Background
Anna’s research focuses on the polar atmosphere, and how chemical composition is affected by interactions with snow, with sea ice, and with the ocean. Such knowledge is essential for predicting how the atmosphere will respond to future changes in climate, and the consequent modifications to the polar environment, as well as assessing any feedbacks that may arise. Detailed understanding of our present day atmosphere, and the factors affecting it, also enhances our ability to interpret ice cores, which hold an archive of how Earths’ atmosphere and climate evolved over time. Her team also use baseline observations of the atmosphere in remote locations to “take the pulse” of global atmospheric composition, and monitor for changes over time.
Anna’s work has mainly focussed on Antarctica, in particular using measurements made at the British Antarctic Survey’s Halley station. She runs a laboratory there, the Clean Air Sector Laboratory (CASLab), where the team operate a variety of instruments to make measurements of trace gas and aerosol components. Halley is a “Global” station in the World Meteorological Organisation Global Atmospheric Watch (WMO/GAW) network, and data from the CASLab also contribute to the Equianos greenhouse gas network.