Dr N F Arnold Lecturer

Biography:

I graduated with a degree in astrophysics from the University of Kent at Canterbury. My doctoral thesis from the University of Oxford, in association with the UK Meteorological Office, concerned the numerical modelling of transport processes in the ozone layer . I first joined the RSPPG as a post-doc in 1992. I took a two year sabbatical as a Visiting Scientist with NASA at the Goddard Space Flight Center. I am currently a PPARC Advanced Research Fellow and honorary lecturer in the department.

Research Interests:

My principal research interest is the interaction between the Earth's climate system and space. The upper atmosphere is many times more sensitive to solar activity than the region commonly associated with our weather systems. Subtle non-linear processes provide mechanisms whereby small energy inputs above 80 km altitude can be amplified to produce large regional responses below 40 km. State-of-the-art, three dimensional models, running on high performance computers and a global chain of radars are being used to deepen our understanding of these processes. I am currently leading an inter-disciplinary team of scientists and engineers in the design of a micro-satellite mission to investigate the contribution of space plasma to the global circulation of the Earth.

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