- Laboratory for Global Marine and Atmospheric Chemistry
- School of Environmental Sciences
- University of East Anglia
- Norwich
- Norfolk
- NR4 7TJ
- UK
- +44 (0)
Current Research Interests
Currently I am a PhD student working for Alex Baker and Tim Jickells in the Aquatic and Atmospheric Biogeochemistry group of the laboratory for global marine and atmospheric chemistry (LGMAC) in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia, UK. The working title of my thesis is “The atmospheric deposition of iron and other key nutrients to the Tropical North Atlantic” and I hope to submit by 31st December 2009.
Given that the tropical North Atlantic generally has very low precipitation, my research focuses on the dry deposition of dust aerosol (although I do collect rain samples as well).
I am particularly interested in:
Quantifying the atmospheric flux of nutrients to the open ocean:Atmospheric deposition is highly variable and the measurements taken are 'snapshots' of the deposition at a particular point in time and space. In particular, my PhD work has covered the eastern Tropical North Atlantic (ETNA), and in order to get an idea of the seasonal variation of deposition to the area, I am using a large amount of data generated from several research cruises over a 10 year period along with air mass back trajectories to generate a seasonal climatology for the deposition of nutrients, which takes into account the sparsity of data and the prevailing meteorological conditions.
Iron Biogeochemistry: Iron is only sparingly soluble in seawater, yet it is an essential micronutrient. I am interested in how the solubility of the iron content of aerosol, particularly Saharan dust, varies with transport time; source region and other factors. Data from the samples collected in the ETNA region show that transport time and particle size-sorting have a large effect on iron soluble fraction, more so than atmospheric acid processing and aerosol source region, although these factors may be important in other areas.
Phosphate and nitrogen deposition: Dust aerosol is also an important source of macro-nutrients to surface waters, especially to the oligotrophic waters of the subtropical gyre. I study the effect of atmospheric deposition of these aerosols with respect to phytoplankton nutrient demand. Due to the multidisciplinary nature of the research cruises I have participated in, we have measurements of the structure of the phytoplankton communities in the study region and what their nutrient needs may be: for example phosphate and iron are limiting nutrients due to the high abundance of diazotrophs in the ETNA, which means that phosphate deposition becomes important.
My work fits within a the larger UK-SOLAS “Impact of atmospheric dust derived material and nutrient inputs on near-surface plankton microbiota in the Tropical North Atlantic” project, which is a collaboration between groups at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton and the University of East Anglia.
Previous Research
I have a multidisciplinary background and have been involved in a wide range of research projects in the past:
Physical oceanography: I was involved in the 36N project, which aims to understand the heat flux and nutrient budget across the North Atlantic Subtropical gyre, and the rapid project, which aims to monitor changes in the flow of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC).
Physical chemistry: I have also been involved in the development stages of a gas phase system for the analysis of gasses by 2D-IR spectroscopy.