Remote Sensing Applications in Geomorphology and HydrologyAuthor(s): Arwyn Rhys JonesSource: Area, Vol. 18, No. 1 (Mar., 1986), p. 73Published by: The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20002280 .

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Annual Conference 73

different it was shown that the richness of local empirical diversity can be used to highlight wider trends in urban redevelopment.

lain Tweedale Town Planning, UWIST

Remote sensing applications in geomorphology and hydrology This conference saw the coming together of the BGRG and Remote Sensing Society to demonstrate the potential of remotely sensed imagery for geomorphological and hydrological research. The two-day session opened with a review paper from the convenors,

Andrew Millington and John Townshend (Reading), and concentrated on three main themes which were also illustrated by several poster papers. On the geomorphological side, topics ranged from the use of microwave data for geomorphological mapping to the application of Landsat imagery for monitoring dust storms and landslide prediction. The hydrological input included papers illustrating the use of remotely sensed data for monitoring lake levels, mapping

drainage networks and water resources in semi-arid areas. Several papers demonstrated the potential of aircraft and satellite imagery for estuarine and coastal water research, geographic information systems and hydrological models.

The presentations were augmented by image processing workshops, carried out by the Geography and Meteorology departments, demonstrating some of the techniques available for geomorphological and hydrological research. The session was completed by an afternoon visit to the National Remote Sensing Centre (RAF Farnborough) where examples of current research were displayed.

Arwyn Rhys Jones University of Reading

Papers in historical geography Because the Historical Geography Research Group has sponsored many tightly knit sessions on particular themes in past conferences it was decided that this year in Reading would be the occasion for an 'open' session of submitted papers. The response to this innovation was good, both from authors and audience alike, which seems to suggest that perhaps we are attempting to place some of the research output-particularly of our younger workers-into Procrustean beds that they cannot and do not want to fit.

The first session on current doctoral research opened with an interesting paper by Michael Heffernan (Loughborough) on 'The development of literate culture in provincial France ' which stimulated a lively discussion on differential literacy by sex, occupation and age, the meaning and definition of literacy and the sources that could legitimately be used to assess it. Stephen Page's (Leicester) ' The social geography of late Victorian pauperism' suggested that our knowledge of this phenomenon was incomplete and that new sources were needed to back up our evaluation of this topic. Trevor Pringle (Loughborough) gave a provocative presentation entitled 'Flogging a dead horse? Animals and the conception of nature in Victorian Britain', which drew heavily on the art of Landseer which was imbued with a symbolism of fear, pain and protection, far deeper than most of us had imagined. We will never be able to view 'The

Monarch of the Glen' and 'The Stag at Bay' in the same way, ever again. The after-coffee session had a definite medieval flavour about it. Tim Unwin (RHBNC, London) talked about rural settlement and society, which were viewed as inter-related economic, political and ideo logical structures, each reinforcing the other. Terry Slater (Birmingham) in ' Ideal and reality in medieval town planning' took the analysis of medieval town plans beyond the simplicity of

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