W. N. McClean was a pioneer in the development and publication of river flow measurements in Scotland using current metering and chart recorders to produce runoff records for the River Garry, 1913-1915. In 1929 McClean began to establish a much more extensive hydrometric network comprising rainfall and runoff stations throughout the Ness, Lochy, Spey and Aberdeenshire Dee basins. This work was pursued with remarkable vigour until 1949 and was partly instrumental in establishing the UK Inland Water Survey in 1935. The flow record on the Dee commenced in 1929 and, still operational today, is one of the longest continuous runoff records in the UK. McClean's data were collected at a time when many of the catchments were little modified by human interventions. They constitute a unique record of the natural runoff regime for this part of the British uplands and include two of the largest UK floods ever reported.

Measuring the amount of water in the air has been one of the most challenging of routine tasks in meteorology. From the 1650s onwards the methods involved either the uptake of moisture by organic materials such as human hair and whalebone (hygrometry) or the measurement of cooling due to loss of latent heat during evaporation (psychrometry). In 1792 James Hutton reported that a thermometer previously moistened by water records a lower temperature when exposed to cooling in the wind. This led to the development of the first condensation hygrometer by John Leslie in 1801 based on wet- and dry-bulb thermometers, whose design was refined and improved throughout the nineteenth century. Determining relative and absolute humidity values from a hygrometer required the use of a psychrometric equation, first developed by James Ivory in 1822 and later refined by Ernst Ferdinand August, James Apjohn and many others. Modern-day determinations of humidity often involve an aspirated psychrometer located in a Stevenson screen, whose origin can be traced directly back to Hutton’s observation of cooling due to evaporation. An extensive review of the literature on psychrometry records only cursory and ill informed acknowledgement of Hutton’s contribution. This article reasserts Hutton’s seminal role in the history of psychrometry.

The Spey drainage basin incorporates a classic assemblage of fluvial landforms recording both their evolution during the LateglacialLateglacial and HoloceneHolocene and the operation of present-day fluvial processes. Noteworthy examples of relict and active alluvial fans occur alongside major sequences of river terraces. Although most reaches of wandering gravel-bed rivers within the drainage basin are relatively stable today, active meanders and braided reaches (notably in Glen FeshieGlenFeshie) provide an opportunity to assess the operation of present-day processes. Sediment reworked by fluvial processes from glacigenic sources—notably undercut terraces and fans—is often boulder-sized, creating a high threshold for subsequent re-entrainment. Whilst relatively frequent floodsFloods generate channel change in some wandering gravel-bed riversFluvial landformswandering gravel-bed rivers, other fluvial assemblages such as mountain torrents and large fans are only reworked during rare floods.

This paper finds that social differentiation in flood impacts is relatively small soon after a flood, with some surprising results such as professionals and homeowners badly affected in the short‐term – but widens over time, with socially disadvantaged groups displaying less recovery. The paper concludes that vulnerability and resilience to flooding are sensitive to financial resources, institutional support (chiefly from a landlord), and capacity to deal with disruption (chiefly time availability, which is low among professionals and high among retired people). An implication of these findings is that existing indices of flood vulnerability that use multiple measures of social deprivation should be used with caution, as not all conventional aspects of social deprivation are necessarily associated with greater vulnerability to flood impacts.

This paper aims to analyse evidence, based on one of the largest and most representative samples of households previously flooded or living with flood risk to date, of social patterns in a range of flood resilience traits relating to preparedness prior to a flood (e.g., property adaptations, contents insurance, etc.) and mitigations enacted during and immediately following a flood (e.g., receiving a warning, evacuation into temporary accommodation, etc.). The data were collected from a 2006 survey of 1223 households from a variety of locations across Scotland between one and twelve years after major local floods. Our analysis identifies remarkably few social differences in flood preparedness and mitigation measures, although some aspects of demography, housing and length of residence in an area, as well as personal flood history, are important. In light of this finding, we argue that social differences in vulnerability and resilience to flooding arise from deep-seated socio-economic and socio-spatial inequalities that affect exposure to flood risk and ability to recover from flood impacts. The engrained, but well-meaning, assumption in flood risk management that impoverished households and communities are lacking or deficient in flood preparedness or mitigation knowledge and capabilities is somewhat pejorative and misses fundamental, yet sometimes invisible, social stratifications play out in subtle but powerful ways to affect households’ and communities’ ability to avoid and recover from floods. We argue that general poverty and inequality alleviation measures, such as tax and welfare policy and urban and community regeneration schemes, are likely to be as, if not more, important in alleviating social inequalities in the long-term impacts of floods than social targeting of flood risk management policy.

Geomorphological features and processes contribute significantly to the geodiversityGeodiversity and geoheritageGeoheritage of Scotland. Key sites identified through the Geological Conservation ReviewGeological Conservation Review (GCR) are mostly protected as Sites of Special Scientific InterestSites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). These sites represent the variety of geological, glacial, periglacial, fluvial, coastal, mass-movement and karst features that distinguish the Scottish landscape. Scotland’s geodiversityGeodiversity and geoheritageGeoheritage have additional value for educational, aesthetic, cultural and ecological reasons and in the delivery of ecosystem services. Greater recognition of these values is fundamental to more holistic approaches to nature conservation, the development of nature-based solutions to societal challenges and connecting people and nature.

AbstractNatural flood management (NFM) techniques attract much interest in flood risk management science, not least because their effectiveness remains subject to considerable uncertainty, particularly at larger catchment and event scales. This derives from a paucity of empirical studies which can offer either longitudinal or comparison data sets in which changes can be observed. The Eddleston catchment study, with 13 stream gauges operated continuously over 9 years, is based on both longitudinal and comparison data sets. Two years of baseline monitoring have been followed by 7 years of further monitoring after a range of NFM interventions across the 69 km2catchment. This study has examined changes in lag as an index of hydrological response which avoids dependence on potentially significant uncertainties in flow data. Headwater catchments up to 26 km2showed significant delays in lag of 2.6–7.3 hr in catchments provided with leaky wood structures, on‐line ponds and riparian planting, while larger catchments downstream and those treated with riparian planting alone did not. Two control catchments failed to show any such changes. The findings provide important evidence of the catchment scale at which NFM can be effective and suggest that effects may increase with event magnitude.

On 5 August 1869, John Wesley Powell and his nine companions launched their four boats into the Colorado River near Lees Ferry and soon entered what is now known as the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. Thus began the most hazardous and exciting phase of their exploration of the upper Colorado River, a journey that had begun 74 days earlier, upstream on the Green River. Their aim was to fill in one of the last remaining unmapped regions in the American West by reporting on 300 miles of inaccessible canyon lands. Having entered Marble Canyon, Powell’s expedition was immediately confronted with vertical rock walls and death-defying white-water rapids, only some of which could be bypassed by portaging their boats. Sand bars provided temporary campsites, but with food running low and little opportunity for hunting, their emergence mostly safe and sound, 24 days later, was seen as little short of miraculous. Vividly recorded in Powell’s The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons (Powell, 1961; first published in 1895), the expedition was deemed an outstanding success, as evidenced by public acclaim back in the east. More significantly, it triggered investment by the Federal government into mapping and developing the resources of this hitherto unknown region in the American West.

ABSTRACT The COP-26 United Nations Climate Change meeting, scheduled to be held in Glasgow in 2021, is an important step in the world's attempt to deal with the climate emergency arising from increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Here we look at how society has responded to the Covid-19 emergency and compare it with the response to the climate change emergency, the latter based on our experience of a Royal Society of Edinburgh Inquiry on climate change published nearly ten years ago (RSE, 2011). With reference to Covid-19, civil society's response to the lockdown showed the power of clear political leadership and also the willingness of people to work together. On the negative side, the UK national test and trace system struggled because of a disconnect between national and regional activities. In our climate change report, we identified similar organisational barriers that were impeding a move towards a low-carbon future, especially the lack of responsibilities and powers at a city regional scale. If Scotland is to reduce emissions seriously, the focus needs to be on transport (30% of emissions), heating and agriculture. Without more responsibility and power at a city regional scale, Scotland will not achieve its emissions targets.

ABSTRACTQuaternary deposits and landforms are an integral component of Scotland's geodiversity and natural heritage with intrinsic, scientific, educational, cultural, aesthetic and ecological values. Their conservation is founded on the assessment and safeguard of key protected areas principally for their scientific values. The evaluation of site networks for Quaternary deposits and landforms (including glacial, fluvial, coastal, mass movement, karst and cave features) has evolved since the late 1940s, culminating in the Great Britain Geological Conservation Review (GCR) site assessments undertaken principally between 1977 and the early 1990s. Significant scientific progress since then has arisen, for example, from re-investigation of existing sites and discoveries of new sites, developments in geochronology and the formulation and application of new concepts and models. Both the GCR site lists and the supporting site documentation now require updating in the light of this progress. Today there is greater emphasis on the wider, non-scientific values of geoconservation including, for example, on ecosystem services, links with biodiversity and cultural heritage, geotourism and the benefits for human health and wellbeing through improved understanding of dynamic landscapes, climate change and natural hazards. Involvement of wider public support beyond the geoscience community and fostering better integration of geoheritage within the developing nature conservation agenda, including a land systems approach, protected area planning and management, natural capital and connecting people and nature, will help further to protect our Quaternary geoheritage.

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This study investigated contributory factors to flood hazard around Scotland. There is a need to develop preliminary assessments of areas potentially vulnerable to flooding for compliance with the European Union Directive on the Assessment and Management of Flood Risks (2007/60/EC). Historical accounts of coastal flood events in Scotland, notably in a storm in January 2005, had shown that estimates of risk based on still water levels required further information to identify sites at which waves and surges could combine. Additionally, it was important to add the effect of future sea-level rise and other drivers from published sources. Analysis of multiple years’ tidal data at seven sites, including estuaries, compared recorded water levels at high-return periods to those derived from a spatially interpolated numerical model contained within a publicly available flood risk map. For gauges with the longest records, increases were seen over time that reflected rises in mean sea level. Exposure to wave energy was computed from prevailing wind strength and direction at 36 stations, related to wave fetch and incident wind direction. Although the highest wave exposure was at open coast locations exposed to the long Atlantic fetch, GIS analysis of coastal rasters identified other areas in or close to estuaries that also had high exposure. Projected sea-level change, when added to the surge and wave analyses, gives a spatially extensive structured variable flood risk assessment for future coastal flood hazard to complement the public flood risk map. Such tools can help fulfil the requirements of the EC Directive and may be a useful approach in other regions with high spatial variability in coastal flood risk related to exposure to waves and wind.

The emerging new paradigm of ‘sustainable flood‐risk management’, emphasising non‐structural management approaches over engineered defences, is subject to differing, and sometimes contested, interpretations by key actors. This is well illustrated by the present lack of agreement between the UK government and the private insurance sector on the future of flood insurance. This paper examines the diversity of views on how best to manage flood risk, given projected changes in the UK insurance market. The issues examined comprise: the linkage of flood defences to the insurability of properties at risk, possible implications of partial or full removal of cross‐subsidisation of policies, and the sustainability of communities in high flood‐risk areas. Finally, the paper looks critically at alternative models that might be applied in the future, based on international experience, which may offer a means of securing insurance for high flood‐risk areas, while also being compatible with sustainable flood‐risk management policies.

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The emerging new paradigm of ‘sustainable flood-risk management’, emphasising non-structural management approaches over engineered defences, is subject to differing, and sometimes contested, interpretations by key actors. This is well illustrated by the present lack of agreement between the UK government and the private insurance sector on the future of flood insurance. This paper examines the diversity of views on how best to manage flood risk, given projected changes in the UK insurance market. The issues examined comprise: the linkage of flood defences to the insurability of properties at risk, possible implications of partial or full removal of cross-subsidisation of policies, and the sustainability of communities in high flood-risk areas. Finally, the paper looks critically at alternative models that might be applied in the future, based on international experience, which may offer a means of securing insurance for high flood-risk areas, while also being compatible with sustainable flood-risk management policies.

ABSTRACTThis paper reviews the key evidence for global climate change and outlines the trends of climate change in Scotland, the potential impacts and the implications for policy makers. Human activity is causing a rise in atmospheric CO2 concentrations and there is little doubt that this is contributing to global warming. There is greater uncertainty about how this global trend will play out at a regional scale and also how close we are to climatic tipping points. Instrumental records document the overall trends and variability in Scotland's climate since 1914. These show that since the 1960s, Scotland's average climate has proved to be wetter (especially in the west) and warmer. This trend is expected to continue throughout the 21st Century with, on average, hotter and drier summers and milder and wetter winters. However, extreme events will continue to affect Scotland, as they have always done, and the severity and frequency of these events may increase. Sea levels will continue to rise modestly, especially in the Outer Hebrides and the Northern Isles. Some of the uncertainty in climatic predictions is captured in the probabilistic outputs of Defra's UK Climate Projections 2009 programme. An initial attempt to assess the likely impacts of climate change is provided in Defra's 2012 Climate Change Risk Assessment, which includes a report specific to Scotland. Whilst most of the risks involve negative impacts, with increased flooding and loss of biodiversity being especially adverse, there are also positive impacts with associated opportunities, especially in terms of increased agricultural production and larger numbers of tourists. The report on Scotland will allow different groups of policy makers to refine the risks associated with specific activities. But given the fragile nature of many of the metrics underpinning the report, caution should be exercised in using it to frame climate adaptation strategies.