Research Fellow in Air Quality Modelling (ENVEE1424)

Agriculture is a substantial contributor to emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, but it is also impacted by the climate change caused by increased atmospheric concentrations of these GHGs. This situation has led to the 'climate smart agriculture' (CSA) approach, which identifies agricultural management practices and technologies to reduce emissions, whilst simultaneously enhancing productivity and improving farmers' livelihoods.

However, agriculture also contributes substantially to air pollution through emissions of nitrogen oxides, ammonia and aerosols in addition to the more well-known GHGs. Together these emissions contribute to air pollutants of which secondary ozone and aerosols (PM) are arguably the most important, damaging both human health and arable crop productivity.

These agricultural emissions contribute to substantial air quality problems in China. Poor air quality (due to elevated PM) is estimated to be responsible for between 0.35 to 1.2 million premature deaths per year in China. Ozone pollution has also been estimated to induce wheat yield losses of between 3 and 12% per year. However, the nature of these environmental challenges also offer opportunities for innovative solutions, specifically to extend the CSA approach to include air pollutant emissions and impacts and apply this in China.

The University of Leeds is a partner in a newly funded project for Pollution and Climate Smart Agriculture in China (PaCSAC). Our role is to conduct atmospheric modelling to investigate the impact of air pollution on agriculture, specifically through the deposition of ozone and the interaction of aerosols with photosynthetically active radiation. We will also use models to test the benefit of satellite ozone observations for addressing crop-ozone impacts.

To explore the post further or for any queries you may have, please contact:

Prof. Martyn Chipperfield

Tel: +44 (0)113 343 6459, email: M.Chipperfield@leeds.ac.uk

Closing Date: 22 Oct 2020
Category: Research