Publications

Selected publications are listed below. For a full list please see my Edinburgh Research Explorer page.

Lunt, Mark F. ; Palmer, Paul I. ; Lorente, Alba ; Borsdorff, Tobias ; Landgraf, Jochen ; Parker, Robert J. ; Boesch, Hartmut. (2021)  Rain-fed pulses of methane from East Africa during 2018-2019 contributed to atmospheric growth rate.  Environmental Research Letters. ; Vol. 16. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abd8fa

In this work we used newly available data from the TROPOMI satellite instrument to study seasonal changes in methane emissions from East Africa. We found a significant increase in emissions following heavy rainfall in late 2019.

Lunt, M. F., Palmer, P. I., Feng, L., Taylor, C., Boesch, H., & Parker, R. (2019). An increase in methane emissions from tropical Africa between 2010 and 2016 inferred from satellite data. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics19(23), 14721-14740. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-14721-2019

This paper explored the role of tropical Africa in the recent rise in global atmospheric methane. Using satellite data we showed there has been a potentially significant increase in emissions from this region. The work generated some media interest, e.g. see this BBC News article.

Lunt, M. F., Park, S., Li, S., Henne, S., Manning, A. J., Ganesan, A. L., … Rigby, M. (2018). Continued Emissions of the Ozone-Depleting Substance Carbon Tetrachloride From Eastern Asia. Geophysical Research Lettershttps://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL079500

We showed that emissions of the ozone-depleting CCl4 are not declining in Eastern Asia, and even that new source locations of emissions have arisen in the last decade. This shouldn’t be happening if countries are following the Montreal Protocol and may have implications for the recovery of the ozone layer.