Professor David Fowler

IMP – Biogeochemistry

Research interests

Land-atmosphere exchange of trace gases and aerosols

Short lived pollutants: The exchange of trace gases (SO2, NO2, O3 and NH3) regulate the lifetimes and transport distances of these gases in the atmospheric boundary layer and each is controlled by different processes at the surface. The work to date includes the measurement of fluxes in the field by micrometeorological methods and the development and application of models to quantify long-term inputs to terrestrial ecosystems.

Greenhouse gases: Emissions of N2O and CH4 from terrestrial ecosystems contribute significantly to the atmospheric burden of these important trace gases and while measurements of emissions are available for a range of ecosystems and seasons, annual emissions at country scales remain very uncertain. The work in this area includes the measurement of emission fluxes at the field scale by micrometeorological methods and the up-scaling to landscape and regional scales using aircraft sampling in the atmospheric boundary layer.

Aerosols:  The deposition of aerosols by dry deposition to terrestrial surfaces is a significant removal process for large aerosols, and is strongly influenced by aerosol size and the aerodynamic roughness of terrestrial surfaces. Work in this area includes the measurement of aerosol deposition fluxes by micrometeorological methods and by the application of  210Pb tracer methods, the latter providing long term  (~ 20year) average deposition fluxes and has been applied to quantify the effect of urban trees on removal of aerosols from urban air. Work on metal concentrations in air and rain and the deposition of metals to terrestrial surfaces have been a recent activity.

Ground level ozone

Ground level ozone represents a threat to human health, the productivity of vegetation and tropospheric ozone is a greenhouse gas, third in importance to CO2 and CH4. Work on ground level ozone has been focussed on the surface removal process, as above and on synthesis of the ground level ozone problems at the UK (Photochemical Oxidants Review Group - PORG) and global scales (Royal Society report 2008). Ground level ozone has become a global scale issue, rather than the local or regional pollutant it was considered to be in the late 20th century.

Long range transport deposition and effects of pollutants in Europe

The long range transport of pollutants in Europe has over the last 40 years been a substantial environmental issue, dominated in the 1970s by the effects of acid rain on ecosystems and more recently by ground level ozone, oxidized and reduced nitrogen compounds and particulate matter. The environmental issues have changed with time and the effects of control measures have been an important aspect of the applications of the science. Work in this area has included both the processes in the atmosphere, the effects of the pollutants on ecosystems and syntheses of the chemical climate of the atmosphere over the UK and more widely throughout Europe. The synthesis of this research may be found in the review reports (National Expert Group on Transboundary Air Pollution (NEGTAP) 2001); and in ACCENT, (e.g. Answers to the Urbino Questions) as well as in the publication lists.

Current projects

Membership of professional organisations

Recent publications

(For a full list of Professor Fowler's publications, please click here.) See also the NERC Open Research Archive.

2008

Whitehead, J.D., Twigg, M., Famulari, D., Nemitz, E., Sutton, M.A., Gallagher, M.W., Fowler, D. 2008.  Evaluation of TDLAS for Eddy Covariance Flux Measurements of Ammonia.  Environ. Sci. Technol., 42 (6), 2041–2046, 2008. doi: 10.1021/es071596.

Jones, M.R., Raven, J.A., Leith, I.D., Cape, J.N., Smith, R.I., Fowler, D (2008)  Short term flux chamber experiment to quantify the deposition of gaseous 15N-NH3 to Calluna vulgaris.  Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 148 (6-7) 893-901.

Huntingford, C., Fowler, D (2008)  Climate Change: seeking balance in media reports.  Environ. Res. Lett. 3 (2008) 021001 (4pp)  doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/3/2/021001.

Cape, J.N., Jones, M.R., Leith, I.D., Sheppard, L.J., van Dijk, N.,  Sutton, M.A., Fowler, D. (2008) Estimate of annual NH3 dry deposition to a fumigated ombrotrophic bog using concentration-dependent deposition velocities.  Atmospheric  Environment, 42, Issue 27, 6637-6646.

Khlystova, I., Buchwitz, M., Burrows, J.P., Bovensmann, H., Fowler, D. (2008) Carbon Monoxide spatial gradients over source regions as observed by SCIAMACHY: A case study for the United Kingdom.  Advances in Space Research (in press) doi: 10.1016/j.asr.2008.10.012.

Builtjes, P., Fowler, D., Feichter, J., Lewis, A., Monks, P., Borrell, P. (Eds) 2008.  The Impact of Climate Change on Air Quality.  The 4th ACCENT Barnsdale Expert Workshop, March 2008.

Fowler, D., Skiba, U., Moncrieff, J.B., Polson, P. (2008).  Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Inventories and Validation.  In: Land Management in a Changing Environment.  SAC and SEPA Biennial Conference, Edinburgh 26-27 March 2008, pp134-151.

2007

Jones, M.R., Leith, I.D., Fowler, D., Raven, J.A., Sutton, M.A., Nemitz, E., Cape, J.N., Sheppard, L.J., Smith, R.I. and Theobald, M.R. 2007. Concentration-dependent NH3 deposition processes for mixed moorland semi-natural vegetation. Atmospheric Environment, 41, Issue 10, 2049-2060.

Fowler, D., Smith, R.I., Muller, J., Cape, J.N., Sutton, M., Erisman, J.W., Fagerli, H. 2007. Long term trends in sulphur and nitrogen deposition in Europe and the cause of non-linearities. Water, Soil and Air Pollution Focus (Special Issue-Acid Rain Conference).  7, 41-47.

Jones, M.R., Leith, I.D., Raven, J.A., Fowler, D., Sutton, M.A., Nemitz, E., Cape, J.N., Sheppard, L.J., Smith, R.I. 2007.  Concentration-dependent NH3 deposition processes for moorland plant species with and without stomata.  Atmospheric Environment, 41, Issue 39, 8980-8994.

McDonald, A.G., Bealey, W.J., Fowler, D., Dragosits, U., Skiba, U., Smith, R.I., Donovan, R.G., Brett, H.E., Hewitt, C.N., Nemitz, E. 2007.  Quantifying the effect of urban tree planting on concentrations and depositions of PM10 in two UK conurbations.  Atmospheric Environment (2007), doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2007.07.025.

Sutton, M.A., Nemitz, E., Erisman, J.W., Beier, C., Butterbach Bahl, K., Cellier, P., de Vries, W., Cotrufo, F., Skiba, U., Di Marco, C., Jones, S., Laville, P., Soussana, J.F., Loubet, B., Twigg, M., Famulari, D., Whitehead, J., Gallagher, M.W., Neftel, A., Flechard, C.R., Herrmann, B., Calanca, P.L., Schjoerring, J.K., Daemmgen, U., Horvath, L., Tang, Y.S., Emmett, B.A., Tietema, A., Penuelas, J., Kesik, M., Brueggemann, N., Pilegaard, K., Vesala, T., Campbell, C.L., Olesen, J.E., Dragosits, U., Theobald, M.R., Levy, P., Mobbs, D.C., Milne, R., Viovy, N., Vuichard, N., Smith, J.U., Smith, P., Bergamaschi, P., Fowler, D., Reis, S.  2007   Challenges in quantifying biosphere-atmosphere exchange of nitrogen species.  Environmental Pollution  150, 125-139.

Bealey, W. J.; McDonald, A. G.; Nemitz, E.; Donovan, R.; Dragosits, U.; Duffy, T. R.; Fowler, D.. 2007 Estimating the reduction of urban PM10 concentrations by trees within an environmental information system for planners. Journal of Environmental Management, 85 (1). 44-58. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2006.07.007.

Fowler, D., Smith, R., Muller, J., Cape, J.N., Sutton, M., Erisman J.W. and Fagerli, H. 2007. Long term trends in sulphur and nitrogen deposition in Europe and the cause of non-linearities. In: Acid Rain – Deposition to Recovery, edited by P. Brimblecombe, H. Hara, D. Houle and M. Novak. 419pp, Springer, NL.

Burrows, J., Cox, T., Fowler, D., Granier, C., Isaaksen, I., Monks, P., O’Dowd, C., Borrell, P. (Eds)  2007  Volatile Organic Compounds in the Polluted Atmosphere.  The 3rd ACCENT Barnsdale Expert Meeting, April 2007.

2006

Dore, A.J., Mousavi-Baygi, M., Smith, R.I., Hall, J., Fowler, D. and Choularton, T.W.  2006. A model of annual orographic precipitation and acid deposition and its application to Snowdonia. Atmospheric Environment, 40, 3316-3326.

Culshaw, M.G., Nathanail, C.P., Leeks, G., Alker, S., Bridge, D., Duffy, T., Fowler, D., Packman, J.C., Swetnam, R., Wadsworth, R. and Wyatt, B. 2006. The role of web-based environmental information in urban planning – the environmental information system for planners. Science of the Total Environment, 360, 233-245.

Sutton M., Dragosits U., Simmons, I., Tang Y.S., Hellsten S., Love L., Vieno M., Skiba U., di Marco C., Storeton-West R.L., Fowler D., Williams J., North P., Hobbs P. and Misselbrook T. 2006. Monitoring and modelling trace-gas changes following the 2001 outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease to reduce the uncertainties in agricultural emissions abatement. Environmental Science & Policy, 9, 407-422.

Likuku, A.S., Branford, D., Fowler, D. And Weston K.J. 2006. Inventories of fallout 210Pb and 137Cs radionuclides in moorland and woodland soils around Edinburgh urban area (UK). Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 90, 37-47.

Pitcairn, C., Fowler, D., Leith, I., Sheppard, L., Tang, S., Sutton, M. and Famulari, D. 2006. Diagnostic indicators of elevated nitrogen deposition. Environmental Pollution, 144, 941-950.

Bey, I., Builtjes, P., Fowler, D., Jennings, G., Monks, P., O’Dowd, C., Stevenson, D. 2006.  ACCENT – Answers to the Urbino Questions.  Accent’s First Policy-Driven Synthesis.  20pp