Cafe Sci: Thames Barrier and the Thames Estuary

The October talk for Basingstoke Cafe Sci is being given by Tim Reeder who is Senior Climate Change Advisor for the Environment Agency, UK.  Tim will be discussing the subject of "Flexible planning for an uncertain future in the Thames Estuary".

Basingstoke Cafe Scientifique talks are free to attend and start at 7.30pm promptly, so please arrive from 7.00pm onwards to find a seat and get drinks etc. The doors at the Tea Bar will be open from 6.00pm to meet and chat with other participants beforehand.

Tim Reeder

The Thames Estuary is vulnerable to flood risk. Rising sea levels and possible increases in storm surge will increase the risk. The Environment Agency is at the centre of planning to adapt.

London has an extensive tidal flood plain. This is currently defended by river walls, and defences including the well known Thames Barrier. The Agency through the Thames Estuary 2100 project has produced a plan to manage flood risk for the estuary for the 21st century.

The TE2100 project has driven much of the science behind the  marine climate projections for London and the UK. It has developed an innovative approach to climate adaptation and has come up with a flexible adaptable plan that will cope with the uncertainty that climate change presents.

Tim Reeder will be demonstrating how the Environment Agency has tackled the difficult issue of  future flood risk planning for London given an uncertain future and point to how the approach could be used in differing situations.

Tim Reeder was Climate Change Programme Manager in London and the South East and is now Senior Climate Change Advisor for the Environment Agency. He has forty years experience in the environmental field and has been involved in climate change issues for most of that time. 

He is a contributing author to the IPCC 4th assessment report and the UKCP09 projections report. He represents the Agency on the London Climate Change partnership, which he helped to set up. He was the Built Environment lead for the Climate Ready Support Service and led the development of the support programme for the sector. 

He was the Project Scientist for the Thames Estuary 2100 project, which looked at the future of the Thames Barrier and flood risk management in the Thames Estuary. He has written several papers on climate change, uncertainty and decision making.

Full title is :- T.N Reeder BSc, CSci, FCIWEM