James M. Thornton, Personal Website

Dr. James M. Thornton

Interdisciplinary Mountain Hydrogeologist & Environmental Scientist

Topical Editor, Earth System Science Data ｜ Fellow, Royal Geographical Society

Welcome!

I am an interdisciplinary hydrogeologist with past & ongoing activities in the following areas:

Simulation of complex mountain hydrological systems using integrated, physics-based surface-subsurface flow models
Alpine fieldwork
Spatial data processing, analysis, and digital cartography (using open-source software)
Research network coordination
Quantification of natural catastrophe hazard & risk for (re)insurance applications

Journal Articles:

*A 3D geological model of a structurally complex Alpine region as a basis for interdisciplinary research
*Efficient multi-objective calibration and uncertainty analysis of distributed snow simulations in rugged alpine terrain
*Simulating fully-integrated hydrological dynamics in complex Alpine headwaters: potential and challenges
*Toward a definition of Essential Mountain Climate Variables
*Coverage of in situ climatological observations in the world's mountains
*Human populations in the world’s mountains: Spatio-temporal patterns and potential controls
Climate changes and their elevational patterns in the mountains of the world
*†Mountain streamflow threatened by irreversible simulated groundwater declines
Cryosphere–groundwater connectivity is a missing link in the mountain water cycle
Toward a set of Essential Biodiversity Variables for assessing change in mountains globally

* denotes first author. † denotes invited "News & Views" article. In addition, my PhD thesis is available here

Experience & Education:

2020 – Present

Senior Research Scientist & Coordinator, GEO Mountains

2016 – 2020

PhD Candidate, Centre for Hydrogeology & Geothermics

Prix Adrien Gébhard-Séverine for an excellent doctoral thesis in hydrogeology

2012 – 2016

Catastrophe Model Developer & Risk Analyst (full-time)

2014 – 2016

Master of Science (by Research), Department of Geography (part-time)

2009 – 2012

Bachelor of Science (First Class Honours), School of Geographical Sciences

The Haggett Prize for best performance in final undergraduate examinations

Presentations & Outreach

Presentations, Outreach, Service & Code:

Selected Presentations:

2024: The Unified High Elevation Observation Platform (UHOP): A proposed protocol for monitoring environmental changes over elevation gradients. AGU Fall Meeting 2024, December 2024, Washington D.C, USA
2024: Evaluating landslide susceptibility using Google Earth Engine, GEO Open Data & Open Knowledge Workshop 2024, September 2024, Hangzhou, China
2023: Quantifying in situ climatological data coverage and human population dynamics across the mountains of Africa, World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) Open Science Conference 2023, Kigali, Rwanda
2023: A global, cross-disciplinary inventory of mountain monitoring infrastructure, EGU 2023, Vienna, Austria (poster)
2022: Quantifying in situ climatological data coverage and human population dynamics across High Mountain Asia, Cryosphere and Related Hazards in High Mountain Asia in a Changing Climate Conference, Almaty, Kazakhstan
2022: Coverage of in situ climatological observations in the world’s mountains, 2^nd GCOS Climate Observation Conference, Darmstadt, Germany
2022: Human populations in the world’s mountains: patterns and potential controls, World Biodiversity Forum, Davos, Switzerland
2021: Integrated mountain science: Identifying monitoring priorities and improving discoverability and accessibility of in situ data, COP26 Geneva Cryosphere Hub, Geneva, Switzerland
2021: Toward a definition of Essential Mountain Climate Variables, MRI 20^th Anniversary Lecture Series, Bern, Switzerland
2020: Fully-integrated surface-subsurface hydrological modelling in steep, geologically complex, snow-dominated Alpine terrain, Swiss Geosciences Meeting 2020, Zurich, Switzerland
2020: Efficient multi-objective calibration and uncertainty analysis of distributed snow simulations in rugged alpine terrain, SnowHydro 2020, Bolzano, Italy
2016: Advancing the science of flood modelling: JBA’s new multi-peril probabilistic flood model of the UK, UK Flood: State of the Nation, London, UK
2015: Estimating hypothetical present-day insured losses for past intense hurricanes in the French Antilles, EGU 2015, Vienna, Austria (poster)
2013: Predicting extreme wind speeds on a tropical island for multi-peril catastrophe modelling, EGU 2013, Vienna, Austria

Service & Distinctions:

2024: Local Scientific Organising Committee Member, World Groundwater Congress IAH2024, Davos, Switzerland [Recording: "Mountain Cryosphere & Groundwater" Plenary Session]
2023: Future Earth Early Career Fellowship, which supports outstanding early-career scholars to pursue research related to sustainable development
2022: WRR Editors’ Choice Award, indicating extremely high quality and significance (paper considered by the Editors of Water Resources Research to be in the top ~1% of the journal's papers published in that calendar year)
2022: Session Convenor, International Mountain Conference (IMC) 2022, Innsbruck, Austria
Since 2022: Topical Editor, Earth System Science Data
Since 2021: Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (FRGS)
2021: Contributing Author, Cross-Chapter Paper "Mountains", Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (WGII, AR6)
2020: Prix Adrien Gébhard-Séverine for an excellent doctoral thesis in hydrogeology, Faculty of Science, University of Neuchâtel
Since 2016: Regular reviewer for several leading journals including Water Resources Research, Nature Water, Journal of Hydrology, One Earth, Groundwater & Scientific Data
2012: The Haggett Prize for best performance in final undergraduate examinations, School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol
2011: Level 5 Award in Management and Leadership (Chartered Management Institute, UK)