Research History

Fluid Dynamics,
Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics,
Cambridge University

I have been working in Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, in Fluid dynamics since April 2001, first as a Royal Society University Research Fellow and currently as an EPSRC Advanced Research Fellow. My research is primarily concerned with gravity currents, granular flows and two-phase flows with a particular emphasis on snow avalanches and wind transport. Part of this work is funded by the EU project SATSIE (Avalanche Studies and Model Validation in Europe) and carried out in collaboration with many other European Scientists.

Swiss Federal Institute for Avalanche Research

For the winters of 2002/2003 and 2003/2004 I was a visiting scientist at Swiss Federal Institute for Avalanche Research working in the avalanche dynamics group with Perry Bartelt, Barbara Turnbull and Martin Kern.

Institute of Low Temperature Science,
Hokkaido University, Japan

In April 1999 I returned to Japan as a European Union post-doctoral research fellow at The institute of Low Temperature Science at Hokkaido University Japan.

Cemagref, Grenoble, France

I was a post-doc from October 1998 to March 1999 in Cemagref , a government research organisation for engineering and agriculture in the environment (La Rechercge pour l'Ingenierie de l'Arigculture et de l'Environnement). The ETNA division within Cemagref (division Erosion Torrentielle Neige et Avalanches) has responsibility for research into avalanche hazard and snow transport in France.

I worked with Mohammed Naaimon on comparing saltation models with wind tunnel and field experiments. The aim was to improve the quantative understanding of non-steady, non-stationary snow transport in order to accurately predict snow erosion and deposition from meteorological data. This is important for snow control work, but also for avalanche forcasting since most avalanche accidents are wind-slab avalanches. An important part of forcasting these avalanches without direct observation is a quantatitive theory of snow transport.
Saltation

The genesis of powder snow avalanches is also thought to sometimes arise from a saltation layer on the surface of a dense avalanche. A saltation theory for snow can thus be used in a layer avalanche model where an avalance is modelled as a dense layer and a suspension cloud with a saltation layer in between.
Snow Avalanches
Simulations.

Colorado School of Mines, Golden, USA

I was a visiting professor for August and September 1998 in the Particulate Science group at the Colorado School of Mines working for NASA.

Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, Japan

For two years from 1996 to 1998 I was a European Union post-doctoral research fellow at The institute of Low Temperature Science at Hokkaido University Japan, supported by the European Union and the JSPS (Japanese Society for the Promotion of science.)

High Energy Physics Group,
Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics,
Cambridge University, UK

From 1989 to 1996 I was a student at Cambridge University as a member of Clare college. First doing a maths degree and then a Ph.D. in the high energy physics group of the Department of Applied Maths and Theoretical Physics

I was working on the Consistent Histories Approach to Quantum Mechanics with Adrian Kent.
Jim McElwaine
Last modified: Thu Jul 8 15:09:38 BST 2004