SOLAS - UK

You are here: Home > About SOLAS > Organisation+Structure > National Networks

UNITED KINGDOM
National Contact	Phil Williamson
Email	p.williamsonuea.ac.uk
Website	http://www.nerc.ac.uk/funding/thematics/solas/
Full Reports (pdf)	Jun 02 Nov 02 Apr 03 May 06 May 08

Summary report on status of UK SOLAS: May 2006

1. UK SOLAS is the directed programme supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) to provide the main national contribution to SOLAS. It is funded at the level of £10.3m over the period 2004-09, and managed by a Steering Committee (Chair: Howard Cattle), a Programme Administrator (Sarah Collinge, NERC Swindon) and a Science Coordinator (Phil Williamson, based at University of East Anglia).

2. The UK SOLAS Science Plan and other basic information on the programme are given at www.nerc.ac.uk/funding/thematics/solas. Note that there is additional SOLAS-relevant science supported by NERC and other funding agencies; including the Centre for Observation of Air-Sea Interactions and Fluxes (CASIX, www.pml.ac.uk/CASIX) and the Laboratory for Global Marine Atmospheric Chemistry {LGMAC, http://lgmacweb.env.uea.ac.uk/lgmac).

3. The first round competition for component projects was held in 2005, with an additional ‘knowledge transfer’ funding round in late 2005/early 2006. These competitions resulted in support for 14 research grants, two contracts and an additional two studentships (Table 1). Over 40 Investigators and Co-Investigators are involved, at 16 institutions.

4. The geographic focus is the eastern North Atlantic, covering a wide latitudinal range, from tropical waters off Senegal and Mauritania to the Arctic Circle (Norwegian Sea). There are five broad groups of research activities:

Ocean processes affecting the atmosphere; including biological interactions affecting DMS production, and the role of shelf-edge upwelling in trace gas emissions
Atmospheric processes affecting the ocean; including dust-derived metal and nutrient inputs
Factors determining exchange rates at the sea surface; including the biology of the microlayer and physico-chemical events at high wind speeds
Global-scale modelling, with emphasis on aerosols and relevant atmospheric chemistry
Establishment of an observatory (with international partners) on the Cape Verde islands for time series studies on the tropical marine atmosphere subject to both oceanic and continental influences. Details at www.york.ac.uk/capeverde.

5. The first fieldwork was a study of dust deposition processes off North West Africa, in Jan-Feb 2006, using the German research ship RV Poseidon (under barter arrangements; Principal Scientist, Eric Achterberg, NOC) and the BAE-146 research aircraft, in collaboration with the UK Meteorological Office and AMMA (African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis). This resulted in national press coverage and a temporary exhibit in the Science Museum, London.

6. Seven other UK SOLAS research cruises are planned during the lifetime of the programme, including an early winter study of high latitude air-sea exchange processes, in Nov-Dec 2006 (PS’s Ian Brooks, Leeds and Robert Upstill Goddard, Newcastle) and a shelf-edge upwelling study in off NW Africa (originally planned for early summer 2006, now postponed until 2008; PS, Carol Robinson, PML).

7. A proposal for “Global data synthesis of air-sea fluxes of gases and aerosols for policy-directed modelling and assessment of climate change and air pollution” is currently under review, for support as a UK SOLAS/NERC knowledge transfer activity. If successful, it would enhance data management and synthesis for SOLAS as a whole, working closely with the IPO (and its related bid to COST, to support European data synthesis for SOLAS).

Table 1. UK SOLAS Research grants, contracts and studentships* (May 2006)

Title	Lead PI	Co-Investigators and collaborators
The impact of atmospheric dust derived metal and nutrient inputs on tropical North Atlantic near surface plankton microbiota	Eric Achterberg (NOC) ericnoc.soton.ac.uk	D Purdie, P Statham, M Zubkov (NOC); A Baker, T Jickells (UEA)
Roles of DMSP and GBT in protection from photoinhibition/photoxidative stress and consequences for DMS and NH3 production	Stephen Archer (PML) stdapml.ac.uk	R Geider, N Baker, G Underwood (Essex); C Llewellyn(PML)
Global modelling of aerosols and chemistry in support of SOLAS-UK	Ken Carslaw (Leeds) carslawenv.leeds.ac.uk	M Chipperfield (Leeds)
The role of algal-bacteria interactions in determining dimethylsulphide fluxes to the atmosphere (ALBA)	David Green (SAMS) david.greensams.ac.uk	A Hatton, M Hart (SAMS)
Dust outflow and deposition to the ocean (DODO)	Eleanor Highwood (Reading) e.j.highwoodreading.ac.uk	H Coe, D Vaughan, J Lloyd , P Williams (Manchester); R Harrison (Birmingham) J Haywood (Met Office), AMMA
The role of the bacterioneuston in air-sea gas exchange	Colin Murrell (Warwick) j.c.murrellwarwick.ac.uk	R Upstill-Goddard (Newcastle), H Schaefer (Warwick)
Air-sea OVOC fluxes: Seawater sources/sinks and role of the microlayer	Philip Nightingale (PML) pdnpml.ac.uk	PS Liss, S Turner, D Oram (UEA)
The impact of coastal up-wellings on air-sea exchange of climatically important gases	Carol Robinson (PML) crobpml.ac.uk	N Owens, A Rees, R Torres (PML), E Achterberg (NOC) CASIX, D Barton (Vigo), C Law (New Zealand)
Field observations of sea spray, gas fluxes and whitecaps (SEASAW)	Ian Brooks (Leeds) ibrooksenv.leeds.ac.uk	M Smith, J McQuaid (Leeds), M Srokosz (NOC)
DOGEE-SOLAS: The UK SOLAS deep ocean gas exchange experiment	Rob Upstill-Goddard (Newcastle) Rob.goddardncl.ac.uk	A Watson (UEA), P Nightingale (PML) D Woolf, M Srokosz, M Yelland (NOC), TG Leighton (Southampton), MD DeGrandpre (Montana), W Drennan (Miami), D Ho (Lamont-Doherty), BJ Huebert (Hawaii) C McNeil (URI)
High wind air-sea exchanges (HiWASE)	Margaret Yelland (NOC) mjynoc.soton.ac.uk	A Watson (UEA) Univ of Bergen, Norwegian Met Office
Reactive halogens in the marine boundary layer (RHaMBLe)	Gordon McFiggans (Manchester) g.mcfiggansmanchester.ac.uk	M Gallagher (Manchester), S Ball (Leicester) L Carpenter (York), D Heard, J Plane, W Bloss (Leeds)
Transformations, volatilisation and speciation of organic and inorganic iodine in the marine environment	Lucy Carpenter (York) ljc4york.ac.uk	Frithjof Kuepper (SAMS)
Investigation of near-surface production of iodocarbons - rates and exchange (INSPIRE)	Gill Malin (UEA) g.malinuea.ac.uk	PS Liss, C Hughes, M Martino (UEA), P Nightingale I Allen, T Smyth, S Archer (PML) L Carpenter (York), E Achterberg (NOC)
Establishment of ocean-atmosphere observatory on Cape Verde (atmospheric components). Contract	Lucy Carpenter (York) ljc4york.ac.uk	DIAC; universities of Leeds and Bristol EU-funded TENATSO and other international partners
Data management services for UK SOLAS. Contract, in prep.	Juan Brown (BODC) jbrownbodc.ac.uk	In partnership with BADC
Denitrification in the bacterioneuston: the role of algal C in driving N2O reduction. Research studentship	Liz Baggs (Aberdeen) e.baggsabdn.ac.uk	In partnership with Commercial Microbiology
Oceanic DMS emissions and dust deposition feedbacks in the earth’s climate system. Research studentship	Ken Carslaw (Leeds) carslawenv.leeds.ac.uk	In partnership with Met Office

* Studentships awarded under Knowledge Transfer funding round

BADC, British Atmospheric Data Centre; BODC, British Oceanographic Data Centre; NOC, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton; PML, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, SAMS, Scottish Association for Marine Sciences; TENATSO, Tropical Eastern North Atlantic Time-Series Observatory; UEA, Univ East Anglia, URI, Univ Rhode Island, USA.

(PPW, May 2006)

ABOUT SOLAS

SOLAS NETWORKS

UNITED KINGDOM

National Contact

Email

Website

Full Reports (pdf)

Summary report on status of UK SOLAS: May 2006