Tim Arnold

Before joining the University of Edinburgh in 2016 I was at the Met Office Hadley Centre (2014-2016). Prior to this, I spent more than five years in the USA at the University of California, San Diego at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography as a postdoc studying atmospheric composition change (2009-2014). My undergraduate studies were in Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge (2001-2005) and I followed this with a PhD in isotope geochemistry in the Earth Science and Engineering Department at Imperial College London (2005-2009).

My research helps improve our understanding of the sources and sinks of greenhouse gases. I study the changes in atmospheric composition happening now and the changes that have occurred over the last few decades. I am especially interested in the development and use of high-precision ground-based measurements that are sensitive to gas fluxes on local to regional to global scales. Sources and sinks can be quantified from these measurements using atmospheric transport models within a mathematical inversion framework. Developing novel measurement methods and improving the quality of information within this framework holds promise to reduce emissions estimate uncertainties, and most importantly, help focus climate change mitigation efforts.

I have a joint position between the National Physical Laboratory in London and the University of Edinburgh. The National Physical Laboratory is the UK’s National Measurement Institute, which is responsible for traceability, accuracy and consistency of measurement from fundamental science through to delivery of services. At NPL I work in the Emissions and Atmospheric Metrology group – a team of 20+ scientists helping a range of organisations and companies quantify gaseous and particulate emissions important to climate and air quality.

Environmental Pollution (Year 3 undergraduate, Ecological Science)

Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate of the Anthropocene