9th Annual Report on the International Status of Engineering Geology—Year 2003–2004. Encompassing hydrogeology, environmental geology and the applied geosciences

The year began with additional evidence that global warming effects were bringing about unusual increases in free precipitation, as rain in greater amounts, but not as snow, in the mid latitudes of Europe and North America, setting new records for flooding. These effects surely will continue to magnify as practical concerns for Engineering Geologists, not the least of which will be slope instability. Worldwide, the profession appeared to be in a truly advanced state, as marked by a new high in indigenous practice, a broad base of authors in this journal, and of cooperation between practitioners of the various nations.