Tim Reid's web page

Welcome to my web page.

I am a postdoctoral research assistant employed at Edinburgh on the NERC project 'Snow-Vegetation-Atmosphere Interactions over Heterogeneous Landscapes' with Richard Essery. The project aims to improve understanding of the surface energy balance over snow and vegetation, and reveal the best ways to incorporate the characteristics of these surfaces in weather forecasting, remote sensing and climate models. We had two very successful field campaigns in Abisko, Sweden in March 2011 and in Sodankylä, Finland in March 2012. For more information please see the project wiki.

I am also Chair of the Geosciences Research Staff Organisation.

General research interests

• Environmental modelling
• Model selection
• Atmosphere-surface interactions
• The physics of ice and snow
• Glaciology
• Science communication

Work history

2009-2010 Postdoctoral Research Assistant, The University of Dundee - A project funded by ACQWA, an EU FP7 project, to investigate the melt rates and mass balance of debris-covered glaciers. Debris layers have a very significant impact on glacier thermodynamics, and have been seen to expand in recent years, so it is important that such glaciers are studied to the same extent as 'clean' debris-free glaciers. We developed numerical melt models for debris-covered ice, which could be coupled to climate model predictions and hydrological catchment models to forecast downstream runoff. I undertook fieldwork on Arolla glacier and Miage glacier in the Alps, collecting data to test the models.

2006-2010 Freelance Science Writer/Editor - I have held freelance contracts with Nature Publishing Group since 2006, writing and editing short 'research highlights', interviews and occasional longer features.

2007-2009 Science Communicator (part time), The University of Edinburgh - My work included delivering talks and workshops in schools and at public events on the theme of climate change and renewable energy, as well as developing classroom materials and equipment for teachers.

2006-2007 Postdoctoral Research Assistant, The University of Nottingham - I worked on a decision support system for the management of radioactively contaminated land, on behalf of the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority. We developed a user-friendly interface in which potential nuclear accidents could be simulated. The software used meteorological inputs to predict where the contaminants may be deposited, calculate how much would find its way into the human food chain via soil, plants and animals, and assess the effectiveness of various countermeasures that the government could take.

Education

2002-2005 PhD Environmental Science, The University of Nottingham - My PhD focussed on the thermodynamic modelling of freshwater lakes in the Antarctic (thesis available here). Such lakes contain pristine plankton ecosystems, which may be especially vulnerable to climate change. My fieldwork, supported by EPSRC and the Australian Antarctic Division, involved deploying an automated probe on Crooked Lake in the Vestfold Hills. We collected high-resolution data on the atmospheric conditions above the lake, ice temperature and ice thickness, and conditions in the water column, which I used to develop physically-based models of the ice layer.

1997-2001 BSc(hons) Physics with Meteorology, The University of Edinburgh

For more information please see my CV.