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Centre for Atmospheric Science

 

There are several members of staff involved in developing instruments for measurements of atmospheric composition. This page gives an overview of the research undertaken. Contact the members of staff for more details.

 

Prof. Rod Jones (Chemistry)new UK research aircraft

Ozone in the stratosphere protects the biosphere from potentially damaging short wavelength solar radiation. Tropospheric ozone initiates many of the chemical processes, which are necessary for the removal of many pollutant gases, while direct exposure can damage animals and plants. Many other gases play important roles: bromine and chlorine oxides are known to play important roles in stratospheric ozone loss, while gases such as NO3 are important in the night time chemistry in both the stratosphere and troposphere. Other gases, such as the ubiquitous water vapour play important roles in both chemistry and climate. However, not only are the basic distributions of many of these gases poorly known, but also their detailed roles in the atmospheric system have yet to be tested adequately - studies of these are the focus of the group.

Widely differing measurement methods are used, together with numerical models for these studies. UV, visible and infra-red spectroscopy, coupled to novel laser and detector technologies, is used to study, amongst other things, atmospheric composition and structure in the Mace Head, Irelandupper atmosphere (using the new UK research aircraft and a powerful LIDAR and balloon borne instruments, and the marine planetary boundary layer in Mace Head, Ireland where a novel technique (broad-band cavity ring-down spectroscopy) has been used to explore marine chemistry and oceanic emissions. There are numerous developments of these techniques, e.g. super-continuum light sources to produce compact ultra broadband CRDS systems.

At the other end of the instrument size spectrum is the development of lightweight sensors for O3, CO, CO2, NOx, H2O and hydrocarbons which are being used to study the chemistry of volcanic emissions (e.g. Mt. Etna, the composition of the upper atmosphere and for sensor networks for studying real time personal exposure to gases and aerosols in the urban environment for atmospheric science and health.

Contacts

 

Prof. John Pyle (Chemistry)

We have developed lightweight gas chromatography instruments to measure halocarbons. These have been deployed from balloons and high-flying research aircraft.

Contacts

 

Related Publications 

Statistical modelling of pollutant concentration in the urban environment at high spatial and temporal resolution by utilizing data from sensor networks
– HARMO 2014 - 16th International Conference on Harmonisation within Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling for Regulatory Purposes, Proceedings (2014)374

Centre Highlights

• January 2024: The CCPG have successfully submitted a proposal for PACESETTERS!

• September 2nd 2023: Dr Annela Anger-Kraavi has co-authored a paper analysing just transition narratives in European coal regions. Read the paper here

• December 13th 2022: The CCPG have co-authored a paper on game-changing innovations towards net-zero, published in Energy Strategy Reviews. Read the open access paper here.

• November 15th 2022: The final conference of PARIS REINFORCE is taking place today in Sorbonne. Read more about the event here

• October 24th 2022: The CCPG have successfully submitted a proposal for the Cambridge-Tsinghua joint research initiative! 

• May 5th 2022: We've submitted to the UNFCCC's Global Stocktake (GST). More information is available on our news page. 

• March 23rd 2022: Multiple CAS academics have published a paper investigating the future role of anthropogenic methane emissions. Read the open access paper here.

• Feb 18th 2022: Dr Parris and Dr Anger-Kraavi have co-authored a paper that develops a tool to support co-designed transformative change. Read the open access paper here.

• Dec 16th 2021: Dr Parris has co-authored a paper that introduces a tool to support plastic pollution policy. Read the open access paper here.

• Nov 22nd 2021: Dr Anger-Kraavi has co-authored a paper with Paris Reinforce. Read the open access version here


Want to know more about our high-profile publications? Check out our Publication Highlights!