Atmospheric Chemistry

The Atmospheric Chemistry Group at the University of Leicester work on the science that underlies contemporary questions such as:

• How clean is the air that we breathe?
• How will climate change effect air quality and vice versa?
• How accurately can we measure air pollutants and greenhouse gases from space?

The goal of the work is to understand and quantify the processes that control the composition of our atmosphere and the implications of change across all scales.

Some current areas of research are:

• Diagnostic Development Unit (DDU)
• Trends of air pollutants and their precursors at the regional scale.
• Impact of megacities (CITYZEN) on regional air pollution.
• Role of night-time chemistry on the oxidative capacity of the troposphere. (FAAM)
• Organic complexity and the formation of secondary organic aerosol.
• The impact of tropical emissions on the regional oxidative capacity.
• Development of measurements of city-scale air pollution from the ground and space.
• Greenhouse gas measurement and quantification from space.

The research program uses an integrated approach of both measurement and analysis in order to investigate these complex atmospheric chemical systems. An end to end approach using innovative design, building and characterisation of instruments as well as their deployment and use for measurements in the atmosphere through to the analysis, statistical modelling and interpretation of the data is used. Atmospheric measurements are made from a range of ground-based, aircraft and satellite platforms.

In a new departure, we have a spin-out research program working on the measurement of volatile organic compounds on breath as a medical diagnostic.  The same technology developed for measuring the complex organic chemistry leading to aerosol formation is being used in a hospital environment for measure the composition of breath for medical purposes.

Coming from the research and innovation base Professor Paul Monks is involved in two business facing activities.  He is the Director of G-STEP which uses earth observation data to make business more competitive via innovation, partnering of brokering practical solutions for regional small/medium enterprises.   He is also director of the Real-Time Air Fingerprinting Technology (RAFT) demonstrator laboratory that undertakes small projects with regional SME industry in the air of trace-gas/liquid measurement with the aim of increasing competiveness through exploitation of the HE technology base.

The recommendations of the Rio+20 Regional Science and Technology Workshop for Europe, have now been published on the website of the Delegation of the Finnish Academies of Science and Letters. You will find the recommendations together with videos and other material from the workshop behind this link: http://www.tsv.fi/international/akatemiat/Rio+20/rio+20.html

Listen to Professor Monk's podcast on his research group and see Current Group Profiles and Field Work Pictures. Please use the links provided for individual staff members to find further details of their current research. 

Atmospheric Chemistry Group Members - Academic Staff

Atmospheric Chemistry Group Members

EOS = Earth Observation Science

G-STEP is a University of Leicester based knowledge-exchange hub that provides a satellite data solutions service enabling business and organizations to access and apply complex Earth Observation data in a simple and tailored way.

Atmospheric Chemistry publications