says.

These coastal risks will increase in the future due to climate change, the committee says in a new report to government. But long-term action can help to manage their impact, it adds.

The current approach to protecting the coastline in England "really isn't fit for purpose", Chris Stark, chief executive of the CCC, tells Carbon Brief. "We're trying to encourage an honest conversation about that."

One metre

England will "almost certainly" have to adapt to at least 1m of sea level rise at some point, the report says. Some model projections indicate that this will happen over the next 80 years - within the lifetime of young people alive today. [Sea levels are expected to rise 48cm by 2100 - if global temperature rise are kept to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels].

Rising sea levels will increase the frequency of the most damaging coastal floods, the CCC says, and increase rates of coastal erosion. It adds:

"Many of England's coastal defences are likely to be at risk of failure as sea levels rise. For example, a sea level rise of 0.5m is projected to make a further 20% of England's coastal defences vulnerable to failure."

The CCC says these changes must be accounted for in long-term land-use and coastal defence plans. But the public are not clearly informed about current or future risks of coastal erosion and flooding, it says.

There is also a possibility of accelerated ice sheet melt - and, thus, higher sea level rise than 1m - in the absence of more mitigation on climate change, Professor Jim Hall, who leads on flooding and coastal erosion at the CCC, tells Carbon Brief. "What we're talking about here very much has a global mitigation context," he says.

Damage

Losses from coastal erosion and flooding are already being felt today, the CCC says, with damages amounting to an average £260m per year. There are 520,000 properties in England in areas at risk from coastal flooding and 8,900 properties are in areas at risk of being lost through coastal erosion, the CCC adds.

The CCC estimates the total value of assets at risk from coastal flooding to be around £120-150bn, though it says this is difficult to quantify.

By the 2080s,1.5m properties - including 1.2m homes - may be at risk of coastal flooding, it says, with a further 100,000 at risk from coastal erosion. Around 1,600km of road, 92 railways stations and 12 substations and nuclear power stations could be at risk from coastal erosion or flooding by 2100, the CCC adds.

[All of the UK's operating nuclear power plants are on the coast; they are responsible for their own coastal defences and, according to Hall, they look a lot further into the future with respect to sea level rise than is typically done for coastal communities.]

The population at risk of coastal flooding could almost quadruple by 2080, according to the CCC's earlier 2017 risk assessment , as shown in the chart below. [Note the upper limit of this graph is based on a lower "reduced" adaptation scenario worse than a "business as usual" adaptation scenario.]

Other research has shown the damage from coastal flooding in the UK could be very high in the absence of upgrades to protection. One Nature Climate Change study found the UK could see up to €236bn in annual damages and 1.1 million people exposed to coastal flooding by 2100. It found the UK to be the worst hit European country by far, although others will also be severely affected.

The CCC notes that the risks of harmful coastal flooding and erosion "cannot be eliminated altogether". However, stronger actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change could reduce the risk for 400,000-500,000 people in England by 2100, compared to a business as usual level of climate adaptation, it adds.

Shoreline plans

Strategic responsibility for overseeing English coast rests with the government's Environment Agency, Hall tells Carbon Brief. But local authorities also have some responsibility, in particular in areas of coastal erosion.

These two groups work together to develop local Shoreline Management Plans (SMPs), which identify responses to future coastal changes using a 100-year policy framework. They were first developed in the mid-1990s and revised between 2006 and 2011. The map below shows how they are split up into 22 separate areas.

But as they stand, these plans "cannot be relied" on to reduce the risks from coastal flooding and erosion, the CCC says. This is because they are not legally binding and contain unfunded proposals. Implementing current policies to protect England's coast would cost £18-30bn in total, the CCC adds, depending on the rate of climate change.

Importantly, many of the unfunded coastline protection plans are far less "cost-effective" than the measures funded by government today. Hall says current plans for around 150 kilometres of coastline are not cost-beneficial to implement. This raises the need for honest conversations with those affected about "the difficult choices they face", he says.

"There genuinely will be homes that it will not be possible to save," said Baroness Brown, chair of the CCC's adaptation sub-committee, at a briefing for journalists on the new report. "That's why we need those discussions, that's why people need information, so they can take rational decisions about the level of risk they are prepared to take."

Shoreline Management Plans the core reason why the CCC's concludes that England's current approach to protecting the coastline "isn't fit for purpose" says Stark. "They are non-statutory, they're unfunded, and they give this kind of illusory protection," he tells Carbon Brief.

Adaptation

Sustainable coastal adaptation is possible with long-term commitment and proactive steps by the government, Stark says.

The report sets out several ways forward, from simple acknowledgement and communication about changing coastal risks by the relevant authorities to the development of more rigorously implemented local plans. There is also a need for more evidence-based, quantified outcomes, the CCC says, since much of government policy fails to outline actions that can be assessed in terms of their impact on overall exposure or risk.

However, the government will also need to make long-term funding and investment available in the face of coastal risks, the CCC says, including to help affected communities cope with inevitable changes.

This funding needs to be based on a "broader and more inclusive economic case" than is current practice, the report adds, since areas where investment in hard defences is uneconomic tend to lose out. It says:

"[T]hese places also need funding to assist them to adapt to inevitable changes, so whilst hard defences may not be fundable they still need support for a broader package of adaptation actions, including community engagement, asset relocation and compensation to move households where appropriate."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
CCC: England's coastal defences need 'urgent' rethink to cope with climate change | Carbon Brief

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Huge waves break over Brighton seafront during Storm Imogen, February 2016. Credit: Simon Dack/Alamy Live News. UK policy CCC: England's coastal defences need 'urgent' rethink to cope with climate change New policies are "urgently" needed to protect homes and landscapes from coastal flooding and erosion in the long term, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) says.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
1. Home

2. Planet Earth

3. Planet Earth stories

4. Coastal defences could contribute to flooding with sea-level rise

Coastal defences could contribute to flooding with sea-level rise

1 August 2014 by Harriet Jarlett

A combination of coastal defences and rising sea levels could change typical UK tidal ranges, potentially leading to a higher risk of flooding, say scientists.

The researchers wanted to find out how tides around the UK might respond to changes in sea level over the next century depending on the level of coastal defences in place.

The study, published in Continental Shelf Research, shows for the first time that local coastal defences, such as sea walls, could cause tides to change dramatically. It suggests flood defences need to be reassessed on an international scale as they may lead to an increased risk of flooding.

"We wanted to see how sea level rise would affect the tidal range- the difference between high water and low water - and to see if it would cause any potential changes in the time of high water and tidal velocities," explains Dr Holly Pelling of Bangor University, lead researcher on the study.

The researchers used computer models to simulate how the tides would change if the sea level was one metre higher than present day. They then assessed how three stages of coastal defences affected those tidal changes: no coastal defences; coastal defences similar to the levels in place today; and a version where the entire coast was protected by a wall.

Unfortunately oceanography doesn't respect country or county boundaries.

- Holly Pelling, Bangor University

If there were no coastal defences in place, then allowing the sea level to rise by up to a metre caused little change in tides. But the tides changed dramatically if they added walls around the coast allowing only part of the countryside to flood.

"We saw a small change in tides if no flooding was allowed, but we were surprised to find that we recorded the largest response when flood defences are implemented that allow only part of the coastline to flood," Pelling says.

She suspects that the walls in place around the coast could cause the tides to reflect and amplify, which could lead to flooding.

"The tide is basically a wave with a certain amount of energy and it dissipates energy as it travels. For example if it enters the North Sea by the time it reaches the southern North Sea you have a low tidal energies and the tides not doing much," says Pelling. "But if it builds up behind coastal defences you get this honeycomb effect with narrow channels which funnel the water, and the walls which could cause the tidal energy to be reflected and this could change where the energy is dissipated. So some areas will find the tidal amplitude is higher while others will find they are lower."

Pelling's research suggests a more unified approach needs to be taken to building coastal defences, since the tidal impacts of sea level rise doesn't occur on a local scale.

"Flood defences are very localised, they only protect the bit of land they are in front of, but potentially there could be wider implications seaward since, unfortunately, the oceanography doesn't respect country or county boundaries. We really need to look at defences on a basin-wide perspective to see how to implement them," she says.

The team were surprised to find that coastal defences had any impact on the tides as they didn't set out originally to study their impact but chose to include it as part of the model.

"We're not making predictions, just showing that this mechanism could be important. More detailed research needs to be done."

Funding was provided by the NERC through a studentship grant to Holly Pelling (NE/H524549/1) and an advanced fellowship to Dr Mattias Green (NE/F/014821/1)

HE Pelling, JA Mattias Green, 'Impact of flood defences and sea-level rise on the European Shelf tidal regime'. Continental Shelf Research (2014).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
NERC - Coastal defences could contribute to flooding with sea-level rise

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Home Planet Earth Planet Earth stories Coastal defences could contribute to flooding with sea-level rise 1 August 2014 by Harriet Jarlett A combination of coastal defences and rising sea levels could change typical UK tidal ranges, potentially leading to a higher risk of flooding, say scientists.

# data[].attributes.body
Newspaper article - The Guardian

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Show caption
Collapsed houses lie on the beach after a storm surge in Hemsby, Norfolk, in 2013. Photograph: Darren Staples/Reuters

Rising sea levels will claim homes, roads and fields around the coast of England, the government's official advisers have warned, and many people are unaware of the risks they face.

The new report from the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) said existing government plans to "hold the line" in many places - building defences to keep shores in their current position - were unaffordable for a third of the country's coast. Instead, the CCC said, discussions about the "hard choices" needed must be started with communities that will have to move inland.

"There genuinely will be homes that it will not be possible to save," said Baroness Brown, chair of the CCC's adaptation committee. "The current approach is not fit for purpose. This report is really a wake-up call to the fact that we can't protect the whole English coast to today's standard."

Third of coastline cannot be affordably protected, government climate change advisers say, with current plans 'not fit for purpose'

She added: "We could see as much as a metre of sea level rise before the end of the century, so within the lifetime of today's children, and that has a major impact on coastal flooding and erosion." Prof Jim Hall, another member of the committee, said: "We are not prepared."

The regions affected include areas with soft, eroding shores in the south and east, as well as low-lying areas in East Anglia, Lincolnshire, parts of the south-west such as the Somerset Levels, and the coast between Liverpool and Blackpool in the north-west.

The entire coast of England is already covered by shoreline management plans, developed by the Environment Agency and local councils. These would cost £18-30bn to implement, but have no funding and no legal force. The CCC analysis found that, for more than 150km of coast, the plans to hold the line would cost more than the property and land that would be protected.

For another 1,460km of coast, the benefit of holding the line was twice the cost, but the government only currently funds defences with at least a sixfold cost-benefit ratio. "Funding for these locations is unlikely and realistic plans to adapt to the inevitability of change are needed now," said the report.

The report also found that 520,000 properties are already in areas with significant coastal flood risk. However, this may treble to 1.5m by the 2080s without action.

Currently, 8,900 properties are at risk from coastal erosion and in 2014 the Environment Agency calculated that 7,000 homes, worth more than £1bn, would fall into the sea this century. But the CCC report found that in the 2080s another 100,000 properties would be at risk of sliding into the sea.

As well as properties, key infrastructure is also at risk from the sea level rise and bigger storms being driven by climate change. In the 2080s, 1,600km of major roads, 650km of railway line and 92 stations will be at risk, the CCC found. Ports, power stations and gas terminals are also in danger. A further risk is toxic waste from old landfill sites falling into the sea as the coast is eroded; a 2016 study found 1,000 such sites at risk.
Pollution risk from over 1,000 old UK landfill sites due to coastal erosion
Brown said people living in coastal areas do not have access to good information about the risks they face. "A retired couple could buy, with cash, a house with a fabulous sea view without being given any information about whether it was at risk of erosion," she said.

Making better information easily available would alarm people but was vital, said Hall. It would also affect property values, he said: "If it was better communicated, as we think it should be, then that would have a [negative] impact on house prices."

The government must work with local councils on long-term, funded programmes that engage people and help them move if necessary, the CCC said. "Those are very difficult decisions," said Brown. "Local councils are in a very tough situation having to raise those kind of issues with their communities. There may be a bit of denial going on in local authorities."

A government spokeswoman said: "The environment secretary [Michael Gove] has been very clear - we will take the action required to ensure our country is resilient and prepared for the challenges the changing climate brings. The government has already committed £1.2bn of investment in coastal erosion and sea flooding projects over the next six years to better protect 170,000 homes."

In England, only 45% of the coastline remains wild. These stretches of hard cliffs, shingle banks and mudflats can respond to rising sea levels in a natural way. But for the 55% that is developed, a choice between building further defences or allowing the sea in has to be made.

For big cities such as London, bigger defences make economic sense. "That's going to cost money and that's not very good news for the chancellor, but it's just the start of the costs of climate change," said Hall.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Rising sea levels will claim homes around English coast, report warns

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Rising sea levels will claim homes, roads and fields around the coast of England, the government's official advisers have warned, and many people are unaware of the risks they face.

# data[].attributes.body
A comparative study

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A review of field methods to survey coastal dunes-experience based on research from South Baltic coast

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The aim of this paper is to compare the usefulness of equipment employed for foredune ground surveys in different environmental conditions based on literature and field experience from the Polish...

# data[].attributes.body
Government document

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Residential Patterns Map - Integration Hub

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
New aerial photographs have revealed how Britain's coastline is quickly and dramatically receding.

Swathes of land on East Anglian shoreline have vanished over two decades, crumbling into the sea.

The photos, taken by retired mechanic Mike Page, highlight big differences between 1999 and now, after cliffs have been eroded.

Many experts blame Britain's accelerating coastal erosion on climate change, as storms, rising temperatures and melting polar ice all make sea levels rise.

The Committee on Climate Change warned in October that rising sea levels will claim homes, roads and fields around the coast.

Sea levels could rise by up to a metre by the end of the century, the committee said.

Last year five properties in the seaside village of Hemsby, Norfolk, were demolished because of severe coastal erosion, and many are still at risk after strong winds and high tides claimed six metres of cliff in two days.

In 2013 three houses in Hemsby fell into the sea and others were badly damaged by storms.

But no area of the British coast is immune. Earlier this month a huge crack opened in a cliff on the coast at Hornsea, Yorkshire, just metres from holiday homes.

Mr Page, 79, has been flying over the Norfolk and Suffolk coasts in a two-seater Cessna light aircraft regularly over 30 years, taking photos and monitoring the erosion.

He says in some cases the cliffs have eroded by more than half a mile.

"It's an ongoing issue and we will see a lot more of this," he said.

"I've been looking at the erosion for some time now so I knew it would look something like this but it is quite unbelievable - it's a lot and it's getting worse. There is going to be more land lost.

"They are losing areas that they didn't expect to lose. They didn't think it would be that quick.

"They have lost about 35 houses at Happisburgh and about 20 houses at Hemsby."

The climate change committee warned that building defences was unaffordable for a third of the country's coast. Instead, discussions about "hard choices" needed must be started with communities that will have to move inland, it said.

Mr Page, who has taken 150,000 images in his 50 years of flying, said: "It is a serious issue and landowners are spending their own money protecting their land.

"The government will not spend the money on it. People are having to spend money on dismantling their own houses."

The East Anglian coast is being allowed to erode under a government policy called "managed realignment", allowing the shoreline to move naturally.
We'll tell you what's true. You can form your own view.
At The Independent, no one tells us what to write. That's why, in an era of political lies and Brexit bias, more readers are turning to an independent source. Subscribe from just 15p a day for extra exclusives, events and ebooks - all with no ads.
Subscribe now

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Photos reveal how coastal erosion is eating away at Britain's shoreline

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
New aerial photographs have revealed how Britain's coastline is quickly and dramatically receding. Swathes of land on East Anglian shoreline have vanished over two decades, crumbling into the sea. The photos, taken by retired mechanic Mike Page, highlight big differences between 1999 and now, after cliffs have been eroded.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
An aerial survey of Mozambique's cyclone-hit province shows that a 50km (30 mile) stretch of land is under water, charity Save The Children says.

The flooding was caused after River Buzi burst its banks, it adds.

President Filipe Nyusi said at least 1,000 people could have been killed by Cyclone Idai which made landfall near the port city of Beira on Thursday with winds of up to 177 km/h (106 mph).

Neighbouring Zimbabwe and Malawi have also felt the impact.

If you are in the area and it is safe, email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk

Mozambique's government says 600,000 people have been affected and 100,000 need to be urgently rescued near Beira.

Buzi town, which is estimated to be home to more than 2,500 children, could be under water within 24 hours, Save The Children warned.

In Zimbabwe, the government says 98 people have been killed and more than 200 are missing.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa said that the government was conducting rescue missions and delivering food aid.

The World Food Programme says at least 1.7 million people were in the direct path of the cyclone in Mozambique.
Are you in the area? If it is safe to do so please get in touch by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:

WhatsApp: +44 7555 173285

Tweet: @BBC_HaveYourSay

Send pictures/video to yourpics@bbc.co.uk

Upload your pictures / video here

Text an SMS or MMS to 61124 or +44 7624 800 100

Please read our terms of use and privacy policy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
An aerial survey of Mozambique's cyclone-hit province shows that a 50km (30 mile) stretch of land is under water, charity Save The Children says. The flooding was caused after River Buzi burst its banks, it adds.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The divisiveness that permeates Detroit's communities of color

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Anti-black sentiment regularly goes unchecked in cities around Detroit, but that's changing in the era of Trump

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
It was thought sensible to undertake a pilot project to explore how best to digitize the Collection and store the digital images, to see how long it might take and how much it might cost.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The world is in the middle of what is likely to be the warmest 10 years since records began in 1850, says the Met Office.

It's forecasting that temperatures for each of the next five years are likely to be at or above 1C compared to pre-industrial levels.

There's also a small chance that one of the next five years will see global temperatures temporarily go above 1.5C.

That's seen as a critical threshold for climate change.

If the data matches the forecast, then the decade from 2014-2023 will be the warmest in more than 150 years of record keeping.

Will the forecast temperature rises bust the Paris climate agreement?

The Met Office says that 2015 was the first year in which the global annual average surface temperature reached 1C above the pre-industrial level, which is generally taken to mean the temperatures between 1850 and 1900.

Each year since then, the global average has hovered close to or above the 1C mark. Now, the Met Office says that trend is likely to continue or increase over the next five years.

"We've just made this year's forecasts and they go out to 2023 and what they suggest is rapid warming globally," Prof Adam Scaife, head of long term forecasting at the Met Office, told BBC News.

"By looking at individual years in that forecast we can now see for the first time, there is a risk of a temporary, and I repeat temporary, exceedance of the all-important 1.5C threshold level set out in the Paris climate agreement."

Last October, UN scientists published a special report on the long-term impacts of a temperature rise of 1.5C.

They concluded that it would take a massive carbon cutting effort to keep the world from tipping over the limit by 2030. The Met Office analysis now says there's a 10% chance of this happening within the next five years.

"It's the first time the forecasts have shown a significant risk of exceedance - it is only temporary. We are talking about individual years fluctuating above the 1.5 degree level," said Prof Scaife.

"But the fact that that can happen now due to a combination of general warming and the fluctuations due to things like El Niño events in the next few years does mean we are getting close to that threshold."

How confident is the Met Office of its prediction?

The Met Office says it has a 90% confidence limit in the forecasts for the years ahead.

It says that from 2019 to 2023, we will see temperatures ranging from 1.03C to 1,57C above the 1850-1900 level, with enhanced warming over much of the globe, especially over areas like the Arctic.

The research team says it is pretty certain in its predictions because of its past experience. The team's previous forecast, made in 2013, predicted the rapid rate of warming that's been observed over the past five years. It even predicted some of the lesser known details such as the patch of cooling seen in the North Atlantic and the cooler spots in the Southern Ocean.

If the observations over the next five years match the forecasts, then the decade between 2014 and 2023 will be the warmest in more than 150 years of records.

What about other climate agencies?

The Met Office forecast comes as a number of agencies publish their full analysis of temperature data from 2018, showing it to be the fourth warmest since records began in 1850.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has published an analysis of five major international datasets showing that the 20 warmest years on record have been in the past 22.

"Temperatures are only part of the story. Extreme and high impact weather affected many countries and millions of people, with devastating repercussions for economies and ecosystems in 2018," said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.

"Many of the extreme weather events are consistent with what we expect from a changing climate. This is a reality we need to face up to. Greenhouse gas emission reduction and climate adaptation measures should be a top global priority," he said.

Other researchers in the field said the new forecast for the next five years was in line with expectations, given the record level of CO2 pumped into the atmosphere in 2018.

"The forecast from the Met Office is, unfortunately, no surprise," said Dr Anna Jones, an atmospheric chemist at the British Antarctic Survey.

"Temperatures averaged across the globe are at a record all-time high, and have been for a number of years. They are driven predominantly by rising concentrations of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, that result from our continued use of fossil fuels.

"Until we reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we can expect to see upward trends in global averaged temperatures."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
World headed for warmest period on record

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The world is in the middle of what is likely to be the warmest 10 years since records began in 1850, says the Met Office. It's forecasting that temperatures for each of the next five years are likely to be at or above 1C compared to pre-industrial levels.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The narrative about why Detroit declined often just covers the landmark events of over a half-century ago - factory closings, race riots, urban renewal, segregation, etc. These events were certainly important, as they produced a catastrophic population loss of over 600,000 between 1950 and 1980.

But this narrative leaves out important questions. Why has Detroit continued to decline (and at a faster rate) in the nearly four decades since? Was there some rule saying that, because of those previous events, Detroit had to keep declining? Or are new causes to blame?

These questions are worth asking, because other Midwestern cities with similar legacies to Detroit have outperformed the city during this period. Kansas City's population has slowly grown since 2000. Chicago, Milwaukee, Cincinnati and Philadelphia began their upticks in 2010. Even the Rust Belt cities that continue declining - like Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Cleveland - haven't done so to Detroit's extent, nor do they generally have Detroit's level of poverty, unemployment, service failure, and visible decrepitude.

Detroit's decline also makes it an outlier within its own metro. This would likely surprise some people, whose image of Detroit is as this declining urban prairie of a city, that sits in a declining state, in a cold, stagnant, post-industrial Midwest region. None of those notions are true, either.

The southeast Michigan region does quite well - for example, less than an hour west of Detroit is Ann Arbor, a bustling city with an eds-and-meds economy. Of the nation's 20 largest metros, the Detroit metro area performs about average, with 2.1% GDP growth in 2016. Six of the ten largest cities in greater Detroit have grown in population since 2010. In fact, there is significant wealth throughout the metro, and much of it butts up right outside the city border.

Such facts should at least tweak the narrative alluded to above. When pundits cover Detroit's decline, they not only invoke the events from long ago, but their language is often fatalistic, as if some outside force just swooped in and yanked everything out from under Detroit. Often, this is a reference to "capitalism," or close cousins like neoliberalism or globalization.

"Detroit's decline is a distinctively capitalist failure," screamed a Guardian headline after the city went bankrupt. Vice Magazine called the bankruptcy process itself a testament to "the cruelty of American capitalism."

But if other Midwestern cities have begun repopulating, and other parts of southeast Michigan have diversified their economies, then "capitalism" can't be blamed. Detroit has become an outlier, suggesting that its problems are unique and internal.

The question is - what are those internal problems? That, too, is subject to debate.

One side claims that Detroit's earlier events, although long past, left behind ingrained problems that continue to hold back the city. For example John Mogk, a Wayne State University Law Professor who specializes in Detroit history, says two of these legacy burdens include the city's demographics and its infrastructure. Detroit's demographic character - which is largely poor and black - was an early result of government engineering. A combo of urban renewal, subsidized highways and discriminatory loan policies drove white people to the suburbs, and kept black people inside the core. This segregationist pattern, said Mogk, continues, and may not organically reverse itself.

As he wrote by email, "most white families will not locate in majority black neighborhoods. Most middle and upper-income families will not locate in low-income neighborhoods. The presence of both of these factors in many of the city's neighborhoods, and public services that were not competitive with most suburbs, largely explain why the white middle class and some members of the African-American middle class did not choose to live in Detroit."

As for infrastructure, Mogk says the leftover housing and factories have made it difficult for Detroit to develop economically. Old blighted buildings are expensive to repair, and their removal has been a slow process. This means that prospective Detroit businesses can't assemble large pieces of land.

Pete Saunders, a Detroit native and fellow Forbes columnist, wrote a lengthy essay that makes more refined versions of these points. He claimed that Detroit's antiquated and idiosyncratic land-use character has prevented it from post-industrial growth. These range from its old (but non-descript) housing stock; to its non-cohesive neighborhoods; to its car-oriented road design.

"Once the auto industry became established in Detroit," wrote Saunders, "political and business leaders abdicated their responsibility on sound urban planning and design."

But Michael LaFaive, of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, disagreed with these premises. He said that existing infrastructure and demographics should not matter - what's more important, is a city's ability to attract capital. And for that, Detroit has failed miserably, with corporations often locating right outside the city border, so that they can enjoy the central proximity, without actually having to deal in Detroit. There is a reason they do that, continued LaFaive by phone.

My explanation involves the basic idea that capital, be it financial or human, goes where it's welcome, and leaves if it's not. And Detroit politicians for decades have repeatedly made capital unwelcome."

LaFaive listed three ways. One is Detroit's high taxes. A 2014 study by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy found that it had the highest property tax rates of any major U.S. city. The second is poor services, which should theoretically be counterintuitive since Detroiters pay such high taxes. But the services are quantifiably bad, in a way that's deeply-rooted and terminal - police who don't arrive, schools that are growing mold, blighted properties that go decades without being demolished, waste that is dumped and never cleaned up, and the list goes on.

These two problems - high taxes and poor services - conjoin around the fact that the city spends much of its revenue on non-services. At the time of bankruptcy, half of the city's $18 billion debt was for worker-related liabilities, including retiree pensions and healthcare - aka for people who were no longer contributing to the city's daily operations.

LaFaive's third factor was regulation. According to a study by Florida Gulf Coast University, Detroit's "economic freedom" ranking (which includes factors like regulatory climate) is 345 th out of 384 metros. The city - and the state of Michigan - has strict occupational licensing laws, and Detroit is known for heavily enforcing them through random stings.

That said, much of Detroit's regulatory burden is hard to quantify, instead surfacing through anecdotal tales of corruption and clandestine impediments against business. To name a few examples - when ex-mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's extensive corruption finally earned a jail sentence in 2013, some of the cases were about how he only steered permits and contracts to businesses that would agree to inside dealing. There's no telling how often this activity occurred under Kilpatrick and other Detroit officials - and which other businesses it may have detracted. And the Detroit Land Bank Authority, which owns 14% of parcels citywide, has a history of hoarding land that investors actually want to purchase and develop.

Collectively, these four factors - taxes, regulations, poor services, and plain corruption - could be called "bad public administration." They are precisely what, to LaFaive's point, would discourage - and in some cases directly prohibit - capital from entering Detroit.

These public administration factors also make the arguments about infrastructure and demographics look weak. The infrastructure argument, in fact, is a complete red herring. Most of America has been laid out like Detroit, but almost none of it performs this poorly. There are countless cities - think New York, San Francisco and Savannah - that have many old buildings, yet have revived them to greater values than before. Again, though, this historic restoration process requires inbound capital.

The demographic argument is also flimsy. There are many cities that have more poor people in net than Detroit, including Houston, Dallas, Philadelphia, Chicago and New York City. They are all far more economically successful because they've also managed to attract rich people, who create the jobs and fund the services needed for those cities to continue growing. This proves that the existence of low-income demographics, do not, unto themselves, bring cities down.

No, Detroit's struggles are about its inability to attract capital, business and economic growth. In fact, all those things stop abruptly at the city border, on all sides, before immediately resurfacing in the suburbs. And this is because such growth is largely discouraged by Detroit's public administration. That fact is more relevant to the city's ongoing struggles than anything that happened 50 years ago.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The narrative about why Detroit declined often just covers the landmark events of over a half-century ago - factory closings, race riots, urban renewal, segregation, etc. These events were certainly important, as they produced a catastrophic population loss of over 600,000 between 1950 and 1980. But this narrative leaves out important questions.

# data[].attributes.body
Good graphics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
What is Seismology?

Seismology is the study of earthquakes and seismic waves that move through and around the Earth. A seismologist is a scientist who studies earthquakes and seismic waves.

What are Seismic Waves?

Seismic waves are caused by the sudden movement of materials within the Earth, such as slip along a fault during an earthquake. Volcanic eruptions, explosions, landslides, avalanches, and even rushing rivers can also cause seismic waves. Seismic waves travel through and around the Earth and can be recorded with seismometers.

Types of Seismic Waves

There are several different kinds of seismic waves, and they all move in different ways. The two main types of waves are body waves and surface waves. Body waves can travel through the Earth's inner layers, but surface waves can only move along the surface of the planet like ripples on water. Earthquakes send out seismic energy as both body and surface waves.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Seismology | UPSeis | Michigan Technological University

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Seismology is the study of earthquakes and seismic waves that move through and around the Earth. A seismologist is a scientist who studies earthquakes and seismic waves. Seismic waves are caused by the sudden movement of materials within the Earth, such as slip along a fault during an earthquake.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) | U.S. Agency for International Development

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
On November 8, Typhoon Haiyan-known as Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines-made landfall in the central Philippines, bringing strong winds and heavy rains that have resulted in flooding, landslides, and widespread damage.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The developers behind the £3 billion regeneration of Wembley Park have launched the next stage of the creation of a new town around the national stadium.

Property giant Quintain unveiled plans at an event at Wembley last week for a further 250,000 sq ft of shops, restaurants and bars at the 85-acre site - doubling what has been built.

The main completed element so far is the London Designer Outlet shopping centre, while Boxpark Wembley - the capital's third street food and bar mall made from shipping containers - will open towards the end of this year.

The next phase will also see the construction of 7,000 homes, offices, a huge gym, a park with a swimming lake and possibly a new music venue.

Are developers building homes Londoners want to live in?

The company released an image showing how the area will look by 2027, a quarter of a century after the demolition of the original home of the Three Lions kickstarted the transformation of the area.

It was then a rundown district of light industrial estates surrounding the ageing arena that was first used in 1923.

The Wembley Park area around it was created for the British Empire Exhibition of 1924 and 1925.

Quintain's retail director Matt Slade said: "It's about creating a place to live, a place to work, a place to shop regardless of what's happening at the stadium."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Next stage launched in massive £3 billion Wembley Park regeneration

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The developers behind the £3 billion regeneration of Wembley Park have launched the next stage of the creation of a new town around the national stadium. Property giant Quintain unveiled plans at an event at Wembley last week for a further 250,000 sq ft of shops, restaurants and bars at the 85-acre site - doubling what has been built.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Waltham Forest and Brent named first London boroughs of culture

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Boroughs will each receive £1.35m in project inspired by European capitals of culture

# data[].attributes.body
Interesting video

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
In 1967, they watched their city erupt. Fifty years on, how has Detroit changed?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Detroit's riots were some of the most violent in US history. As Kathryn Bigelow's new dramatization of the unrest hits screens, Detroiters who lived through it reflect on how far their city has come

# data[].attributes.body
Historic district to be made

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Detroit - The City Council approved Tuesday an ordinance that will create a historic district that could protect a single block of buildings in the shadow of Little Caesars Arena from being demolished.

In a unanimous vote of those present, the council voted in favor of creating the Cass Henry Historic District. Councilman Scott Benson, who has previously expressed support for the district, was not in attendance.

The district is between Cass and Second, and the Fisher Freeway service drive and Henry. Properties include 427 Henry (The Henry), 439 Henry (Bretton Hall), 459 Henry (Claridge Apartments), 489 Henry (Berwin Apartments), 447 Henry (William B. Ralston Garage), 2447 Cass (Grande Apartments/Hotel Ansonia) and 2467 Cass (Atlanta Apartments).

Half of the block is surface parking lots owned by the Ilitch's Olympia Development. The company previously sought to demolish the former Hotel Ansonia, the former Atlanta Apartments and the former Henry Apartments but withdrew its request last year.

The historic district could bring challenges for demolition plans. It also creates specific guidelines for renovations.

"I think that the conversation is really about inclusion and inclusion in economic opportunity and making sure that everyone that is currently in that space has an opportunity to stay," Councilwoman Raquel Castañeda-López said. "And that these buildings are preserved and the history is preserved to add to the vibrancy and the culture and diversity of that neighborhood."

Representatives for Olympia Development did not speak at the meeting.

Ed Saenz, spokesman for Olympia Development, said in a statement that the company "has a long history of supporting historic redevelopment in the city, with 10 important and celebrated buildings in The District Detroit either already completed or in the planning, financing, or leasing stage, including 1922 Cass, 2110 Park, 2210 Park, 100 Sprout, 150 Bagley, 408 Temple and 100 Temple."

"We will continue to pursue options for this part of the city that generate density, lead to successful development, and grow the city's tax base in support of the long-term goals of the city, its residents and the District Detroit," he said.

Council members noted that even with the historic designation, there is no guarantee that those living in the remaining low-rent apartment buildings would be able to remain in their homes.

"I don't want people to lose sight though while it is affordable today doesn't mean it will be affordable tomorrow," Councilwoman Janee Ayers said.

Council President Pro Tem Mary Sheffield piggybacked on Ayers' comments, saying that the historic designation does not prevent a developer from making the buildings market rate.

"We're doing our part by making the historic designation, but they still have the flexibility to do what they want to do," she said.

Saenz did not provide comment regarding Olympia Development's stance on affordable housing within the historic district.

Castañeda-López has said that the City Council was told by Olympia Development last week that it planned to overhaul the block with the addition of a large commercial building where the Berwin and Bretton Hall apartment buildings are located.

According to the city, property owners within an historic structure who seek to demolish a structure must submit a building permit and request permission from the Detroit Historic District Commission with "a detailed justification stating why building or portion of building needs to be demolished" as well as "a detailed description of what will happen to the site after the demolition occurs."

Detroit Historic District Commission approval also is required for exterior paint color changes, masonry reconstruction, sign installation and building cleaning.

Preservationists said Tuesday they were thrilled with the designation but consider it just the beginning of preservation efforts in the Cass Corridor.

"Our hope is that this is a turning point for how development happens in Detroit," said Eric Kehoe, board president of Preservation Detroit.

"Research shows that reusing these types of buildings can provide more economic and cultural benefits to Detroiters than demolishing them for larger, newer structures. ... The area's Neighborhood Advisory Committee hopes to preserve existing affordability and walkability in the neighborhood, and we will continue to support their efforts."

Questions arose earlier Tuesday over whether President Brenda Jones should participate in the vote since a fundraiser for her congressional campaign was held at the Little Caesars Arena. The event, she noted, was planned and paid for by a supporter.

Council's legal staff weighed in, saying Jones' disclosure of having a fundraiser there was "sufficient."

"I don't see a need to recuse in this instance," said David Whitaker, who heads the council's Legislative Policy Division. The city's law department agreed.

Jones, prior to casting her vote, stressed the event "was no secret" and that holding the fundraiser at the site would not influence her vote.

"I don't think you have a choice but to vote," Whitaker told Jones. "You have an obligation as an elected official of this body to vote on this matter."

cwilliams@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @CWilliams_DN

Read or Share this story: https://detne.ws/2ulItrk

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Detroit council designates historic district near LCA

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Detroit - The City Council approved Tuesday an ordinance that will create a historic district that could protect a single block of buildings in the shadow of Little Caesars Arena from being demolished. In a unanimous vote of those present, the council voted in favor of creating the Cass Henry Historic District.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Welcome to Detroit, where black babies are at higher risk of death

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Mothers face extreme deprivation due to mass water shut-offs, hospital deserts and stress from economic racism. As a result, Detroit leads in premature births

# data[].attributes.body
And threat of sea level rise http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46976040

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How Japan's skyscrapers are built to survive earthquakes

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Japan is home to some of the most resilient buildings in the world - and their secret lies in their capacity to dance as the ground moves beneath them.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Ford demands millions from taxpayers to rehab icon of Detroit's blight

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Automaker's plans come at a $740m price, of which taxpayers would cover $239m, and insists public assistance is necessary

# data[].attributes.headline
Detroit - racial tension and demographics 

# data[].attributes.subject
Detroit - racial tension and demographics 

# data[].attributes.body
Changing Places / distant place

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The divisiveness that permeates Detroit's communities of color

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Anti-black sentiment regularly goes unchecked in cities around Detroit, but that's changing in the era of Trump

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Our oceans broke heat records in 2018 and the consequences are catastrophic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Rising temperatures can be charted back to the late 1950s, and the last five years were the five hottest on record

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Deadly weather: the human cost of 2018's climate disasters - visual guide

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Scientists say extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and intense as emissions rise and the planet warms

# data[].attributes.body
Volcano tourism - good or bad?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Thrill-seeking tourists are putting themselves in danger and hampering emergency services by heading towards volcanoes when they erupt.

A report from the Royal Geographical Society warns of the growing risks caused by "volcano tourism".

Emergency authorities in countries such as Iceland now have to contend with the arrival of tourists who rush there to get close to an exploding volcano.

The study says such tourists fail to understand the seriousness of the risk.

The study, published by the Royal Geographical Society and written by University of Cambridge geographer Amy Donovan, warns that such visitors can create dangerous problems for already stretched rescue services.

'Volcanophiles'

The phenomenon of "volcano tourism" has seen thousands of people trying to get close to the site of erupting volcanoes for the physical experience of seeing, hearing and feeling the heat of such a natural spectacle.

Dr Donovan says that such people are fascinated by the elemental power of volcanoes and are attracted by such an intense experience.

"You can breathe the gas, hear the sounds the earth is making. They want to get closer to feel the power of the earth," she says.

At the extreme end, she says there are so-called "volcanophiles" who chase exploding volcanoes around the world.

She says the increase in volcano tourism could be driven by the rise of mobile phones, where people want to be able to record themselves in such dramatic settings.

But they also fail to realise the great danger they could face.

There are injuries from people being hit by chunks of rock or lava bombs. Or else people might get close to a "fire fountain" and not realise there could be poisonous gases.

Tourists might not understand how quickly eruptions could change or that other threats such as flooding could emerge.

In such cases, the need to rescue tourists can put emergency services in danger and delay their safety plans.

An eruption in Iceland saw a group of tourists avoiding safety limits by hiring a helicopter to try to land at night near the volcano.

In 2010, there were two deaths among tourists in Iceland trying to cross a glacier to reach a volcano.

The study says that civil defence services can be left frustrated, as tourists push into areas from which they could not be easily evacuated.

While the tourist industry might want to encourage such travel, Dr Donovan says it can become a big challenge for authorities in an emergency.

"People break safety regulations. You can't police the site of a volcano at night.

"Many active volcanic countries face the dilemma of wanting tourists, but also wanting to keep people safe, which creates a difficult conundrum," said Dr Donovan.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Thrill-seeking tourists are putting themselves in danger and hampering emergency services by heading towards volcanoes when they erupt. A report from the Royal Geographical Society warns of the growing risks caused by "volcano tourism". Emergency authorities in countries such as Iceland now have to contend with the arrival of tourists who rush there to get close to an exploding volcano.

# data[].attributes.body
Category 5 hurricanes?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
This is how the world ends: will we soon see category 6 hurricanes?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
There is no such thing as a category 6 hurricane or tropical storm - yet. But a combination of warmer oceans and more water in the atmosphere could make the devastation of 2017 pale in comparison

# data[].attributes.headline
BBC on the Indonesian volcano and tsunami 

# data[].attributes.subject
BBC on the Indonesian volcano and tsunami 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The scale of the dramatic collapse of the Indonesian volcano that led to last Saturday's devastating tsunami in the Sunda Strait is becoming clear.

Researchers have examined satellite images of Anak Krakatau to calculate the amount of rock and ash that sheared off into the sea.

They say the volcano has lost more than two-thirds of its height and volume during the past week.

Much of this missing mass could have slid into the sea in one movement.

It would certainly explain the displacement of water and the generation of waves up to 5m high that then inundated the nearby coastlines of Java and Sumatra.

Indonesia's disaster agency says more than 400 people are confirmed dead with 20 or so still missing. In excess of 40,000 have been displaced.

The Centre of Vulcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) has been studying pictures from a number of radar satellites, including the European Union's Sentinel-1 constellation and the German TerraSAR-X platform.

Radar has the advantage of being able to see the ground day or night, and to be able to pierce cloud.

The capability has allowed some initial measurements to be made of Anak Krakatau's lost stature, in particular on its western side.

What was once a volcanic cone standing some 340m high is now just 110m tall, says the PVMBG.

In terms of volume, 150-170 million cubic metres of material has gone, leaving only 40-70 million cubic metres still in place.

Quite how much mass was lost on 22 December itself and how much in the following days is unknown. Scientists may have a better idea once they have had a chance to visit the volcano and conduct more extensive surveys.

But with the eruptions still ongoing and a safety exclusion zone in force - no-one is going near Anak Krakatau.

Cone collapse with tsunami generation was considered a potential hazard before last Saturday.

Scientists had modelled the possibility six years ago, even identifying the western flank of Anak Krakatau as the section of the volcano most likely to fail.

The study, although simulating a larger event, predicted wave heights and coastal inundation times that were remarkably similar to what actually happened.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The scale of the dramatic collapse of the Indonesian volcano that led to last Saturday's devastating tsunami in the Sunda Strait is becoming clear. Researchers have examined satellite images of Anak Krakatau to calculate the amount of rock and ash that sheared off into the sea.

# data[].attributes.body
Some good graphics and maps

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Indonesia tsunami caused by collapse of volcano, experts confirm

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Confirmation comes as officials say country must develop new tsunami early warning system

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why are California wildfires so bad? An interactive look

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
With 2018 shaping up to be the most destructive year yet, how did the state get to this point?

# data[].attributes.body
BBC satellite images

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Super Typhoon Haiyan has battered the Philippines with ferocious winds of up to 320 km/h (199mph). Although not the most powerful storm to have ever formed in recorded history, it could be the strongest at the time of landfall.

Satellite images show the extent of the storm as it approached the Philippines on 7 November. At times it stretched 600km (372 miles) across. If the same storm was placed over a map of Europe it would stretch from London to Berlin.

How Super Typhoon Haiyan would stretch if placed over Northern Europe

Super Typhoon Haiyan is the 25th tropical storm to enter Philippine territory this year and reports suggest there have been sustained winds of some 320 km/h (199mph) with gusts of up to 378 km/h (235mph).

The "worst" storm is hard to define as such events differ in extremes of wind speeds or gusts, pressure, damage or loss of human life. Some major storms also lose their ferocity as they cross the sea and make landfall.

Major storms in the Pacific region in recent years include the Super Typhoon Megi which hit the Philippines in October 2010 before picking up again and moving on to mainland China. Damage caused by winds reaching 268 km/h (167mph) left 200,000 Filipinos homeless.

But there were surprisingly few fatalities compared with the 2012 Typhoon Bopha, whose 175mph winds wreaked havoc and caused more than 1,000 deaths - or the 1999 Orissa Cyclone in India which wiped out everything in its path, leaving more than 10,000 dead and millions homeless.

Hurricane Katrina, by comparison was Category 3, with winds of 205 km/h (125 mph) when it made landfall in August 2005 in the United States.

Katrina's trail of destruction through the Bahamas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama left around 1,800 people dead and caused an estimated $108bn in damage.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Super Typhoon Haiyan has battered the Philippines with ferocious winds of up to 320 km/h (199mph). Although not the most powerful storm to have ever formed in recorded history, it could be the strongest at the time of landfall. Satellite images show the extent of the storm as it approached the Philippines on 7 November.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Millions of people have been affected by the typhoon which swept through the Philippines with winds gusting up to 270km/h. Parts of the low-lying islands were completely flattened and many hundreds of thousands of people are now homeless.
Path of the typhoon

The map below shows the path of the storm through the Philippines. The worst-affected islands include Leyte and Cebu.

Relief Web has produced estimates of the numbers of people affected in each province. It says Tacloban City in Leyte province has been devastated, with most houses destroyed. In total, 670,000 people are said to have been displaced - about 55% of them are living in evacuation centres.

But with roads blocked and poor communications, a complete picture of how many people have been affected may not emerge for some time.

Height of the the storm surge

The strong winds whipped up by Typhoon Haiyan also contributed to a storm surge, which sent a wall of water crashing through some low-lying areas. The storm surge reached its height at the city of Tacloban.

Although official calculations by the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS) put the height of the storm surge in Tacloban at 2.3m, local conditions will have meant the actual level was far higher.

The city is located at the head of a bay which faced directly towards the oncoming typhoon and the arrival of the storm surge coincided with a high tide forcing the water levels up to about 5m.

Tacloban devastation

The typhoon and storm surge has destroyed much of Tacloban, flattening buildings and leaving many of the 220,000 population homeless. Piles of debris are now hampering relief efforts and people are desperate for food and shelter.

×

×

Aid efforts in the Philippines have been hampered by bad weather. Millions of people have been affected and relief workers are struggling to get supplies into the worst-hit areas.

The exact number of dead is still unknown - but it is believed more than 10,000 residents died in the city of Tacloban alone.

Jon Donnison reports from the city where hardly a single building has been left standing.

×

Much of Tacloban was devastated by the typhoon and resulting storm surge. Roads in and out of the city have been blocked by people trying to get in to find relatives and friends and people desperate to get out. Officials say the death toll may rise even further than the current 10,000 estimate as the full scale of the devastation becomes clear. Most of those who died are thought to have drowned or been crushed by collapsing buildings.

×

Hundreds of people have gathered at Tacloban airport some are desperate for food and water, while others are trying to get a flight out. The airport partially reopened on Monday 11 November, three days after the typhoon, but only for flights carrying relief supplies and equipment. The airport has also become a makeshift morgue for the growing number of bodies.

×

The city's sports stadium withstood the force of the storm and thousands of people have now taken up temporary residence there. There have been reports of people attacking trucks loaded with food, tents and water, as supplies of food and medicine in the city run low. Severed roads and communications have hampered relief efforts.

The city lies on the easterly island of Leyte and caught the full force of the typhoon with winds approaching 310km/h (195mph).

The spit of land on which Tacloban airport is located and the downtown areas are the parts of the city that have been worst-affected.

Once the relief effort is completed, rebuilding Tacloban could take many years.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Millions of people have been affected by the typhoon which swept through the Philippines with winds gusting up to 270km/h. Parts of the low-lying islands were completely flattened and many hundreds of thousands of people are now homeless. The map below shows the path of the storm through the Philippines.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
earth :: a global map of wind, weather, and ocean conditions

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
See current wind, weather, ocean, and pollution conditions, as forecast by supercomputers, on an interactive animated map. Updated every three hours.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Californian town of Paradise has been devastated by the deadliest wildfire in the state's history. At least 81 people have lost their lives and hundreds more have been reported missing. As families across the US come together for Thanksgiving, Paradise's residents are beginning to assess the damage to their lives and the town they called home.
When gale-force winds drove flames from the Camp Fire through dried-out scrub and trees into Paradise on 8 November, its people fled for their lives.

In the space of a day, the flames had engulfed much of the town - home to 27,000.

Some of the victims died trying to get away, while others were discovered in the burned-out ruins of their homes.

An estimated 13,000 homes were destroyed, with many of the town's mainly-wooden houses quickly reduced to ashes.

The authorities are still working to search and identify bodies as the fire continues to burn in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas.

While a forecast of heavy rains could help extinguish the flames, it could also hinder the search for the remains of victims and cause misery for those left homeless by the disaster.

Interactive Paradise's Kilcrease Circle is among the burnt-out areas (slide to compare before and after)

Thanksgiving plans

As the rest of America sits down to celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday, those left homeless by the raging Camp Fire are contemplating their futures.

A number of organisations are on hand to help with the immediate crisis, providing shelter, clothes and food.

And for Thanksgiving itself, meals are being donated by several non-profit organisations - the day seen as a chance to bring together those affected to start the healing process.

For Kassy Parish, 19, such generosity after the trauma of the fire has been comforting.

She plans to spend Thanksgiving at her mother-in-law's, but a stranger has offered her twin sister, Alli, somewhere to sleep and invited her to join his family for the annual celebratory meal.

"It's brought out so much good in a lot of people in the area," said Kassy. "A lot of people have been getting together and making sure everyone is taken care of."

Kassy was staying with her mom and stepfather at their home on Skyway - one of the three main routes into Paradise - when the fire spread through the town. Their house was burned down. Her six siblings also lost their homes.

Before the disaster struck, the town was a popular retirement spot and, according to the latest census, about a quarter of the population was aged 65 or over.

Kassy worked as a personal carer providing support for adults in the town when they were unable to live independently.

She plans to stay in the town, where everyone knows everyone.

"I know it's going to take a couple of years until Paradise is rebuilt but I have lived here all my life," she said.

Acres of land destroyed

The Camp Fire scorched 152,000 acres of land along with the thousands of the homes built on it. The blaze is still only 75% contained.

The fire isn't expected to be fully under control until the end of the month, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Although, there is no exact figure for the number of people left homeless, six official evacuation centres have been set up, including two in fairgrounds which had closed for the season. Some people have also taken refuge in tents or cars.

Hundreds of Red Cross volunteers are helping run the emergency shelters, which slept up to 950 on one night, as well as providing meals for all evacuees. They are also dealing with a fast-spreading norovirus outbreak, which has been reported at four of them.

The Red Cross is helping people search for those still missing, through their safe and well website.

Sean Smith, debris coordinator for the California Office of Emergency Services told Time magazine the post-fire clean-up would be the biggest since the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

One estimate puts the cost at $1.2 billion (about £900m).

Along with the 13,000 homes destroyed, almost 500 businesses have also been hit.

Morgan Stanley estimates insured property losses could approach $4 billion (£3.1m), while Moody's Investor Services puts the figure at $6.8bn (£5.3m).

"It's one of the worst disasters that I've seen in my career, hands down," Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Brock Long told a news conference.

While federal funds are expected to provide about 75% of Paradise's recovery costs, the state of California will also contribute.

The money will help rebuild streets, public utilities and buildings and possibly install a new sewer system - Paradise was the largest town in California relying on septic tanks - but families without insurance may have to bear the cost of rebuilding their own homes.

Kassy and her family have set up a crowdfunding page to help them get back on their feet. Others are expected to do the same.

'Survived three fires'

But for Maurine Johnson, who has lived in Paradise for more than 60 years, it is too soon to contemplate the future.

The 79-year-old great-great grandmother has lost her family home and her estate agency business, built up over many years with her late husband. Her two sons have also lost their homes.

She has experienced blazes before, but this one was different, she said.

"We have been through two or three fires up there and never felt threatened or worried."

Maurine, who fell over and broke her nose and damaged her teeth while visiting her sister-in-law at one of the evacuation centres, described how she fled her home with just one change of clothes and her mobile phone.

She admitted she still did not appreciate the gravity of her situation, but has been cheered by other people's generosity.

"I am having to wear donated clothes," she said. "It's a humbling experience when you are having to take from people."

It is this spirit of giving that has led many organisations to provide 15,000 Thanksgiving meals to Camp Fire survivors at several locations, including shelters, on Thursday.

Food for the Thanksgiving Together events will be provided by the non-profit World Central Kitchen and Sierra Nevada Brewing Co, while celebrity chefs will work side by side with Paradise restaurant owners to prepare the food.

"We have seen the power of food to bring communities together, especially in times of great need," reads a post on the World Central Kitchen website.

But the question for many of those affected by the Paradise fire, is whether they will return to the town.

Mayor of Paradise Jody Jones believes they will and that the town will be reborn.

"We're committed to rebuilding," she said. "It's not an 'if', it's 'How long is it going to take?'"

But Maurine, who is considering winding up her estate agency business and retiring, fears many will not return. People are already moving on, she said.

"They are leaving the state - others won't be back."

By Alison Trowsdale, Lucy Rodgers, Daniel Dunford, Dominic Bailey, Will Dahlgreen and Debie Loizou.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
California fires: Thanksgiving hope in Paradise

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Californian town of Paradise has been devastated by the deadliest wildfire in the state's history. At least 81 people have lost their lives and hundreds more have been reported missing. As families across the US come together for Thanksgiving, Paradise's residents are beginning to assess the damage to their lives and the town they called home.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Quick note: I am updating this project to make it more engaging and more useful in classrooms. If you are a teacher or a student using this in class, I'd appreciate it if you would shoot me a quick note describing how you use it and what might make it more helpful: vigentyler@gmail.com. You can also email me if you're willing to test out the new features to provide feedback before they are released, or if you just want me to let you know when it is done.

The update will be released in 2024. Thanks! -Tyler

Other spurious things

Something totally different: The Mystery of the Bloomfield Bridge - a long-form over-the-top article about the history of one specific bridge in Minnesota. Published August 28, 2023.

Discover a correlation: find new correlations. Note from Tyler: This is not working, but I am in the process of fixing it. Shoot me an email if you'd like an update when I fix it.

View the sources of every statistic in the book.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Quick note: I am updating this project to make it more engaging and more useful in classrooms. If you are a teacher or a student using this in class, I'd appreciate it if you would shoot me a quick note describing how you use it and what might make it more helpful: vigentyler@gmail.com.

# data[].attributes.body
Data graph calculator

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Explore math with our beautiful, free online graphing calculator. Graph functions, plot points, visualize algebraic equations, add sliders, animate graphs, and more.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In an attempt to curb alarming levels of pollution in the Indian capital, Delhi, authorities have announced that private cars with even and odd number plates will be allowed only on alternate days from Friday.

The "odd-even" car rationing experiment will run for an initial two-week trial period after which the government will decide whether to extend it or junk it.

The city - the most polluted in the world, according to the World Health Organisation - has been experiencing hazardous levels of pollution this winter - and the government believes that draconian measures are needed to help improve the air quality.

The BBC's Geeta Pandey in Delhi explains how this formula will work.

How will the 'odd-even' plan work?

For the first 15 days in the New Year, number plates ending with odd numbers - one, three, five, seven and nine - will be allowed on odd dates while number plates ending with even numbers - zero, two, four, six and eight - will be allowed on even dates.

The restrictions will be in place from 8am to 8pm from Monday to Saturday.

The rule has to be followed by everyone, except for those who have been granted exemption.

Delhi is known for its wide avenues, but with more than 8.5 million vehicles in the city, the roads are choked with endless traffic snarls.

And reports say with 1,400 new cars being added to the city roads every day, the situation is going to get only worse.

Authorities say car emissions are a major contributor to pollution and curtailing their use will help clean the city air.

They want to encourage more people to start using public transport like the Metro and the bus or take to cycling.

The odd-even formula is among several measures aimed at reducing smog levels - the plan is also to shut some coal-fired power plants in the vicinity of the city and vacuum roads to reduce dust.

Who is exempted?

The list of exemptions is long:

All VIPs - including the president, vice-president, prime minister, all government ministers, several senior politicians, judges and foreign diplomats

Women drivers - alone or when they are driving with female passengers. Male children up to 12 years are allowed, but no adult men can travel in the car

Two-wheelers, which include motorbikes and scooters

Non-polluting vehicles - those that run on clean fuel like CNG (compressed natural gas) or electricity

Emergency vehicles - ambulances, fire engines, hospital and prison vehicles, hearses, enforcement vehicles or those belonging to paramilitary forces

Disabled drivers

Those on the way to hospital for emergency treatment - they will be allowed to go if they can "prove the emergency" to the traffic policemen

This long list of exemptions has caused much heartburn - the Delhi police chief has said enforcing the scheme will be difficult and the Delhi high court has asked the government to explain the rationale behind exempting women and two-wheelers.

How will the scheme be enforced?

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kerjiwal has said the idea is to encourage people to use public transport more and to cope with the increased numbers, the government will be running 3,000 additional buses.

Schools have been ordered to remain shut until 15 January so that their buses could be used as public transport.

Car-pooling is being encouraged and the web-based taxi service Uber and radio-taxi service Meru have also launched pooling facilities.

Thousands of traffic policemen will be deployed to catch the violators and the offenders will have to pay a fine of 2,000 rupees ($30; £20) - rather steep by Indian standards where traffic offenders generally get away with a fine of 100 rupees to 400 rupees.

In addition, Mr Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has roped in more than 7,500 volunteers - they will man nearly 200 traffic signals, carrying placards to encourage people to follow the scheme. They will tell the offenders "politely that they should follow the law and give them a flower and ask them to go home".

What has been the public reaction?

Mixed.

The chief justice of India and the US embassy - though on the list of exemptions - have said they would carpool and follow the odd-even formula.

Many residents, sick of breathing the toxic air, have expressed their support and said they would join in to make the scheme a success.

Many others, however, are complaining about the inconvenience they would face getting to work - they point out the inadequate public transport infrastructure and poor last-mile connectivity.

The Metro and buses are already bursting at the seams and with millions more taking to public transport, overcrowding will get worse, they say.

Will it help clean the Delhi air?

A few months ago, Delhi introduced a "car-free day" on the 22nd of every month - on that day, cars are banned from one city district for a few hours and authorities say the air quality monitoring has shown a plunge in pollution levels in the area after the exercise.

They say they are confident that the odd-even formula, along with the other measures, will make a difference.

Critics, however, say it's too little because of the long list of exemptions.

The environmental group, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), has welcomed the "emergency action to reduce vehicle numbers on the road" but questioned the absurdity of exempting two-wheelers, which account for more than 30% of air pollutants generated by the transport sector in Delhi, and women drivers.

Also, Delhi'ites are notorious for not following traffic regulations and there is talk already of how people will get around the ban with forged "sliding number plates" to fit the odd-even formula, how men might start dressing in drag to evade detection, how many may pretend to be sick and how many would rush to buy a second car.

Where did the idea come from?

Car rationing has been tried in many countries around the world.

In 1989, Mexico's capital city introduced "hoy no circula" - roughly translating as "today, (your car) does not circulate".

Since then, similar restrictions have been tried in the Colombian capital Bogota, the Chilean capital Santiago, Brazil's largest city Sao Paulo, the French capital Paris and the Chinese capital Beijing.

Beijing's odd-even formula imposed ahead of the 2008 Olympics produced its best air quality in a decade - with a Chinese government study claiming that vehicle emissions reduced by 40%.

Indian authorities say they are hopeful of similar results.

In recent years though, Beijing's pollution levels have worsened again - a warning to authorities in Delhi that the measures will have to be sustained in the long run.

Will it be extended?

The Delhi chief minister has said if the policy causes too much inconvenience to the city residents, they will scrap it.

For the next fortnight though, all eyes will be on Delhi - the WHO survey of global cities last year said that besides Delhi, 13 of the most polluted 20 cities in the world were in India.

If the experiment succeeds in cleaning up Delhi's air, other cities may also be willing to try out the odd-even formula.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How will Delhi's 'odd-even' car rationing work?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In an attempt to curb alarming levels of pollution in the Indian capital, Delhi, authorities have announced that private cars with even and odd number plates will be allowed only on alternate days from Friday. The "odd-even" car rationing experiment will run for an initial two-week trial period after which the government will decide whether to extend it or junk it.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Footage shows Indonesian earthquake causing soil liquefaction

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
At least 832 people were killed in the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, the national disaster agency says.

Many people were reported trapped in the rubble of buildings that collapsed in Friday's 7.5-magnitude earthquake, agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told a news conference.

The quake triggered tsunami waves as high as 6m (20ft), he added.

Vice-President Jusuf Kalla said the final death toll could be thousands.

Rescuers have been digging by hand in the search for survivors in the city of Palu.

"What we now desperately need is heavy machinery to clear the rubble. I have my staff on the ground, but it's impossible just to rely on their strength alone to clear this," Muhammad Syaugi, head of the national search-and-rescue agency, told AFP news agency.

There have also been concerns about the town of Donggala, where the impact is still unclear.

The Red Cross estimates that more than 1.6 million people have been affected by the earthquake and tsunami which it described as a tragedy that "could get much worse".

Strong aftershocks have continued to hit the island since Friday's earthquake.

President Joko Widodo visited Palu to view sites affected by the disaster, including Talise Beach - the main tourist area that was badly affected by the tsunami.

"I know there are many problems that need to be solved in a short time, including communications," he said.

What is the situation in Palu?

Many remain missing in the city of 335,000, some thought to be trapped in the debris of collapsed buildings.

Rescue teams dug by hand to free 24 people trapped in the rubble of the Roa-Roa hotel in the city of Palu, but there are fears that dozens more remain trapped.

Bodies have been lying in city streets and the injured are being treated in tents because of damage to hospitals.

Anxious survivors in Palu bedded down in the open air on Saturday night, heeding advice by officials not to return to their homes as a precaution.

"It feels very tense," Risa Kusuma, who was with her feverish baby boy at an evacuation centre, told AFP.

"Every minute an ambulance brings in bodies. Clean water is scarce. The minimarkets are looted everywhere."

'Supplies running out'
By Rebecca Henschke, in Poso
In Poso, a four-hour drive from Palu, supplies are running out. State-owned petrol stations have closed as they have run dry. People are queuing up at roadside stalls, buying petrol in bottles to take into the affected area and to find missing loved ones. Supermarkets have limited food left and it is difficult to find bottled water.

Ermi Liana, who is travelling with our BBC team, doesn't know if her parents are alive. "They live close to a bridge that collapsed. I can't reach them by phone," she says. "I can only pray they are alive."

We haven't seen any aid heading in and there is still no communication link to the town of Donggala.

Why were so many killed on Friday?

The 7.5 magnitude quake occurred at a shallow depth of 10km (6.2 miles) just off the central island of Sulawesi at 18:03 (10:03 GMT), triggering a tsunami, US monitors say.

Many people were on the beach in Palu, preparing for a festival, and were caught when waves swept in.

Video shows people screaming and fleeing in panic.

As well as destroying homes, the quake wrecked a shopping centre, a mosque, a hotel and a road bridge.

An air traffic controller at Palu airport died ensuring a plane took off safely after the quake.

What do survivors say?

When the quake hit, "we all panicked and ran out of the house," Anser Bachmid, 39, told AFP news agency. "People here need aid - food, drink, clean water. We don't know what to eat for dinner tonight."

"I just ran when I saw the waves hitting homes on the coastline," Palu resident Rusidanto said.

Dwi Haris, who was in the city for a wedding, was staying in a hotel with his wife and daughter when the quake struck.

"There was no time to save ourselves," he told the Associated Press news agency. "I was squeezed into the ruins of the wall... I heard my wife cry for help but then silence. I don't know what happened to her and my child. I hope they are safe."

With back and shoulder injuries, he is being treated outdoors at Palu's Army Hospital.

What is being done to help?

Aid is being flown from the capital Jakarta into Palu airport, using the part of its runway still intact.

Patients are being treated in the open outside city hospitals and at least one military field hospital has been erected.

The regional head of the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI), Komang, asked the authorities for immediate help.

"We need tents, medicines, medical personnel, tarpaulins, blankets and more of other things," he said.

The UK-based charity Save the Children is sending an assessment team to the disaster zone.

"Unfortunately the more information that we're getting, the worse the situation appears to be," charity spokesman Tom Howells told the BBC from Jakarta.
Have you been affected by the earthquake? If it is safe to do so, share your experience by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:

WhatsApp: +44 7555 173285

Or Upload your pictures/video here

Tweet: @BBC_HaveYourSay

Send an SMS or MMS to 61124 (UK) or +44 7624 800 100 (international)

Please read our terms & conditions and privacy policy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
At least 832 people were killed in the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, the national disaster agency says. Many people were reported trapped in the rubble of buildings that collapsed in Friday's 7.5-magnitude earthquake, agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told a news conference.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Are you thinking about studying Geography at GCSE or A-level? Our guide will tell you all you need to know about careers that use geography and what jobs are available.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Drones Sacrificed for Spectacular Volcano Video | National Geographic

# data[].attributes.body
Careers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A study of the graduate class of 2009 found 8.9 per cent were out of work in January 2010 - the highest unemployment level for 17 years. The poll, by the Higher Education Careers Services Unit charity, discovered graduates with degrees in IT had the bleakest prospects with an unemployment rate of 16.3% among their number - media studies graduates also fared badly with 14.6% unemployed six months after graduation.

By contrast, geography and psychology graduates had a better than average chance of getting work - some 7.4% and 8.3% were out of a job respectively. We asked our experts why they thought graduates of these subjects were found to be least likely to be unemployed.

Dr Alison Green is the psychology programme director at the Open University (OU) and chair of the Psychology Programme Committee, the body that oversees all psychology qualifications offered by the OU

Psychology graduates gain an impressive range of skills that make them highly employable: A key factor behind this success story is that psychology graduates acquire diverse knowledge and an impressive range of skills that make them highly employable across an enviable range of professions that offer real prospects. Psychology programmes deliver skills employers value, such as numerical skills, the ability to understand and work with statistics, effective communication and the ability to work productively in teams - and this gives students a real edge when competing with graduates from other disciplines. Our Open University psychology graduates, for example, move into careers in advertising, career counselling, education, the health professions, human resources, management and social services, and of course they also have the option to progress a career in a professional area of psychology, such as forensic psychology. It's the combination of skills and the nature of the discipline itself that not only underpins the recent growth in numbers of students studying psychology at university (and let's not forget that psychology is the fourth most popular A-level subject too) but also assures its continuing relevance in the global marketplace.
Derek Mowbray is director of the Management Advisory Service and visiting professor in psychology at Northumbria University
Studying psychology helps prepare graduates for many different types of work: Careers for psychology graduates are going to be on the broader canvas than for other, more vocationally trained, graduates, as psychology is an education that prepares people to acquire skills that can be applied to an infinite range of activities. Apart from careers in psychology, psychology is applied to anything that involves people. Psychology graduates will know the significance of being flexible and adaptable and will have the level of confidence to try anything.

Anne Wilson is head of careers at Student Careers & Skills, University of Warwick

Psychology students often gain extra work experience and further study - which enhances their employability: Psychology graduates, when compared to graduates overall, fare slightly better than average in the graduate employment stakes. While graduates from this discipline have many options open to them, it's also true that these students know that if they want to apply their psychology theory in the workplace for a range of careers (clinical, education, neuropsychology, forensic, health, sport and so on) they understand a period of further study and work experience - up to 12 months - is necessary. Typically these students will have been gaining some relevant experience while at university, some through compulsory sandwich placements. Students will continue to build on this when they leave. These experiences would certainly enhance their employability.

It is important to remember that the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) reports on graduate destinations a mere six months after graduation which is an insufficiently long enough period of time for many students to have secured a graduate-level position.
James Uffindell is MD and founder of the Bright Network, a careers network for students, graduates and young professionals
Geography and psychology graduates are attracted to industries with increasing numbers of vacancies: We work with high flying geography and psychology graduates who are anecdotally and statistically more interested in the areas of highest employment demand. Accountancy, banking and general management, the three areas projected to benefit from the largest increase in vacancies this year, are all favoured by geography and psychology graduates. Out of the graduates that have joined Bright Network this year, on average 28.7% are interested in a career in accounting and finance, (geographers have a 26% interest level, so about average), however just 14% of IT graduates (the most unemployed group) are interested in this sector. This is a shame as banks and finance institutions are keen to acquire their skills.

Demand is strong for graduates from leading universities and geography and psychology are far more likely to be studied at these institutions (often labelled the old universities) than the former polytechnics where media studies graduates, who seem to have higher unemployment rates, appear more prevalent.

Nick Keeley is director of the Careers Service at Newcastle University

Studying geography arms graduates with a mix of skills employers want to see: Geography students generally do well in terms of their relatively low unemployment rates. You could attribute this to the fact that the degree helps develop a whole range of employability skills including numeracy, teamwork through regular field trips, analytical skills in the lab and a certain technical savviness through using various specialist computing applications. Also, the subject area in itself cultivates a world view and a certain cultural sensitivity. These all potentially help a geographer to stand out in the labour market.
Michael Gray graduated in 2009 with a 2:1 in BA Geography from the University of Leeds. After a period of travel Michael has undergone various work placements in the media industry with the goal of finding work as a TV researcher
Research should look at what unemployed graduates are doing: Does the research account for work placements? I myself am technically part of the 7.4%, but that's because I'm choosing to put my energy into working for free in the media industry. I also believe geography encourages travel, and a lot of my friends (including myself) have been abroad for a stretch of time in the last year, or are away at the moment working or travelling, learning languages and teaching languages. Although the research is interesting, I think it'd more interesting to look at the graduates from each degree that aren't being productive for whatever reason. If they're on the dole, what are they doing about it? How many people are actually unemployed? I think it's fine to be part of the 7.4% statistic, as long as you're doing something about it.
Joseph Richardson graduated with a 2:1 in BA Geography. He is currently temping in a call centre and wants to pursue a careers as a copywriter or freelance writer
Geography students don't have a set career path like other subjects with higher unemployment statistics: If you're not sure what to do, you can't go wrong with geography; that was certainly the case for me. Geography doesn't have a set career path like the disciplines showing the highest levels of unemployment. If you graduate with an IT degree you are going to work with computers and will perhaps be more inclined to accept being unemployed until the right position comes along; whereas a geographer will possibly accept a more varied range of role. Most of those who graduated with me are in work, the majority not in roles directly linked to geography, but employed nonetheless. With geography the more rigid career paths such as town planning and teaching require further studies, be it a PGCE or a master's. Perhaps more geography graduates are in further study and therefore not showing up as unemployed. As a geography graduate I naturally take some solace in knowing my degree is faring better than most but with so few of my friends in graduate-level jobs directly linking to the degree it's hard to be too impressed.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What makes psychology and geography grads the most employable?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A study of the graduate class of 2009 found 8.9 per cent were out of work in January 2010 - the highest unemployment level for 17 years. The poll, by the Higher Education Careers Services Unit charity, discovered graduates with degrees in IT had the bleakest prospects with an unemployment rate of 16.3% among their number - media studies graduates also fared badly with 14.6% unemployed six months after graduation.

# data[].attributes.body
(A2 - water cycle)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Rainfall is a part of the natural hydrological cycle. It is one of the vital water flows that link atmospheric systems with ecosystems and human systems. Any long-term changes in the amount, timing or duration of rainfall could bring a range of serious geographical effects. Two recent reports examine the evidence for changing water flows. Firstly, the Living With Environmental Change (LWEC) 2007 report focuses on the UK. Secondly, the 2013 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment examines evidence for change globally. Drawing on both, this article provides GCSE and AS-level students with an update on recent and predicted trends in the UK's water cycle and weather. Could it be that climate change is to blame for recent flooding and extreme weather?

Water availability in the UK is naturally unreliable. Before considering how climate change could affect water supplies, it is important to recognise that hydrological flows are naturally variable (i) from place to place in the UK and (ii) over various timescales.

Natural variability in water supply complicates climate change predictions for the UK greatly. For instance:

Regional variations occur between different parts of the UK. East and southeast England receive just 500-700mm annually. Rainfall is highest in the west and north, especially in mountainous areas. In some parts of the Highlands of Scotland, high levels of relief rainfall bring the annual total to 3,000mm

Seasonal variations occur naturally in the UK. England and Wales have mild winters and warmer summers. There is no pronounced dry season, unlike Mediterranean or Tropical climate regions, although UK rainfall is lower in summer than it is in winter. London's average December rainfall is around 80mm, whereas a lower figure of 50mm in more usual for July. In the wettest parts of the Scottish Highlands, both figures are typically double this

Longer natural cycles also affect the UK's rainfall. Clusters of drier or wetter years are a feature of historical climate records (1975 and 1976 were exceptionally dry years, for example with only 541mm of rainfall between March 1975 and August 1976). This variability is attributed to cyclical variations in the way that the ocean and atmosphere interact on a planetary scale. Of particular importance is the periodic movement of the jet stream, a narrow band of fast moving winds found high up (10 km) in the atmosphere. The jet stream moves in a westerly direction over a region of the north Atlantic where cold air from the Arctic meets warm air from the tropics, before reaching the UK. Rain-bearing depressions develop along the edge of this boundary, known as the polar front, like a series of whirlpools, before migrating westwards over the UK, following the jet stream. Periodic strengthening and weakening of the jet stream occurs, as well as changes in its position, which determines whether storms pass over England or Scotland to a greater extent. The causes of these fluctuations, which are still not fully understood, include the North Atlantic Oscillation (a periodic change in Atlantic Ocean atmospheric pressure) and the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (a periodic change in equatorial air circulation with knock-on effects for the jet stream). The result is complex, natural variability in the occurrence of 'flood-rich' and 'flood-poor' years in the UK.

All of this means that it is hard to predict with any great certainty what the effects of climate change may be for local UK regions! It is also the reason why many scientists are reluctant to attribute any particular event, such as the winter flooding of 2013-14, directly to climate change. Naturally-occurring extremes are always to be expected, given the complex and dynamic character of our climate.

Evaporation
Warmed by the sunlight, water returns to the atmosphere in gaseous (vapour) form.

Condensation
Tiny droplets of water form when rising water vapour cools, sometimes visibly as cloud.

Precipitation
As tiny cloud droplets collide and grow, they merge to form bigger droplets that fall as rain, hail or snow.

Overland flow
Rain that falls at high intensity, or onto saturated or impermeable surface, cannot soak in and travels quickly over the ground surface, downhill, towards rivers and lakes.

Throughflow
Rain that can soak into the soil (by a process called infiltration) flows slowly downslope, through the soil, until it reaches a river or lake.

Groundwater flow
On entering the soil, some rainwater seeps into the rock below, moving slowly through pores, or more rapidly along fractures and lines of weakness (joints and bedding planes).

A warmer world will be one where more evaporation takes place over the oceans - and what goes up must ultimately come down! Climate change scientists therefore believe that rainfall patterns are likely to change in the UK as the world's oceans warm, and may in fact be doing so already (though the effects are hard to disentangle from the jet stream's naturally erratic behaviour). Many scientists do believe, in general, that the UK may in future become faced with:

longer, hotter summers, especially in London and the southeast

warmer, wetter winters, with more rain-bearing storms, of greater intensity, for all parts of the UK, not just northern regions.

Some of the main climate risks for the UK are shown in the table below, along with recent examples. Could these hazards occur more frequently in the future?
River flash flooding
A warming climate and ocean could increase the potential for extremely high intensity rainfall events which outstrips the infiltration capacity of soils. Overland flow - and the potential for flooding - is also exacerbated by steep slopes, thin or compacted soils, impermeable bedrock (or concrete) and a lack of vegetation which would otherwise intercept some of the rainfall. This brings a flash river response that can onset suddenly and be hard to predict. This is the kind of flooding that overwhelmed Jedburgh In December 2013 (and Boscastle in 2004)
Slow-onset river flooding
Even if rainfall intensity is not always high, an increase in the frequency of rain-bearing storms will result in soils becoming saturated. Also, in southern and eastern England the chalk rock below the soil is permeable; water sinks even deeper into the ground. This groundwater emerges slowly into rivers, sometimes many months after the rain fell. When the River Thames burst its banks in January 2014, it was the result of prolonged rainfall, saturated soils and high groundwater levels
Surface water (or pluvial) flooding
When high intensity rainfall collects in hollows and depressions where homes are located, sudden local flooding can occur - and this can happen far from a river or coastline. 3 million UK homes are at some risk of pluvial flooding, many homeowners simply don't realise it. Surface water flooding in June 2007 left the insurance industry with a £3 billion bill
Coastal flooding
This can happen when there is a high tide and a storm is blowing at the same time. Winds drive the high tide further inland than usual, also generating storm waves. The Thames Flood Barrier protects London from storm surges. However, many coastal regions of the UK have limited sea wall protection and were overwhelmed by coastal flooding in January 2014, when waves as high as 20m were reported. Large parts of Devon and Cornwall were badly affected and the sea wall at Dawlish collapsed, destroying a section of the Plymouth-London railway line

Living With Environmental Change (LWEC) is an ambitious and innovative partnership of UK government departments and agencies, including the Environment Agency and the Met Office. LWEC provides environmental reports for the public that aim to make the best use of existing knowledge for policy and practice. LWEC's recent Water Climate Change Impacts report considers the effect of climate change on fresh water in the UK, including rainfall, floods and droughts. The report card is intended to help people understand the scale of possible change.

Based on a review of the available evidence, LWEC is certain of the following 'headline messages':

UK annual average rainfall has not changed since the 18th century. However, in the last thirty years more winter rainfall has fallen in heavy event

Since the 1980s, flooding has increased in both size and duration during winter

UK temperatures have increased by about 1°C since 1980

Sea level is rising by about 3 mm every year.

Although the effects on the UK are likely to vary as highlighted by the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology: "the south of the UK is sinking at a rate of approximately 1mm per year in comparison to global mean sea levels, whilst the north is rising at a rate of 1mm per year". The POST note can be accessed here.

But can these trends be attributed to long-term climate change with any real degree of certainty? The infographic shows LWEC's conclusions and the degree of certainty it attaches to them. If a large number of separate investigations have led to the same conclusion (i.e. that there is both an observable trend and that this trend is linked with a changing climate) then LWEC reports that trend with a high confidence level. Where that have been fewer investigations, or there is greater disagreement on whether a causal link can be established with climate change, then LWEC reports that trend with a lower confidence level.
What does the LWEC report say could happen?

The risks to agriculture and forestry include the problem of drier soils, reducing crop and timber yields and leading to extra demand for water for irrigation. At the same time, increased flooding could reduce the productivity of high-quality agricultural land, which is often in the floodplain. Warmer and drier summers could lead to more wildfires

For businesses the main climate risks include flooding, increased competition for water, and the disruption of transport networks and communication links, for example by floods. There are also indirect risks from changes in agriculture and the natural environment

People's health and wellbeing is particularly affected by flooding, not only through direct injuries and deaths but also because there can be mental health effects. Water-borne diseases may also become more of a problem with increasing temperatures

Buildings and infrastructure may be affected both by extreme weather and long-term changes in climate. Energy infrastructure is at significant risk from flooding. Increased energy demand may increase the demand for water to cool power stations. Roads and railways are disrupted by flooding, and river bridges are at risk from erosion when river flows are high. Our water supply depends on rainfall, and increased rainfall variability may make provision of water supply more difficult. Buildings can be damaged by flooding

The natural environment depends on water in many ways. Lower summer river flows may lead to poor water quality. Warmer rivers and lakes may suit some species, but others will not thrive. Flooding and erosion can damage important habitats

Source: LWEC
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently published its fifth assessment report on climate change. According to the IPCC, each of the last three decades has been successively warmer, and all have been warmer than any preceding decade as far back as 1850. The period from 1983-2012 in the Northern Hemisphere was 'likely' the warmest 30-year period of the last 1,400 years. The following climate change observations and predictions made by the IPCC are highly relevant to climate risk assessment for the UK:

The average land and ocean surface data show a temperature rise of 0.85C over the period 1880-2012

The IPCC is now 'virtually certain' that the upper 700m of the Earth's oceans have warmed during the period from 1971 and 2010 (this could indicate a heightened potential for evaporation and thus the formation of rain-bearing storms over the North Atlantic

However, Arctic sea-ice has continued to fall in extent (introducing more cold water into the North Atlantic)

Thermal expansion of warmer oceans, and run-off from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, means that global mean sea level rise for 2081−2100 is projected to be between 26cm and 82cm (this will heighten flood risk for low-lying coastal areas of the UK).

The UK has been no stranger to flooding in the last decade. In 2004 a flash flood hit the village of Boscastle. 2007 brought nation-wide surface water flooding at a cost of £3 billion. 2012 was also unusual: the whole calendar year was the second wettest UK-wide since 1910, and just a few millimetres short of the record set in 2000 (the wettest year since 1766). January 2014 was the wettest on record (particularly for England and Wales), as successive rainstorms brought saturated soils to Dorset, Wiltshire and Somerset, while the Thames bursts its banks at Henley. Reviewing this evidence, it is clear to see why the impact of climate change on recent weather is a subject of ongoing research.
Isn't it obvious that the climate is changing, to judge by recent rainfall?
No, it's not. The historical record shows unusually wet months of years, sometimes in clusters, are a natural feature of the UK's climate. December 1914 was almost as wet as January 2014. Periodic movements in the jet stream have always brought rainfall variability over differing time scales.
So the recent flood have nothing to do with climate change?
Actually, they might do. Scientists are making progress with 'event attribution' - the confidence with which it is possible to say that a particular period of extreme weather could be attributed to climate change. Recently, scientists have begun to understand to a greater degree how the odds of events have changed, and whether the likelihood of having an extreme weather event has increased or decreased. Peter Stott of the UK Met Office has said: 'It's like loaded dice. The chances of throwing a six have gone up a lot.
So all of the recent floods are in line with climate change models, it just can't be proved for sure.
Not all of them. In particular, the wet early summer weather in the UK in 2012 is actually at odds with IPCC climate change scenarios, in which the UK is projected to experience drier summers. Increased winter rainfall and floods is more in line with what the IPCC have been saying. However, the climate system is so complex that unexpected extreme weather events could also be generated in unanticipated ways.
Is there any way we can be sure of what will happen in the future?
That depends on what you mean by 'sure'. There are many different systems and factors to consider and our understanding is improving all the time. But currently, there is a lot of uncertainty, which is the reason why the LWEC report card does not show 'high certainty' very often. Indeed climate is an average measure of temperature and precipitation taken over 30 years on a rolling basis, so we cannot - and should not - make judgements about individual events.

We do know, for instance, that a warmer Atlantic Ocean would produce more evaporation and heighten the potential for rain-bearing storms to be formed over the Atlantic, close to the UK. But we also know that the melting Arctic ice will introduce more cold water into the Atlantic, and it remains to be seen how this affects ocean currents and temperature patterns. What happens in other parts of the world has an influence too. One theory is that warming in the Pacific is modifying the jet stream by increasing the amplitude of its meanders. This could have the effect of increasing the length of dry and wet periods for parts of the UK (which could help explain the lengthy series of storms in 2013-14). Find out more here.
However you view it, this is bad news for Britain, right?
Not for everyone. During the recent floods, sales of dehumidifiers increased. Pest control firms had a bumper season, provided their own premises did not flood. Rising groundwater in southern England flooded the burrows or rats and mice, triggering a wave of rodent migration into people's houses (Financial Times, 14 February 2014).

This report has been prepared for students sitting GCSE, A Level or Diploma examinations that contain a Rivers, Extreme Weather, or Climate Change component.

Author Dr Simon Oakes is International Baccalaureate Chief Examiner for Geography and previously worked at Middlesex University's Flood Hazard Research Centre on a range of flooding-related projects.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Royal Geographical Society - Geography resources for teachers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Rainfall is a part of the natural hydrological cycle. It is one of the vital water flows that link atmospheric systems with ecosystems and human systems. Any long-term changes in the amount, timing or duration of rainfall could bring a range of serious geographical effects. Two recent reports examine the evidence for changing water flows.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Three-quarters of Venice flooded by exceptional high tide

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Strong winds push water into historic Italian lagoon city in worst flooding in a decade

# data[].attributes.body
Sea floor spreading + polarity reversal

# data[].attributes.body
National Geographic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Seafloor spreading occurs at divergent plate boundaries. As tectonic plates slowly move away from each other, heat from the mantle's convection currents makes the crust more plastic and less dense. The less-dense material rises, often forming a mountain or elevated area of the seafloor.

Eventually, the crust cracks. Hot magma fueled by mantle convection bubbles up to fill these fractures and spills onto the crust. This bubbled-up magma is cooled by frigid seawater to form igneous rock. This rock ( basalt) becomes a new part of Earth's crust.

Seafloor spreading occurs along mid-ocean ridges-large mountain ranges rising from the ocean floor. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge, for instance, separates the North American plate from the Eurasian plate, and the South American plate from the African plate. The East Pacific Rise is a mid-ocean ridge that runs through the eastern Pacific Ocean and separates the Pacific plate from the North American plate, the Cocos plate, the Nazca plate, and the Antarctic plate. The Southeast Indian Ridge marks where the southern Indo-Australian plate forms a divergent boundary with the Antarctic plate.

Seafloor spreading is not consistent at all mid-ocean ridges. Slowly spreading ridges are the sites of tall, narrow underwater cliff s and mountains. Rapidly spreading ridges have a much more gentle slopes.

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge, for instance, is a slow spreading center. It spreads 2-5 centimeters (.8-2 inches) every year and forms an ocean trench about the size of the Grand Canyon. The East Pacific Rise, on the other hand, is a fast spreading center. It spreads about 6-16 centimeters (3-6 inches) every year. There is not an ocean trench at the East Pacific Rise, because the seafloor spreading is too rapid for one to develop!

The newest, thinnest crust on Earth is located near the center of mid-ocean ridge-the actual site of seafloor spreading. The age, density, and thickness of oceanic crust increases with distance from the mid-ocean ridge.

The magnetism of mid-ocean ridges helped scientists first identify the process of seafloor spreading in the early 20th century. Basalt, the once- molten rock that makes up most new oceanic crust, is a fairly magnetic substance, and scientists began using magnetometers to measure the magnetism of the ocean floor in the 1950s. What they discovered was that the magnetism of the ocean floor around mid-ocean ridges was divided into matching "stripes" on either side of the ridge. The specific magnetism of basalt rock is determined by the Earth's magnetic field when the magma is cooling.

Scientists determined that the same process formed the perfectly symmetrical stripes on both side of a mid-ocean ridge. The continual process of seafloor spreading separated the stripes in an orderly pattern.

Oceanic crust slowly moves away from mid-ocean ridges and sites of seafloor spreading. As it moves, it becomes cooler, more dense, and more thick. Eventually, older oceanic crust encounters a tectonic boundary with continental crust.

In some cases, oceanic crust encounters an active plate margin. An active plate margin is an actual plate boundary, where oceanic crust and continental crust crash into each other. Active plate margins are often the site of earthquakes and volcanoes. Oceanic crust created by seafloor spreading in the East Pacific Rise, for instance, may become part of the Ring of Fire, the horseshoe-shaped pattern of volcanoes and earthquake zones around the Pacific ocean basin.

In other cases, oceanic crust encounters a passive plate margin. Passive margins are not plate boundaries, but areas where a single tectonic plate transitions from oceanic lithosphere to continental lithosphere. Passive margins are not sites of faults or subduction zones. Thick layers of sediment overlay the transitional crust of a passive margin. The oceanic crust of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, for instance, will either become part of the passive margin on the North American plate (on the east coast of North America) or the Eurasian plate (on the west coast of Europe).

New geographic features can be created through seafloor spreading. The Red Sea, for example, was created as the African plate and the Arabian plate tore away from each other. Today, only the Sinai Peninsula connects the Middle East (Asia) with North Africa. Eventually, geologists predict, seafloor spreading will completely separate the two continent s-and join the Red and Mediterranean Seas.

Mid-ocean ridges and seafloor spreading can also influence sea levels. As oceanic crust moves away from the shallow mid-ocean ridges, it cools and sinks as it becomes more dense. This increases the volume of the ocean basin and decreases the sea level. For instance, a mid-ocean ridge system in Panthalassa-an ancient ocean that surrounded the supercontinent Pangaea -contributed to shallower oceans and higher sea levels in the Paleozoic era. Panthalassa was an early form of the Pacific Ocean, which today experiences less seafloor spreading and has a much less extensive mid-ocean ridge system. This helps explain why sea levels have fallen dramatically over the past 80 million years.

Seafloor spreading disproves an early part of the theory of continental drift. Supporters of continental drift originally theorize d that the continents moved (drifted) through unmoving oceans. Seafloor spreading proves that the ocean itself is a site of tectonic activity.

Seafloor spreading is just one part of plate tectonics. Subduction is another. Subduction happens where tectonic plates crash into each other instead of spreading apart. At subduction zones, the edge of the denser plate subducts, or slides, beneath the less-dense one. The denser lithospheric material then melts back into the Earth's mantle.

Seafloor spreading creates new crust. Subduction destroys old crust. The two forces roughly balance each other, so the shape and diameter of the Earth remain constant.

Articles & Profiles

Audio & Video

Credits

Media Credits

The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited.

Editor

Jeannie Evers, Emdash Editing

Producer

Caryl-Sue, National Geographic Society

Last Updated

June 8, 2015

User Permissions

For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher. They will best know the preferred format. When you reach out to them, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource.

Media

If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media.

Text

Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service.

Interactives

Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives.

Jeannie Evers, Emdash Editing

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Seafloor spreading occurs at divergent plate boundaries. As tectonic plates slowly move away from each other, heat from the mantle's convection currents makes the crust more plastic and less dense. The less-dense material rises, often forming a mountain or elevated area of the seafloor. Eventually, the crust cracks.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
All the latest news about Indonesia tsunami from the BBC

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Indonesia quake: bodies sent straight to graves as Palu prioritises survivors

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Authorities in city on island of Sulawesi will no longer attempt to identify bodies, as fears grow that death toll will rise significantly

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Inside Palu city - Sulawesi earthquake survivor stories

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Since the earthquake hit the Indonesian island, the death toll has risen every day. The search for victims ends today. Access to the worst hit areas has been difficult, but aid is getting through. Support the DEC Indonesia tsunami appeal at www.dec.org.uk

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Wegener was a German meteorologist, geophysicist and polar researcher. In 1915 he published ' The Origin of Continents and Oceans', which outlined his theory of Continental Drift.

Wegener was a member of four expeditions to Greenland. In 1930 he visited Greenland for the last time, where he died shortly after his fiftieth birthday.

Wegener's theory of Continental Drift was met with scepticism by many scientists. Although he had a lot of evidence to support the theory, he could not explain how the plates moved. It would be almost half a century before this problem began to be solved.

Wegener supported his Continental Drift idea with 5 lines of evidence:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
One of the most important contributions to the development of plate tectonic theory was Alfred Wegener's 1915 publication of 'The origin of continents and oceans' which outlined his theory of Continental Drift. Wegener supported his argument with five lines of evidence.

# data[].attributes.body
Hazards - key words

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The open-ended intergovernmental expert working group on indicators and terminology relating to disaster risk reduction was established by the General Assembly in its resolution 69/284 for the development of a set of possible indicators to measure global progress in the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, coherent with the work of the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators, and the update of the publication entitled "2009 UNISDR Terminology on Disaster Risk Reduction".

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This story map was created with the Story Map Journal application in ArcGIS Online.

# data[].attributes.headline
Is climate change making hurricanes worse?

# data[].attributes.subject
Is climate change making hurricanes worse?

# data[].attributes.body
Hazards

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Is climate change making hurricanes worse?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The 2018 Atlantic hurricane season was expected to be 'below normal' but long-term trends paint a worrying picture

# data[].attributes.body
What is the UK really like?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
For the past few decades, satellites have been taking high definition pictures of the United Kingdom from space. The images are analysed and compared to detailed maps.

Every small area is then given one of dozens of different classifications - from airports to vineyards, glaciers to rubbish dumps.

The work is part of an EU project keeping an eye on changing land use. Is urban sprawl eating into our precious green landscape? Are forests being felled? Are grasslands and wetlands under threat?

Now, using this data treasure trove, we can get a clearer picture of what every corner of the United Kingdom really looks like.

And the results may come as a surprise.

To test the accuracy of your impression of the UK, here are five questions on UK land use.

One of the classifications is "continuous urban fabric" (CUF), applied to areas where 80-100% of the land surface is built on. Up to a fifth might be gardens or small parks, but the vast majority is built on. The City of London is the local authority with the highest proportion of CUF in the country - 98%.

1: What proportion of the whole UK is classified as continuous urban fabric?

A: 0.1%

I am going to guess that was lower than you expected. Continuous urban fabric is actually a very rare land use in the UK. There is another category called discontinuous urban fabric, places where between 50% and 80% of the land surface is built on. Many of our urban areas are greener than you think.

2: What proportion of the UK is classified as discontinuous urban fabric?

A: 5.3%

You are probably suspecting that these figures are missing something, but a variety of different land use data sources come up with broadly the same picture.

The UK National Ecosystem Assessment (NEA), for example, estimates that less than 1% of the country is "built on", about 2% of England. I wrote about their work five years ago.

Ordnance Survey data suggests that all the buildings in the UK - houses, shops, offices, factories, greenhouses - cover 1.4% of the total land surface. Looking at England alone, the figure still rises to only 2%.

Buildings cover less of Britain than the land revealed when the tide goes out.

The complaint that vast swathes of our landscape have been "concreted over" doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Although, the impact of urban development clearly extends beyond its physical footprint, in noise, pollution and infrastructure.

It is also true that the psychological effect of the built environment is greater than other land use types because most of us spend the vast majority of our time surrounded by it. We live our lives in buildings, on roads and pavements and tend, as a result, significantly to overestimate how much of it there is.

It is often only when we fly home from holiday and look down that we are reminded just how green our country actually is.

To get a clearer idea of how UK land is used, we have divided the 44 different land use types into four broad categories:

farmland - pastures, arable land, orchards, vineyards et cetera

natural - moors, forests, lakes, grasslands et cetera

built on - buildings, roads, airports, quarries et cetera

green urban - parks, gardens, golf courses, football pitches et cetera

This reveals most of the UK land mass (57%) is devoted to agriculture, and just over a third (35%) might be termed natural or semi-natural. The categories will always be open to debate because, for instance, moorland used by sheep farmers could be placed in either grouping. We chose to put moorland into the "natural" category.

The question of how to deal with urban landscape is equally problematic. It is clearly important to quantify how much "green" urban there is in our towns and cities. Parks and gardens matter to people. Equally, one shouldn't overstate the greenness of our landscape.

Discontinuous urban fabric assumes between 50% and 80% of the land is built on, but we have taken the most conservative assessment of 80%. We have also assumed that 100% of continuous urban fabric is built on, even though it may be as low as 80%.

Interestingly, the UK NEA thinks our urban landscape is much greener than that, calculating that only 21% of our towns and cities is built on.

Using our much higher assumptions, 5.9% of the UK is built on and 2.5% is what might be called green urban - parks and gardens, golf courses and sports pitches.

The London borough of Richmond upon Thames has the highest proportion of "green urban" landscape anywhere in the UK. More than 58% of the local authority falls into this category: Richmond Park covers some 2,500 acres (10 sq km), and there are a number of large golf courses in the area.

3: The local authority with the greatest proportion of land devoted to golf is Woking. How much?

A: 11%

Overall, British golf courses are calculated to cover 1,256 sq km, an area roughly equivalent to the whole of Greater Manchester and, according to some estimates, just a little smaller than all the land covered by housing.

4: How much of the Lake District is lakes?

A: 3%

The psychological impact of a ghastly eyesore or a beautiful natural feature can lead us to assume it is physically bigger on the landscape than detailed mapping will reveal. Visitors to the Lake District National Park will focus on the glory of Windermere and Ullswater stretching into the distance and imagine the landscape is predominantly lakes.

The land cover few of us encounter or notice is disregarded. That's the story with sphagnum moss, the key ingredient of peat bog.

The peat bog capital of the UK is Na h-Eileanan Siar, Outer Hebrides, where 61% of the land surface is just that.

5: What proportion of the UK is peat bog?

A: 9.4%

Surprising though it may seem, there is almost 100 times as much peat bog in the UK as there is continuous urban fabric. Peat bog covers almost seven times as much land as all Britain's buildings.

The city of Bradford, in West Yorkshire, for example, is 0.3% CUF but 11% peat bogs. This is, of course, a factor of boundaries - the local authority area includes a chunk of the Yorkshire Dales.

But it is also a reminder that places designated as urban can have responsibility for important "natural" habitats. To be clear, a quarter of the Bradford Metropolitan Borough Council is built on - so your eyes don't entirely deceive you.

We have used the term "natural" to encompass land uses that are not principally farmed or urban, but humankind's impact can be detected on almost every patch of the UK.

Even the peat bogs of Yorkshire are managed, with water engineers ensuring the moss doesn't dry out and, on occasion, introducing sphagnum to areas that have previously been drained.

Are barley fields or Kew Gardens or a reservoir bird sanctuary or a golf course or grazed moorlands or a national park any more "natural" than a new housing estate or airport?

There is clearly a balance to be struck between the human need for homes to inhabit, food to eat, air to breathe and space to play against a wider responsibility for the natural world.

To help encourage this important debate, we have published a land use map for every local authority in the UK, dividing each one into the four groups mentioned:

You can find out the story in your neighbourhood at the click of a button.

If you can't see the area search, click or tap here.

But, if you want more detail, all the original local authority mapping data is available in A Land Cover Atlas of the United Kingdom by Alasdair Rae, from the University of Sheffield, who has also been enormously helpful in producing our online maps and quiz questions.

Methodology

The largest component of the "built on" category is "discontinuous urban fabric", within which 20-50% of the surface area may be green space. To account for this we have reassigned the minimum 20% of "discontinuous urban fabric" to "green urban", which in many cases may be an underestimate. The map uses building land cover data from Ordnance Survey.
Produced by Will Dahlgreen. Design by Prina Shah. Development by Evisa Terziu.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
So you think you know what the UK looks like?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
For the past few decades, satellites have been taking high definition pictures of the United Kingdom from space. The images are analysed and compared to detailed maps. Every small area is then given one of dozens of different classifications - from airports to vineyards, glaciers to rubbish dumps.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Marc Ward/Stocktrek Images/Getty

Plate tectonics - the process that shapes Earth's surface and causes earthquakes - may have begun at least half a billion years earlier than thought. And it may have been triggered by staggeringly violent impacts from space rocks.

Earth's surface is divided into more than a dozen tectonic plates that constantly move and jostle against each other. Occasionally one is forced under its neighbour and destroyed, in a process called subduction.

The world we live in is shaped by plate tectonics. It creates landscapes, including high mountain ranges like the Himalayas. It also provides a flow of chemicals from Earth's interior, some of which are essential to life.

Advertisement

Yet nobody knows how or when plate tectonics got started. Other planets like Mars and Venus do not have tectonic plates.

Two new studies propose both a date for plate tectonics' origins, and an explanation for how it kicked off.

Ancient rocks

Nicolas Greber of the University of Geneva, Switzerland, and his colleagues set out to trace the origin of global plate tectonics by determining which rock types were present at different stages of Earth's history.

They focused on two rock types. Mafic rocks like basalt are typically dark, while felsic rocks like granite are lighter, sometimes verging on white.

"It's more difficult to produce felsic rocks like granite," says Greber, because they only form in the presence of water and heat. "The key process that produces them nowadays is subduction zones... because they transport water down into the mantle, the melting region." So felsic rock is a sign that subduction zones were active during their formation.

Greber determined how early in Earth's history felsic rocks were present by looking at shales, which are formed when rocks on land are eroded and carried into the sea, dating back 3.5 billion years. Mafic and felsic rocks carry different mixtures of titanium isotopes, which were preserved in the shales. This revealed that, as far back as 3.5 billion years ago, 55 to 60 per cent of the continental crust was made of felsic rocks.

Shifting plates

For Greber, that means subduction zones and modern plate tectonics must have been in action at least 3.5 billion years ago. It could be even earlier, but he has no older shales to verify that.

This runs counter to the prevailing wisdom, which is that global plate tectonics started around half a billion years later. There has been "an unusual convergence recently on an age of about 3 billion years ago from a number of sources," says Craig O'Neill of Macquarie University in Australia.

For instance, in 2016 Ming Tang of Rice University in Houston, Texas, used different chemical traces in rocks to argue that Earth's crust was largely free of felsic rocks until after 3 billion years ago, and that this marked the onset of plate tectonics (Science, doi.org/cdgr). Tang says Greber's titanium isotopes might not be telling the whole story - but he adds that his analysis might not either. "No one so far can claim they know when plate tectonics started," he says.

The key issue is that tectonics might have started more than once. "The geological record seems, or so we have argued, to indicate a few abortive attempts at plate tectonics earlier, and perhaps some shutdowns later as well," says O'Neill.

Whack whack whack

When Earth was a young planet, its interior was probably too hot to drive plate tectonics, says O'Neill. That is, unless it had help. He has now shown that plate tectonics could have got started much earlier, thanks to massive rocks from space smashing into the planet.

O'Neill and his colleagues simulated what would happen to Earth's crust and interior if rocks of different sizes collided with it. They found that a single large impact could trigger a subduction zone that remained active for 10 million years. By itself that is quite a short-lived period of tectonic activity, but young Earth was hit by a lot of space rocks.

The first spate of impacts happened when the planet was still forming and ended around 4.4 billion years ago. Then there was a lull until 4 billion years ago, followed by an intense bombardment that lasted until 3.5 billion years ago, with occasional big impacts until as recently as 2 billion years ago (Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, doi.org/cdgp).

Combined with Greber's findings, this suggests that the history of plate tectonics on Earth can be split into two phases. From Earth's birth until 3 billion years ago, there was intermittent subduction driven by impacts, which produced the felsic rocks Greber found. After that, the planet's interior had cooled enough for global plate tectonics to begin in earnest.

Journal reference: Nature Geoscience, DOI: 10.1038/NGEO3029; Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.aan8086

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Huge space rocks could have helped start Earth's plate tectonics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Plate tectonics - the process that shapes Earth's surface and causes earthquakes - may have begun at least half a billion years earlier than thought. And it may have been triggered by staggeringly violent impacts from space rocks. Earth's surface is divided into more than a dozen tectonic plates that constantly move and jostle against each other.

# data[].attributes.body
Tsunami's

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This story map was created with the Story Map Cascade application in ArcGIS Online.