Michelle Cain

PhD topic: Transport and processing of ozone and its precursors in the West African monsoon (WAM) region

Supervisors:
Dr John Methven and Dr Eleanor Highwood

For my PhD thesis, I will investigate the transport and processing of constituents in the WAM region, particularly looking at ozone and its precursors. I was a secondary mission scientist in the intensive observation period of the AMMA experiment, for the NERC/Met Office research aircraft which was based in Niger during July-August 2006. The experience gained during the campaign has motivated some of the questions that I am addressing in my thesis, which are:

• Can the composite aircraft measurements of ozone be explained using a numerical model of photochemistry and physical processes in a typical monsoon flow?
• What are the effects of biogenic isoprene emissions and soil NO emissions on ozone production in the WAM region?
• How sensitive is the modelled ozone production to anthropogenic/biogenic emissions, land surface characteristics and model parameters?

The model I am using is CiTTyCAT (Cambridge Tropospheric Trajectory model of Chemistry and Transport). I have updated parts of the model and tested it extensively on case studies from the ICARTT (International Consortium for Atmospheric Research on Transport and Transformation) 2004 Lagrangian experiment. For more information on these case studies, see:

Real, E., Law, K., Schlager, H., Roiger, A., Huntrieser, H., Methven, J., Cain, M., Holloway, J., Neuman, J. A., Ryerson, T., Flocke, F., de Gouw, J., Atlas, E., Donnelly, S., and Parrish, D.: Lagrangian analysis of low altitude anthropogenic plume processing across the North Atlantic, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 8, 7737-7754, 2008.

MSci dissertation: Whistler mode chorus waves in acceleration of electrons to relativistic energies in Earth's outer radiation belt

Supervisor:
Dr Nigel Meredith (currently at the British Antarctic Survey)

Full details are on my project website. A paper was also published following the project:

Meredith, N. P., M. Cain, R. B. Horne, R. M. Thorne, D. Summers, and R. R. Anderson, Evidence for chorus-driven electron acceleration to relativistic energies from a survey of geomagnetically-disturbed periods, J. Geophys. Res., 108(A6), 1248, 10.1029/2002JA009764, 2003.