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Fifty years ago the only way that detailed information on the Earth’s land surface could be obtained was by field survey.
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Today it is possible to have analysis in real time with data represented in increasingly vivid and striking ways.
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Enormous changes in techniques available over the last 50 years have revolutionised how the Earth’s surface is studied.
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Mapping to provide a permanent record of the character of the face of the Earth was the reason for bringing geomorphologists together 50 years ago to form the BGRG.
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Great advances in monitoring and dating, in remote sensing and in Geographical Information Systems (GIS) have also enabled significant advances in modelling.
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A major focus of process geomorphology has been unravelling the physics of processes, quantifying the rates at which they occur and describing them using models that allow us to simulate landform development and make predictions.
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UK geomorphologists have made, and continue to make, substantial contributions to the measurement, understanding and modelling of the forces and stresses applied to Earth surface materials.
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The last 50 years of geomorphology have been shaken by the opportunities offered by remote sensing – and further positive developments have yet to come.
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Natural systems exhibit many natural analogues: in this case, a branching stream network, and the structure of a leaf.
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In recent decades geomorphology has become more dedicated to specific applied problems, such as flood defence.
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Geomorphological research has become increasingly multidisciplinary involving collaboration with scientists from other disciplines.
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Global environmental change has always affected the Earth's land surface and has been the subject of many geomorphological investigations, but today is of even greater interest.