Professor Louise Slater
Tutorial Fellow in Physical Geography
Professor of Hydroclimatology
Louise Slater is Professor of Hydroclimatology and Tutorial Fellow of Hertford College. She is a Future Leaders Fellow of UK Research and Innovation (2021-2028).
Professor Slater leads the Hydro-Climate Extremes research group within the School of Geography and the Environment. Her group develops computational approaches to detect, attribute, and predict how changes in climate and land cover may affect water-related extremes and society. She is Academic Director of the MSc in Water Science, Policy and Management (WSPM) and Co-investigator of Intelligent Earth, the University of Oxford’s Centre for Doctoral Training in AI for the Environment. She was previously Chair of the Oxford Water Network (2019-2021).
Externally, Professor Slater is Chair of the Hydrological Forecasting Subdivision of the European Geosciences Union (2024-2026) and Chair of the UK Flood Hydrology Roadmap’s Scientific and Technical Advisory Group (STAG) (2024-2025). She is Editor for the EGU journal Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS) and Associate Editor for the AGU journal Earth’s Future.
Before joining the University of Oxford, Professor Slater held Lectureships at Loughborough University and Queen Mary University of London. She is an alumna of the Ecole Normale Supérieure Lyon and of the Classes Préparatoires at the Lycée Henri IV, France, and holds a PhD in Earth and Environmental Sciences from the University of St Andrews.
Professor Slater acts as a reviewer for international journals and funders in the fields of hydroclimatology and climate impacts. She is a member of several learned societies including the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the European Geosciences Union (EGU), the British Society for Geomorphology (BSG), and the British Hydrological Society (BHS).
Awards
2023: Gordon Warwick Award for excellence in geomorphological research, British Society for Geomorphology (BSG)
2023: Outstanding Editor Award, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS)
2022: Hydrologic Sciences Early Career Award, American Geophysical Union (AGU)
2021: Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award, European Geosciences Union (EGU)
2021: Gill Memorial Award for Outstanding Early Career Research in Physical Geography, Royal Geographical Society (RGS-IBG)
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Research interests
Selected Research Projects
- 2024-2032: Intelligent Earth, Centre for Doctoral Training in AI for the Environment.
- 2021-2028: PI UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship (FLF), The Dynamic Drivers of Flood Risk (DRIFT).
- 2021–2026: Co-I NERC Large Grant, The Evolution of Global Flood Hazard and Risk (EvoFlood).
- 2019–2022: PI John Fell Fund, Understanding river behaviour to better predict future flooding.
- 2018–2019: Co-I NERC/ESRC Innovation grant, Financial planning for flood risk.
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Publications
Please see ORCiD for a comprehensive up-to-date list. Please contact Louise if you have trouble accessing any of these publications.
- Wang, L., Gu, X., Gulakhmadov, A., Li, J., Slater, L., Zhang, Q., Luo, M., Ren, G., Kong, D. , Lai, Y., Liu, J. (2022), An analysis of translation distance of tropical cyclones over the western North Pacific. Journal of Climate
- Chai, Y., Yue, Y., Slater, L.J.,Yin, J., Borthwick, A., Chen, T., Wang, G. (2022), Constrained CMIP6 projections indicate less warming and a slower increase in water availability across Asia, Nature Communications.
- Liu, J., Feng, X., Gu, X., Zhang, J., Slater, L.J., Kong, D. (2022), Detection and attribution of human influence on the global diurnal temperature range decline, Geophysical Research Letters.
- Feng, S., Gu, X., Luo, S., Liu, R., Gulakhmadov, A., Slater, L.J., Li, J., Zhang, X., Kong, D. (2022). Greenhouse gas emissions drive global dryland expansion but not spatial patterns of change in aridification.Journal of Climate.
- Li, C., Min, R., Gu, X., Gulakhmadov, A., Luo, S., Liu, R., Slater, L.J., Xie, F., Kong, D., Liu, J., Li, Y. (2022), Substantial increase in heavy precipitation events preceded by moist heatwaves over China during 1961–2019. Frontiers in Environmental Science.
- Anderson, B., Slater, L., Dadson, S., Blum, A., Prosdocimi, I. (2022) Statistical attribution of the influence of urban and tree cover change on streamflow: a comparison of large sample statistical approaches. Water Resources Research.
- Phillips, C. B., Masteller, C., Slater, L., Dunne, K., Francalanci, S., Lanzoni, S., Merritts, D., Lajeunesse, E., Jerolmack., D. J. (2022) Threshold constraints on the size, shape and stability of alluvial rivers. Nature Reviews Earth and Environment.
- Tosunoglu, F., Slater, L.J.(2022) Decreasing flood hazard evaluated in Turkey using non-stationary models. River Research and Applications.
- Khouakhi, A., Driouech, F., Slater, L., Waine, T., Chafki, O., Chehbouni, A., Raji, O. (2022) Atmospheric rivers and associated extreme rainfall over Morocco. International Journal of Climatology.
- Kelder, T., Marjoribanks, T., Slater, L., Prudhomme, C., Wilby, R., Wagemann, J., Dunstone, N. (2022) An open workflow to gain insights about low-likelihood high impact weather events from initialised predictions. Meteorological Applications
- Gu, L., Chen, J., Yin, J., Slater, L.,Wang, H-M., Guo, Q., Feng, M., Qin, H., Zhao, T. (2022) Global Increases in Compound Flood-Hot Extreme Hazards Under Climate Warming. Geophysical Research Letters.
- Lees, T., Reece, S., Kratzert, F., Gauch, M., Klotz, D., De Bruijn, J., Kumar Sahu, R., Greve, P., Slater, L.J., Dadson, S. (2022) Hydrological Concept Formation inside Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
- Guan, Y., Gu, X., Slater, L.J., Li, L., Kong, D., Liu, J., Zhang, X., Yan, X. (2022) Tracing anomalies in moisture recycling and transport to two record-breaking droughts over the Mid-to-Lower Reaches of the Yangtze River. Journal of Hydrology
- Kelder, T., Wanders, N., van der Wiel, K., Marjoribanks, T., Slater, L., Wilby, R.L., Prudhomme, C. (2022) Interpreting extreme climate impacts from large ensemble simulations – are they unseen or unrealistic?Environmental Research Letters.
- Yu, X., Gu, X., Kong, D., Zhang, Q., Cao, Q., Slater, L., Ren, G., Luo, M., Li, J., Liu, J., Cheng, J., Li, Y. (2022) Asymmetrical shift toward less light and more heavy precipitation in an urban agglomeration of East China: Intensification by urbanization. Geophysical Research Letters.
- Buechel, M., Slater, L.J., Dadson, S. (2022) Hydrological impact of widespread afforestation in Great Britain using a large ensemble of modelled scenarios. Communications Earth & Environment.
- Brunner, M.I. and Slater, L.J. (2022) Extreme floods in Europe: going beyond observations using reforecast ensemble pooling.Hydrology and Earth System Sciences.
- Kowal, K., Slater, L.J., Van Loon, A.F., Birkel, C. (2022) SEAS5 Skilfully Predicts Late Wet-Season Precipitation in Central American Dry Corridor Excelling in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. International Journal of Climatology.
- Li, C., Gu, X., Bai, W., Slater, L.J., Li, J., Kong, D., Liu, J., Li, Y. (2021) Asymmetric response of short- and long-duration dry spells to warming during the warm-rain season over Eastern Monsoon China. Journal of Hydrology.
- Green, D., O’Donnell, E., Johnson, M., Slater, L.J., Thorne, C., Zheng, S., Ka Shun Chan, F. (2021) Green infrastructure: the future of urban flood risk management?WIREs Water.
- Dwyer, G.K., Cummings, C.R., Rice, S. P., Lancaster, J., Downes, B., Slater, L., Lester, R.E. (2021) Using fractals to describe ecologically relevant patterns in distributions of large rocks in streams. Water Resources Research, 57(7), e2021WR029796.
- Xiong, J., Yin, J., Guo, S., Slater, L.(2021) Continuity of terrestrial water storage variability and trends across mainland China monitored by the GRACE and GRACE-Follow on satellites. Journal of Hydrology.
- Slater, L.J., Villarini, G., Archfield, S., Faulkner, D., Lamb, R., Khouakhi A., Yin, J. (2021) Global changes in 20-year, 50-year and 100-year river floods. Geophysical Research Letters.
- Lancaster, J., Rice, S., Slater, L.J., Lester, R.E., Downes, B.J. (2021) Hydrological controls on oviposition habitat are associated with egg-laying phenology of some caddisflies. Freshwater Biology.
- Brunner, M., Slater, L.J., Tallaksen, L., Clark, M. (2021) Challenges in modeling and predicting floods and droughts: A review. WIREs Water.
- Lees, T., Buechel, M., Anderson, B., Slater, L., Reece, S., Coxon, G., and Dadson, S. (2021) Benchmarking Data-Driven Rainfall-Runoff Models in Great Britain: A comparison of LSTM-based models with four lumped conceptual models. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences.
- Slater, L.J., Anderson, B., Buechel, M., Dadson, S., Han, S., Harrigan, S., Kelder, T., Kowal, K., Lees, T., Matthews, T., Murphy, C. and Wilby, R.L. (2021) Nonstationary weather and water extremes: a review of methods for their detection, attribution, and management. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 25(7): 3897-3935.
- Kelder, T., Müller, M., Slater, L.J., Marjoribanks, T., Wilby, R., Prudhomme, C., Bohlinger, P., Ferranti, L. and Nipen, T. (2020) Using UNSEEN trends to detect decadal changes in 100-year precipitation extremes. npj Climate and Atmospheric Science.
- Piégay, H., Arnaud, F., Belletti, B., Bertrand, M., Bizzi, S., Carbonneau, P., Dufour, S., Liebault, F., Ruiz-Villanueva, V. and Slater, L.J. (2020) Remotely Sensed Rivers in the Anthropocene: State of the Art and Prospects. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 45(1): 157-188.
- Berghuijs, W.R., Harrigan, S., Molnar, P., Slater. L.J. and Kirchner, J.W. (2019) The relative importance of different flood‐generating mechanisms across Europe. Water Resources Research.
- Courty, L., Wilby, R., Hillier, J. and Slater, L.J. (2019) Intensity-Duration-Frequency curves at the global scale. Environmental Research Letters, 14(8). 084045.
- Khouakhi, A., Villarini, G., Zhang, W. and Slater, L.J. (2019) Seasonal predictability of high sea level frequency using ENSO patterns along the U.S. West Coast. Advances in Water Resources, 131.
- Neri, A., Villarini, G., Slater, L.J. and Napolitano, F. (2019) On the statistical attribution of the frequency of flood events across the U.S. Midwest. Advances in Water Resources, 127: 225-236.
- Slater, L.J., Khouakhi, A. and Wilby, R., (2019) River channel conveyance capacity adjusts to modes of climate variability. Nature Scientific Reports, 9. 12619.
- Slater, L.J., Thirel, G., Harrigan, S., Delaigue, O., Hurley, A., Khouakhi, A., Prodoscimi, I., Vitolo, C. and Smith, K. (2019) Using R in hydrology: a review of recent developments and future directions. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 23: 2939-2963.
- Lutz, S., Popp, A., van Emmerik, T., Gleeson, T., Kalaugher, L., Möbius, K., Mudde, T., Walton, B., Hut, R., Savenije, H., Slater, L.J., Solcerova, A., Stoof, C. and Zink, M. (2018) HESS Opinions: Science in today’s media landscape – challenges and lessons from hydrologists and journalists. Hydrology and Earth System Science, 22(7).
- Neri, A., Villarini, G., Salvi, K.A., Slater, L. and Napolitano, F. (2018) On the decadal predictability of the frequency of flood events across the U.S. Midwest. International Journal of Climatology.
- Slater, L. and Villarini, G. (2018) Enhancing the Predictability of Seasonal Streamflow With a Statistical‐Dynamical Approach. Geophysical Research Letters, 45(13).
- Slater, L., Villarini, G. and Bradley, A. (2018) Evaluation of the skill of North-American Multi-Model Ensemble (NMME) Global Climate Models in predicting average and extreme precipitation and temperature over the continental USA. Climate Dynamics.
- Slater, L.J. and Khouakhi, A. (2018) Climate modes of variability and fluvial response over interannual to multidecadal timescales. American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2018.
- Slater, L.J., Anderson, B.J., Blum, A.G. and Archfield, S.A. (2018) Attribution of changes in hydrologic extremes to changing land cover. American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2018.
- Villarini, G. and Slater, L. (2018) Examination of Changes in Annual Maximum Gauge Height in the Continental United States Using Quantile Regression. Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, 23(3).
- Slater, L.J., Villarini, G. (2017) Evaluating the drivers of seasonal streamflow rates in the U.S. Midwest, Water (MDPI). 9, 695.
- Slater, L.J., Wilby, R.L. (2017) Measuring the changing pulse of rivers (Perspective article), Science, 357(6351), pp. 552.
- Zhang, W., Villarini, G., Slater, L.J., Vecchi, G., Bradley, A.A. (2017) Improved ENSO Forecasting using Bayesian Updating and the North American Multi Model Ensemble (NMME), Journal of Climate.
- Slater, L.J., Villarini, G., Bradley, A.A. (2017) Weighting of NMME temperature and precipitation forecasts across Europe, Journal of Hydrology.
- Slater, L.J., Villarini, G., Bradley, A., Vecchi G. (2017) A dynamical statistical framework for seasonal streamflow forecasting in an agricultural watershed, Climate Dynamics.
- Clubb, F.J., Mudd, S.M., Milodowski, D.T, Valters, D.A, Slater, L.J., Hurst, M.D., and Limaye, A.B.S. (2017) Geomorphic delineation of floodplains and terraces from slope and channel relief thresholds, Earth Surface Dynamics, 5(3), pp.369-385.
- Wilby, R.L., Clifford, N.J., De Luca, P., Harrigan, S., Hillier, J.K., Hodgkins, R., Johnson, M.F., Matthews, T.K.R., Murphy, C., Noone, S.J., Parry, S., Prudhomme, C., Rice, S.P., Slater, L.J., Smith, K.A., Wood, P.J. (2017) The “dirty dozen” of freshwater science: Detecting then reconciling hydrological data biases and errors, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews (WIREs) Water.
- Slater, L.J., Villarini, G. (2016) On the impact of gaps on trend detection in extreme streamflow time series, International Journal of Climatology.
- Slater, L.J., Villarini, G. (2016) Recent trends in U.S. flood risk, Geophysical Research Letters, 2016. 43(12), pp.428-436.
- Slater L.J. (2016) To what extent have changes in channel capacity contributed to flood hazard trends in England and Wales? Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 41(8), pp.1115-1128.
- Slater, L.J., Singer, M.B., Kirchner J.W. (2015) Hydrologic versus geomorphic drivers of trends in flood hazard, Geophysical Research Letters, 42(2), pp.370-376.
- Clubb, F.J., Mudd S.M., Milodowski D.T., Hurst M.D., Slater L.J. (2014) Objective extraction of channel heads from high resolution topographic data, Water Resources Research. 50(5), pp.4283-4304.
- Slater, L. J. and Singer, M.B. (2013) Imprint of climate and climate change in alluvial riverbeds: Continental United States, 1950-2011, Geology, 41(5), pp.595-598.