Our research group uses a combination of field measurements, laboratory experiments and modelling to investigate some of the fluxes and chemical processes that occur within the lower atmosphere and the impacts of these on the terrestrial environment and on human health. Current areas of research, most in collaboration, include:

• Characterization of airborne particulate matter from different microenvironments of exposure to determine the sources and chemical evolution of atmospheric particles, and for application to epidemiological studies and biological toxicity assays
• Particulate matter and NO₂ measurement method validation and intercomparison, and the 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 and particulate matter
• Measurement of the magnitude and controlling factors on methyl bromide emission fluxes from terrestrial systems such as salt marshes, woodlands and leaf litter, and bioenergy crops
• Measurement of the concentrations and emission fluxes of volatile organic compounds (natural and anthropogenic) using gas chromatography and proton transfer reaction-mass spectrometry combined with eddy covariance
• Speciation of organic nitrogen compounds in rainwater and in the gas-phase, and the relationship with dissolved and gaseous inorganic nitrogen
• Quantification of the kinetics of gas-to-liquid transfer of aromatic VOC into aqueous solution

SELECTED RECENT PUBLICATIONS

1. Heal, M.R., Naysmith, P., Cook, G.T., Xu, S., Raventos Duran, T., Harrison, R.M. (2011) Application of ¹⁴C analyses to source apportionment of carbonaceous PM_2.5 in the UK . Atmospheric Environment 45, 2341-2348.
2. Sánchez-Jiménez, A., Heal, M.R., Beverland, I.J. (2011) Intercomparison study of NO_x passive diffusion tubes with chemiluminescence analysers and evaluation of bias factors. Atmospheric Environment 45, 3062-3068.
3. Blei, E., Heal, M.R., Heal, K.V. (2010) Long-term CH₃Br and CH₃Cl flux measurements in temperate salt marshes. Biogeosciences 7, 3657-3668.
4. Gonzalez Benitez, J.M., Cape, J.N., Heal, M.R. (2010) Gaseous and particulate water-soluble organic and inorganic nitrogen in rural air in southern Scotland, Atmos. Environ. 44, 1506-1514.
5. Vieno, M., Dore, A.J., Stevenson, D.S., Doherty, R., Heal, M.R., et al. (2010) Modelling surface ozone during the 2003 heatwave in the UK, Atmospheric Chemistry & Physics 10, 7963-7978.
6. Misztal, P.K., Owen, S.M., Guenther, A.B., et al. (2010) Large estragole fluxes from oil palms in Borneo, Atmos. Chem. Phys. 10, 4343-4358.
7. Heal, M.R., Elton, R.A., Hibbs, L.R., Agius, R.M. and Beverland, I.J. (2009) A time-series study of the health effects of water-soluble and total-extractable metal content of airborne particulate matter, Occup. Environ. Med. 66, 636-638
8. Gibson, M.D., Heal, M.R., Bache, D., et al. (2009) Using mass reconstruction along a four-site transect as a method to interpret PM₁₀ in West-Central Scotland, United Kingdom, J. Air & Waste Manage. Assoc. 59, 1429-1436.