Alastair Dawson

Email: a.dawson@abdn.ac.uk

Phone No: +44 (0) 1224 272976

Brief Academic History

• BSc (Hons) Geography, University of Aberdeen, 1974
• MSc Geography, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 1976 (thesis ‘Landforms of Colville River delta, Alaska’)
• PhD University of Edinburgh 1979 (thesis ‘Late Quaternary raised shorelines of Islay, Jura and Scarba, Scottish Inner Hebrides’)
• Tutorial Research Assistant, Bedford College, University of London 1978-79
• Lecturer in Geography, Coventry Polytechnic, 1979-1984
• Senior Lecturer in Geography, Coventry Polytechnic, 1984-1991
• Reader in Geography, Coventry University, 1991-1998,/li>
• Professor of Quaternary Science, Coventry University, 1998-2004
• Assistant Director, Aberdeen Institute for Coastal Science and Management (AICSM), University of Aberdeen, 2004-present.

Research Interests

• Quaternary palaeoclimatology
• Quaternary coastal change and sea level change
• Tsunami geology, sedimentation processes, sediment and rock records, wave dynamics
• Greenland (GISP2) ice core chemistry and North Atlantic climate change history
• Late Quaternary of Scotland – deglaciation and relative sea level history
• Cold climate shoreline erosion processes, strandflat history
• Historical records of Scotland’s weather and climate
• Quantification of coastal flood risk (storm surges and tsunamis)

Research Projects

• Holocene tsunamis and relative sea level changes in the Shetland Isles (with S Dawson (St Andrews and Aberdeen) and S Bondevik (Tromso, Norway). The project seeks to identify the nature, timing and magnitude of Holocene tsunamis in the Shetland Isles. The research programme involves sediment coring in marine inlets (voes) and nearshore lochs to derive a history of Holocene relative sea level changes that can be linked to the chronology of palaeotsunamis.
• Holocene geoarchaeology and coastal change in the Orkney Isles with particular focus on early Holocene submerged Mesolithic landscapes (with C Wickham-Jones (Orkney)and S Dawson). This project seeks to target selected submerged areas of the Orkney archipelago in order to reconstruct the pattern of relative sea level changes for the early Holocene during the period of Mesolithic settlement.
• Late Holocene coastal change in the Outer Hebrides (South Uist, North Uist and Benbecula) (with S Dawson and W Ritchie (Aberdeen)). This on-going project focuses attention on coastal geomorphological changes, shoreline dynamics and historical coastline changes. A study has been made of coastal changes that occurred following the Great Storm of January 2005. Research is also being undertaken on the contruction of a storminess chronology for the last ca. 150 years based on instrumental weather records
• Coastal geomorphology of St Fergus – Rattray Bay area, NE Scotland (for the St Fergus Committee) (with W Ritchie (Aberdeen). This project, recently completed, has sought to evaluate the erosional/depositional regime of the beach complex over the last 30 years in relation to gas pipelines.
• Coastal geomorphology of Menie Estate, Balmedie, NE Scotland in respect of the Trump golf course complex proposal. This project (on-going) seeks to evaluate the geomorphological status of the estate (Holocene and modern dune fields) (with W Ritchie)
• Mega-geomorphology and rapid climate changes associated with the ca. 8.2 kyr cooling event and its termination (with J Teller (Manitoba) and J Beget (Fairbanks, Alaska). This project is exploring causes for the onset and termination of the ca. 8.2kyr cold interval.
• Recent evolution of Scotland’s beaches and dunes (with W Ritchie, A Taylor, R Wright and D Green, Aberdeen). The project, for Scottish Natural Heritage, seeks to use beach and dune aerial photography coupled with digital terrain models to provide quantitative measurements of geomorphological changes for a selected set of beach and dune areas across Scotland.
• History of Scotland’s weather and climate. The project seeks to compile historical documentary and instrumental records of past weather and climate changes across Scotland.
• Greenland (GISP2) ice core chemistry and stable isotope time series for last ca. 2000 years. This project (with Mayewski, Maine; Nesje, Bergen and Hickey, Galway) makes use of high-resolution time series of seasalt Na+, non-seasalt K+, deuterium and deuterium excess in order to understand recent and historical climate changes across the North Atlantic region.

Selected Publications

Kortekaas, S. and Dawson, A.G.Distinguishing tsunami and storm deposits: an example from Martinhal, SW Portugal. Sedimentary Geology. in press

Jordan, J., Dawson, S. and A.G. DawsonLate Holocene coastal dune evolution, Lewis and Harris, Scottish Outer Hebrides. In: Ritchie, W. and Angus, S. (eds.) Studies in Machair Evolution. Aberdeen University Press. in press

Green, D.G. and Dawson, A.G.The role of geospatial technologies in tsunami early warning systems (TEWS). Applications in GIS. in press

Dawson, A.G., Hickey, K., Mayewski, P.A. and A Nesje Greenland (GISP2) ice core records of complex changes in North Atlantic climate during the 14th century. The Holocene. in press

Dawson, A.G. and Stewart., I, S.Offshore tsunami current deposition: the forgotten tsunami sedimentation process. In T. Shiki (ed.) “Tsunamiites: their features and implications”, Special Issue of “Developments in Sedimentology”, Elsevier. in press

Dawson, A.G. and Stewart, I. Tsunami deposits in the Geological Record. Sedimentary Geology. in press

Dawson, A.G.Bleak Midwinter: history of Scotland’s Weather and Climate, Birlinn Press, Edinburgh. in press

Dawson, A.G., Dawson, S. and Bondevik, S. (2006) Late Holocene tsunami at Basta Voe, Yell, Shetland Isles. Scottish Geographical Journal, 122, 100-108.

Dawson , A.G. (2006) Classics in Physical Geography revisited: “Sissons, J.B., Smith, D.E. and R A Cullingford 1966 Lateglacial and postglacial shorelines in SE Scotland, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 39, 9-18”. Progress in Physical Geography, 30, 4, 531-35.

Bondevik, S., Mangerud, J, Dawson, S., Dawson, A.G.. and Lohne, O. (2005) Evidence for three North Sea tsunamis in the Shetland Isles between 8000 and 1500 years ago. Quaternary Science Reviews, 24, 1757-1775.

Bondevik, S., Lovholt, F., Harbitz, C., Mangerud, J., Dawson,A.G. and Svendsen, J.I. (2005) The Storegga Slide tsunami – comparing field observations with numerical simulations. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 22, 195-208.

Smith, D.E., Shi, S., Cullingford, R.A., Dawson, A.G., Dawson, S., Firth, C., Foster, I.D.L., Fretwell, P.T., Haggart, B.A., Holloway, L.K. and D Long. (2004) The Holocene Storegga Slide tsunami in the United Kingdom. Quaternary Science Reviews, 23, 2291-2321.

Jordan, J., Dawson, S. and A G Dawson (2004) Late Holocene coastal dune evolution in Lewis and Harris, Scottish Outer Hebrides. In D Griffiths (ed), “Aeolian Archaeology”, 14pp.

Dawson, S., Smith, D., Jordan, J. and Dawson, A.G. (2004) Late Holocene coastal sand movements in the Outer Hebrides, NW Scotland. Marine Geology, 210, 281-306.

Dawson, A.G., Lockett, P. and Shi, S. (2004) Tsunami Hazards in Europe. Environmental International, 30, 577-585.

Dawson, A.G., Elliott, L., Noone, S., Hickey, K., Holt, T., Wadhams, P. and Foster, I.D.L. (2004) Historical storminess and climate ‘see-saws’ in the North Atlantic region. Marine Geology, 210, 247-259

Dawson, A.G. and Dawson, S. (2004) Quantifying effects of sea level change and storminess change on the coastline of Scotland. In T.Dawson (ed.) “Coastal Rescue Archaeology in Scotland”, Proceedings SCAPE Conference, St Andrews, SAIR Report, 12pp.

Emeis, K.C. and Dawson, A.G. (2003) Holocene palaeoclimate records over Europe and the North Atlantic: modelling and field studies. The Holocene, 13, 3, 305-464.

Emeis, K.C. and Dawson, A.G. (2003) Holocene palaeoclimatic records over Europe and the North Atlantic. Holocene, 13, 3, 305-309.

Dawson, A.G., Elliott, Mayewski, P., Lockett, P., Noone, S., Hickey, K., Holt, T., Wadhams, P. and I D L Foster (2003) Late Holocene North Atlantic climate “seesaws” and Greenland ice sheet (GISP2) palaeoclimates. The Holocene, 13, 3, 381-392.

Dawson, A.G. (2003) Estimating the vulnerability of Scotland’s coastline to the effects of future climate change and sea level rise. In T. Dawson (ed.) ‘Coastal Archeology and Erosion in Scotland’, Historic Scotland, pp. 25-36.

Bondevik, S., Mangerud, J., Dawson, S., Dawson, A.G. and O.Lohne (2003) Record-breaking height for 8000 yr old tsunami in the North Atlantic. EOS (American Geophysical Union), 84 (31), August 2003, 289-300.

Dawson, A.G., Hickey, K., Holt, T., Elliott, L., Dawson, S., Foster, I.D.L., Wadhams, P., Jonsdottir, I., Wilkinson, J., McKenna, J., Davis, N.R. and D E Smith (2002) Complex North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index signal of historic North Atlantic storm track changes. The Holocene, 12, 363-369.

Dawson, A.G., Hampton, S., Fretwell, P., Greengrass, P. and S. Harrison (2002) Defining the centre of the last Scottish ice sheet: the Parallel Roads of Glen Roy, Scottish Highlands. Journal of Quaternary Science, 17, 527-533.

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