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Professor Mathew Heal

Dr Mathew Heal

Honorary Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry

Room 286

University of Edinburgh
Joseph Black Building
David Brewster Road
Edinburgh
EH9 3FJ

Research Interests

Measurement and modelling of atmospheric trace species concentrations and fluxes. Urban air quality and the impacts on health

Research Overview

Our research group, in collaboration with many other colleagues, uses a combination of field measurements and modelling to investigate atmospheric composition, surface-atmosphere fluxes, and air pollution, and the impacts of these on the terrestrial environment and on human health. Current areas of research include:

  • Ambient particulate matter (PM) and NO2 measurement validation and inter-comparison, and the measurement and modelling of small-scale spatial and temporal variations in urban air pollution for estimating human exposure;
  • High-resolution modelling of atmospheric chemistry, with particular focus on ozone, PM and nitrogen deposition, to understand current and potential future impacts on atmospheric composition and on human health and ecosystems;
  • Measurement of the concentrations and surface fluxes of trace gases from terrestrial systems such as wetlands, forests and bioenergy crops.

Data collecter and diagram of map from Prof. Heal's research

Publications

  1. Ge, Y., Vieno, M., Stevenson, D.S., Wind, P., Heal, M.R. (2022). A new assessment of global and regional budgets, fluxes and lifetimes of atmospheric reactive N and S gases and aerosols, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 22, 8343-8368.
  2. Walker, H.L., Heal, M.R., Braban, C F., Whalley, L.K. and Twigg, M.M. (2022). Evaluation of local measurement-driven adjustments of modelled cloud-free atmospheric photolysis rate coefficients, Environmental Science: Atmospheres 2, 1411-1427.
  3. Delgado-Saborit, J.M., Lim, S., Hickman, A. et al. (2022). Factors affecting occupational black carbon exposure in enclosed railway stations. Atmospheric Environment 289, 119301.
  4. Cash, J.M., Langford, B., Di Marco, C.F. et al. (2021) Seasonal analysis of submicron aerosol in Old Delhi using high-resolution aerosol mass spectrometry: chemical characterisation, source apportionment and new marker identificationAtmospheric Chemistry and Physics 21, 10133-10158.
  5. Purser, G., Drewer, J., Heal, M.R., Sircus, R.A.S., Dunn, L.K., and Morison, J.I.L. (2021) Isoprene and monoterpene emissions from alder, aspen and spruce short rotation forest plantations in the UKBiogeosciences 18, 2487-2510.
  6. Tang, Y.S., Flechard, C.R., Dämmgen, U., et al. (2021) Pan-European atmospheric monitoring network shows dominance of NH3 gas and NH4NO3 aerosol in inorganic atmospheric pollution loadAtmospheric Chemistry and Physics 21, 875-91
  7. Ramsay, R., Di Marco, C.F., Heal, M.R. et al. (2021). Measurement and modelling of the dynamics of NH3 surface–atmosphere exchange over the Amazonian rainforest, Biogeosciences 18, 2809-2825.
  8. Lin, C., Hu, D., Jia, X., et al. (2020) The relationship between personal exposure and ambient PM2.5 and black carbon in BeijingScience of The Total Environment 737, 139801.
  9. He, B., Heal, M.R., Reis, S. (2020). Modelling public health benefits of various emission control options to reduce NO2 concentrations in Guangzhou, Environmental Research Communications 2, 065006.
  10. Carnell, E.J., Vieno, M., Vardoulakis, S., Beck, R., Heaviside, C., Tomlinson, S. J., Dragosits, U., Heal, M.R., Reis, S. (2019) Modelling public health improvements as a result of air pollution control policies in the UK over four decades - 1970 to 2010Environmental Research Letters 14, 074001