Department of Chemistry

University | A to Z | Departments

• 
• Department of Chemistry
• People
• Dr Katie Read

• Study
• People
• Research
• Equality, diversity and inclusion
• About us
• Contact us
• Current staff and students

Dr Katie Read

Phone: 01904 322565
Email: katie.read@york.ac.uk
NCAS Scientist and Technical Specialist for the Cape Verde Atmospheric Observatory (CVAO)

Research Interests

I am responsible for the management of the Cape Verde Atmospheric Observatory (CVAO) activities (https://www.ncas.ac.uk/en/cvao-home), CVAO local staff and in particular the trace gas measurements of ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, halocarbons, sulphur dioxide, total gaseous mercury along with meteorological parameters.  The observatory is located in an area of high scientific interest. The sub-tropical troposphere is high in oxidants such as the hydroxyl radical; due to high temperatures, high water vapour and sunlight, and so is crucial for the removal of harmful pollutants such as methane and ozone from the atmosphere.   Monitoring the variability of precursor reactive gases in the remote marine background, which have travelled a long way from source, can inform on shorter timescales as to the impacts of long term global change, caused by both natural and human activity all over the world (e.g. from industrial development on the continents, increasing sea surface temperatures, volcanic activity, shipping changes etc).

I also coordinate activity within the COZI-Lab housed at WACL. This lab provides national underpinning to atmospheric trace gas measurements made by other Universities and National Centres and supports the long term measurements at the CVAO, BT Tower, and BEIS sites amongst others.  The lab is used to perform characterisation of atmospheric instrumentation e.g. for humidity, and chemical interferences, and can provide calibrations linked to global scales to ensure international traceability of the measurements.

Selected Publications

• Four years (2011–2015) of Total Gaseous Mercury measurements from the Cape Verde Atmospheric Observatory, Read, K. A. et al., Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 2017, doi:10.5194/acp-17-5393-2017.
• Tropospheric Ozone Assessment Report: Database and Metrics Data of Global Surface Ozone Observations, Schultz M.G. et al., Elementa-Science of the Anthropocene, Volume: 5 Article Number: 58, 2017.
• Multi-annual observations of acetone, methanol and acetaldehyde in remote tropical Atlantic air: Implications for atmospheric OVOC budgets and oxidative capacity, Read K.A. et al., Environmental Science and Technology, Vol. 46, No. 20, p. 11028-11039, 2012.
• Intra-annual cycles of NMVOC in the tropical marine boundary layer and their use for interpreting seasonal variability in CO, Read, K. A. et al., Journal of Geophysical Research, 114, D21303, 2009, doi:10.1029/2009JD011879.
• Extensive halogen-mediated ozone destruction over the tropical Atlantic Ocean, Read, K.A. et al., Nature, 453, 1232-1236, 2008.
• OH and halogen atom influence on the variability of non-methane hydrocarbons in the Antarctic Boundary Layer, Read, K.A., et al., Tellus B, 59 (1), 22-38, 2007.