Earth topography and its subsurface are the result of complex interactions between tectonics and climate. Sediments in the shallow subsurface contain vital resources including water and energy that are crucial for mankind. They also provide temporary and long-term waste and energy storage. At the same time active deformation and rapid climate change interact posing significant risk for natural hazards such as debris flow, hillslope instabilities, and active faulting. To address these pressing challenges and seize the opportunities in the realm of Earth-climate interactions, it is imperative that we enhance our expertise in connecting extensive datasets with deterministic forward models.

INITIATES objective is to assess the nature and efficiency of processes responsible for the interactions between the solid Earth and hydrosphere at a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. We will do this to address fundamental questions on the Earth’s evolution and respond to a pressing demand regarding the effect of the ongoing natural and anthropogenic climate change on the Earth’s surface habitability. We will use state-of-the-art modelling techniques and novel data mining methods combined with newly available high resolution observational datasets.