Liviu Giosan

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Liviu Giosan
Geosciences
InstitutionsWoods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Liviu Giosan (born 1968) is a

landscapes and humans. In the public sphere, he initiated "Ad Astra", an association of scientists from Romania and Romanian diaspora,[1] and has been actively involved in efforts to reform Romania's post-communist science and academia.[2]

Career

Studying the sediment transfer system through rivers into and inside the ocean, he focuses especially on

Indus Valley civilisation and the long term impact of deforestation on the Danube Delta and the Black Sea, BBC[6]
on the drowning of river deltas under human-induced climate changes.

Giosan started his career studying the

Danube delta. This work led to a classification of deltas highlighting the constructive role of waves and to the discovery of an asymmetric (polygenetic) end-member. These advances, together with novel ideas on river mouth morphodynamics, inspired approaches to numerically model river delta evolution and architecture. After producing the first accurate evolution model of the Danube Delta, Giosan explored the dramatic effects of early deforestation on the Danube and Black Sea as a type example of how humans have unintentionally affected the coastal ocean for millennia. Together with colleagues spanning disciplines from paleogenetics to engineering, he linked the rapid growth of the Danube delta in the last 2000 years to deforestation that started under the Roman Empire and accelerated during the Ottoman Empire's expansion in Europe. Paleo-DNA preserved in sediments indicated the ecosystem of the whole Black Sea has changed following the deforestation as Danube brought in more nutrients and silica from eroding soils. The magnitude of these changes for a continental-size system such as the Danube-Black Sea is a prime argument for an early Anthropocene
epoch.

In 2003, after discovering of a large submarine extension of the

Sarasvati River of mythical fame, retracted its reach toward the foothills of the Himalaya. That region continued to be populated by the Indus people long after the collapse of their cities. Further work by Giosan's team in peninsular India highlighted the regional character of the impact of such climate changes: while the Indus civilization collapsed under the monsoon decline, people of the peninsula expanded agriculture to cope with aridity. In interviews,[7][8]
Giosan compared the ancient Indus collapse to the present dependence on fossil fuels and introduced the term "Goldilocks civilization" to underline their non-sustainable character.

In 2014, together with other leading deltaic researchers, he examined the global health of river deltas showing that these vast coastal lowlands cannot withstand the predicted rise in sea level for the next century and calling for maintenance and reconstruction measures.[9] Using again Danube delta as an example, Giosan and his colleagues showed that the expansion of a shallow channel network used for fishing in the mid 20th century had beneficial effects by trapping sediments on the delta plain and counteracting sea level rise effects.[10] This channelization of the delta plain, which mimics natural deltas in their youth, emerged as one of the methods for delta reconstruction.

Public life

In 2000, Giosan initiated and co-founded "Ad Astra", an association of academics dedicated to the reform of science and education in post-communist Romania. Occasionally he publishes analyses and OpEd texts in the Romanian media such as România Curată,

România Liberă
.

References

  1. ISSN 0036-8075
    .
  2. ^ Nature - Scientists in Romania and Bulgaria are having the best and the worst of times.
  3. ^ National Geographic - "Noah's Flood" Not Rooted in Reality, After All?
  4. ^ The New York Times - An Ancient Civilization, Upended by Climate Change
  5. ^ The New York Times - From Ancient Deforestation, a Delta Is Born
  6. ^ "Major deltas 'could be drowned'", BBC
  7. ^ Oceanus - Climate Change Spurred Fall of Ancient Culture
  8. S2CID 128544603
    .
  9. doi:10.1038/516031a
  10. ISSN 2213-3054
    .
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