Department of Geography

Climate & Earth

Physical geography Erosion Runoff and sediment yield Sfm-photogrammetry Climate Hydrogeomorphic modelling Land management
Atmosphere - influencing local and regional climate through changes at the Earth's surface
Geomorphological processes - influence of land use and climate on land degradation and soil conservation
RESEARCH UNIT

Climate & Earth

"Climate & Earth" focuses on the impact of human activities on soil-land-atmosphere interactions.

The Climate & Earth research unit investigates both fundamental processes in geomorphology and atmosphere and their social and ecological impact, using advanced methods such as erosion and climate modelling, photogrammetry, sediment tracking and data science.

RESEARCHERS

Team

The Climate & Earth team is led by Professors Frankl and Van Weverberg. Together, they manage a professional and closely collaborating team of researchers, PhD students and staff, each with their own expertise and expertise.

All team members
Biography


Prof. dr. Amaury Frankl

geomorphology
soil erosion
nature-based solutions
Biography

Prof. dr. Kwinten Van Weverberg

climate modelling
climate
extreme precepitation

In the spotlight

EARTH

Will our farmers soon be without usable land?

According to geographer Amaury Frankl (UGent), the most valuable resource is not the gold or iron we extract from the ground, but rather the soil itself.

EARTH

On land degradation in Ethiopia

Land degradation, and the impact that this has on the geomorphological functioning of the earth's surface, is a global problem, but in countries of the Global South it is particularly severe.

CLIMATE

Disdrometer

The "Climate & Earth" team's disdrometer setup and processing backend produces daily updated graphs of precipitation measurements from the disdrometer and rain gauge at ILVO, Merelbeke.

The data supports the team's essential research on splash erosion in agricultural fields and on developing models for improved predictions of extreme precipitation across weather and climate time scales.

Working on the disdrometer setup
Data plot three days ago
Monday 7 July 2025
Data plot three days ago
Sunday 6 July 2025
Data plot three days ago
Saturday 5 July 2025
Interested in more data?
Contact Kwinten Van Weverberg.

Academic
output

The Climate & Earth research unit produces numerous publications in major scientific journals and delivers several PhDs every year.

Furthermore, the team collaborates on several national and international projects that are highly regarded in academia.

View the list of recently completed PhDs within the research unit.
Download list
View a selection of ongoing and completed projects within the research unit.
Download list
All official publications (articles, PhDs, books,...) of the research unit can be found on UGent Biblio.
Read more