Chris Braban

The 2025 year-to-date (to 7 August) total estimated #wildfire emissions for Canada (225 megatonnes of carbon (Mt C)), have overtaken 2024's annual total (223 Mt C) to be 2nd highest year since 2003, behind 2023. The total is likely to keep rising with 3 more weeks of summer still to come.

📣 Applications for the LUNZ Hub Creative Collaborative Placements programme are now open! 📣

Deadline for Applications: August 22, 5pm (by email)
Research, practice and production of work: November 2025 – May 2026
Award: £5000
Click here to find out more: bit.ly/4ld5a8n

Front cover of National Plant Monitoring Scheme Annual Report 2024

Books and papers lying on daisy covered grass

Two people outside in a rural environment look at information on a clipboard

🌿 The National Plant Monitoring Scheme has turned 10!

More than 1,000 volunteers have gathered 250k+ botanical records that feed into the UK Biodiversity Indicators. Marking the milestone, the 2024 report shares surveyor stories & a timeline of NPMS highlights.

🔗 🧪 www.npms.org.uk/article/npms...

it's little toes tipping! :)

Minimizing the impacts of the ammonia economy on the nitrogen cycle and climate | PNAS Ammonia (NH3) is an attractive low-carbon fuel and hydrogen carrier. However, losses and inefficiencies across the value chain could result in reac...

‘Ammonia (NH3) is an attractive low-carbon fuel and hydrogen carrier. However, losses and inefficiencies across the value chain could result in reactive nitrogen emissions (NH3, NOx, and N2O), negatively impacting air quality, the environment, human health, and climate’ www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...

The status, threats and conservation of Critically Endangered species - Nature Reviews Biodiversity Species classified as Critically Endangered are at greatest risk of extinction, and their preservation and recovery are crucial to meeting global biodiversity aims. This Review assesses the geographic...

🦎 Critically Endangered: species on the brink

A new review finds >10,000 species are Critically Endangered, but fewer than half benefit from active conservation. Many need targeted help, and fast.

Just 16 countries hold over half of them.

🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s44...

#SciComm 🧪

A group of people collecting water samples from a riverbank

A group of people, wearing lifejackets, in rowing boats

A member of our team in a boat, on a polar fieldtrip, wearing yellow waterproofs and a lifejacket

Check out this exciting job opportunity, for a Senior Freshwater Ecologist at @ukceh.bsky.social...take a look and please repost!

ceh.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/CEH_Ca...

#freshwater #ecology #job #career 🧪🐟🦠🌊🚣‍♀️

🐝 Want to help pollinators? Here are some easy actions:

🌸 Grow nectar-rich flowers
🌿 Let patches grow wild
✂️ Mow less
🛑 Leave insect nests alone
🚫 Avoid pesticides
📲 Count pollinators for @pomscheme.bsky.social

Small changes = big impact. #BeesNeeds #Pollinators

www.gov.uk/government/p...

Bees' Needs Week is a great time to join in with the UK Pollinator Monitoring Schedule. Data will form an invaluable resource from which to measure trends in pollinator populations and target conservation efforts.

ukpoms.org.uk/home

Anyone got a video of a hare having the shit scared out of it by a curlew — ah, don’t worry, got one anyway!

when an air quality scientist is on holiday, always a plume to spot.. Very well defined ship plume on a background of more air pollution.

In a UK newspaper opinion piece today, Matt Ridley (climate confuser) says: "winter nighttime temperatures have risen faster than summer daytime ones"

Um, no, not for the UK which the article is about. In fact, the hottest summer days are warming 2x faster than coldest winter nights. Sigh.

Join experts from EUMETSAT, @esa.int, @ecmwf.int & CAMS this October in #Brussels and/or online for advanced training in atmospheric composition monitoring & modelling.

🛰️ Main topics include:
🛰️ Atmospheric processes
🛰️ Modelling
🛰️ Emissions
🛰️ Observations

Apply by 29 Jun here: atmostraining.info

Aerial view over a farmland landscape in central Spain where different actions to rewild it have taken place in the last four years.

Setting aside 20% of agricultural land for rewilding and adopting wildlife-friendly farming on the rest could reverse #biodiversity declines while maintaining food production, scientists say.

They offer a blueprint to integrate nature recovery & agriculture 🌱🪲

➡️ www.ceh.ac.uk/press/scient... 🧪

This is phenomenal.

Sea surface temperatures are >5C above average to the west of the UK and around Iceland. It's the strongest area of anomalous warmth on the planet at the moment.

It's the warmest in recorded history for northwest Europe.

Gas-Phase Water-Soluble Organic Carbon: CMAQ Model Evaluation in Baltimore County Prediction of gas-phase water-soluble organic carbon (WSOCg), a precursor for secondary organic aerosol formed through processing in atmospheric waters (aqSOA), has not yet been evaluated in models. We pair the WSOCg predictions from the U.S. EPA’s Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model with continuous mist chamber measurements during February–March 2015 and August 2016 in Baltimore County, MD. We simulate mist chamber collection of WSOCg from CMAQ’s atmosphere with application of compound-specific collection efficiencies as a function of Henry’s law. CMAQ predictions of WSOCg mass concentrations are highest in August, while measurements are highest during February–March. CMAQ does not replicate the average diurnal pattern of the measured WSOCg in any month. The CMAQ prediction of directly emitted VOCs that oxidize to form WSOCg is more reasonable, and the model skill for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone (O3) is relatively excellent in comparison (R2 = 0.5 and R2 = 0.6, respectively; p ≈ 0). These findings suggest that representation of organic gases and their chemistry in this CMAQ simulation is sufficient to accurately predict the criteria pollutants NO2 and O3, but not necessarily the chemical transformations that produce WSOCg, an important precursor for aqSOA.

Ellie's first first author paper in our group @ucirvine.bsky.social! We evaluate how well an atmospheric model can predict water-soluble organic gases. It's a novel model evaluation and provides insight for future model development.

UKCEH science at SETAC Europe 2025 UKCEH scientists are participating in the 35th Annual Meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) Europe from 11-15 May 2025

Excited to be part of the @ukceh.bsky.social contingent heading to #SETACVienna this year! Take a look at this post for a flavour of some of the work UKCEH scientists are presenting. www.ceh.ac.uk/news-and-med...

hope things improve - and the data is interesting

#OTD in 2020, Rockford Peaches pitcher Mary Pratt died at the age of 101. She was one of the first members of the Peaches--the team at the heart of the movie "A League of Their Own."

wbur.org/news/2020/05... #baseball ⚾️

Atmospheric CO2 has passed 430 parts per million.

The last time atmospheric CO2 was at 430 ppm was during the ancient Pliocene Era, three to five million years ago, and humans didn’t exist.

Illustration of urban landscape with different elements linked to emissions and net zero targets

We're heading to the Innovation Zero World Congress in London next week!

Join Tuesday's #SustainableFarming session moderated by Prof Richard Pywell

And visit us on stand B6 throughout to discuss the role our science plays in the #NetZero and nature positive transition.

🔗 www.innovationzero.com

Internship and PhD opportunities The status of UKCEH as a centre of scientific excellence is complemented by a prominent role in the training and education of Postgraduate Researchers (PGRs) as well as the support of other student op...

🚨 #PhD opportunities 🚨

There are 4 x ECOWILD CDT projects currently available with UKCEH and partner institutes - apply by 12 May!

And 3 x FLOOD-CDT projects open until 30 April - just one week away!

⌛ Check out now: www.ceh.ac.uk/careers/stud...

Bayles Fauna & Flora Reserve Bayles Fauna Park

e.g.(2) baylesfaunapark.weebly.com

Bombala Platypus Reserve Located 4.2 kilometres from Bombala on Delegate Road, the Platypus Reserve is an ideal spot to see platypus.

on the final day of the solo bit of my holiday to Australia - I have seen so much, but struck me that the small Gov or volunteer led reserves are often the biggest jewels e.g. (1) www.nsw.gov.au/visiting-and...

🌡️The limit is the sky !

INSANE 31.7C/89F in SIBERIA at Chemal
This endless insanity with dozens of thousands of records smashed daily in all Asia will just get worse

What's next ?
Tomorrow earliest 30C in Mongolian history and spree of records allover Asia from Iran to China

#ammoniapollution #cleanair #uav | UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) Ammonia pollution harms ecosystems, contributes to poor air quality, and poses risks to human health so routine and accurate monitoring and control is…

2 weeks ago we had an excellent showcase meeting around pioneering work on ammonia sensors and the potential to measure near emission sources with a drone. read about it here:
www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

Colourful wildflower patch in front of buildings, plus logos of Natural Capital Initiative, The James Hutton Institute, UKCEH, and the Royal Society of Biology and the webinar details mentioned in the post

🖥️ Join speakers including our own Prof Laurence Jones at the next Natural Capital Initiative webinar!

Discussions on how we can protect and improve natural capital and the benefits it provides in towns and cities

📅 Tue 8 April, 12:30-14:00

my.rsb.org.uk/item.php?eve...

#GreenCities #EcoUrban

Great Opportunity to join the fantastic team at Rothamsted Research, North Wyke.

jobs.rothamsted.ac.uk/vacancies/80...

Rajeshwari Chatterjee was the first female engineer from the state of Karnataka. She set up India's first microwave engineering lab, and her work on satellite communications and spacecraft & aircraft antennae is still influential today.
adalovelaceday.subst...

fantastic job going at @ukceh.bsky.social Wallingford site.

ceh.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/CEH_Ca...