My current research focus is to better understand and model the exposure and risk faced by human settlement due to landsliding. This is a globally pervasive hazard, but the risk associated with landslides remains poorly constrained at a global extent. The primary aim of my work is thus to better model the economic and social impacts of landsliding globally, and in near-real time, using satellite data. This is part of the NASA landslides research group: NASA Landslides
In addition to working on risk, I am also developing machine learning methods to better model spatial susceptibility to hazards, as well as working with end-users to find the best strategies to communicate hazard in rapidly developing disaster zones. As part of this work I have been collaborating with researchers at Columbia IRI to help provide landslide hazard analysis for the Rohingya refugee camps in Southern Bangladesh. More details of this project will be posted in due course.
Prior to working at NASA, I focused more closely on the intersection of geochemistry and geomorphology, and I maintain an active interest in these areas. My PhD project was focused on the importance of bedrock landslides in setting chemical weathering budgets, as well as broader impacts of the physical process of landsliding on biogeochemical cycles. Details can be found below, and I am happy to provide more details via email. A summary of my doctoral work can be found here:
PhD Project: Chemical Weathering Driven by Bedrock Landslides
I also believe deeply in the importance of effective communication of science, and I am looking to both improve my own communication skills as well as contribute to current efforts in purveying interesting research. For me, science is as much about telling stories as it is data. So much of what we do is fascinating; the challenges we face in the course of field studies, or in particular times when we don’t know the answer; these are very human messages that I feel we as scientists should tell to whoever will listen. My prior work as an editor presented plenty of insight into cutting edge questions and techniques in geoscience today, and I drew from this experience in some of my writing, which can be found in full here: Other Writing
Robert Emberson 