Professor William Bloss PhD

William Bloss

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Professor of Atmospheric Science
Deputy Head, College of Life & Environmental Sciences

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 4173 (Research Office)
Email
w.j.bloss@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@AtmosChemUoB
View my research portal
Address
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Atmospheric processing affects the current and future composition of our air, with impacts upon human and environmental health, air quality and climate.

My group's work improves scientific understanding of the causes of poor air quality, and hence the development of effective policy measures for Clean Air.  We focus upon the sources of atmospheric pollutants, and the chemical processes which remove some air pollutants and produce others.

Please see my Personal Research Pages and the WM-Air project for more details.

Qualifications

  • PhD Atmospheric Chemistry - University of Cambridge
  • BA Natural Sciences (Chemistry) - University of Cambridge

Teaching

BSc Environmental Sciences

MSc Air Pollution Management and Control

Postgraduate supervision

Please contact me if you are interested in studying for a PhD with the group. For more information see my personal research pages at : http://www.williambloss.com

Research

Atmospheric processing affects the current and future composition of our air, with impacts upon human and environmental health, air quality and climate.  My research group addresses areas of atmospheric chemistry and clean air science, including

​- Understanding the sources and transformations of air pollutants in the urban atmosphere, ranging from trends in the UK to developing megacities such as Delhi

​- Quantifying the sources and sinks for atmospheric oxidants: impacts from processes such as new reactive nitrogen emissions and particulate-mediated renoxification

​- Applying air pollution science to improve local and regional air quality policy measures

​Our work combines atmospheric field measurements, simulation chamber and laboratory studies and numerical modelling approaches.  Fundamental understanding of the atmospheric chemical system is placed in an applied context: working with partners to apply clean air science for improved human and environmental health.

See also my personal research pages and the WM-Air Project

Other activities

  • Clean Air Advisory Panel for Wales
  • Strategic Advisory Board, RESAS Scotland
  • Royal Society of Chemistry: CChem, FRSC
  • RSC Environmental Chemistry Group (Chair, 2012 – 2014)
  • Head of School, GEES (2016-2020)

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Alwadei, M, Srivastava, D, Alam, MS, Shi, Z & Bloss, WJ 2022, 'Chemical characteristics and source apportionment of particulate matter (PM2.5) in Dammam, Saudi Arabia: impact of dust storms', Atmospheric Environment: X, vol. 14, 100164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeaoa.2022.100164

Guo, Y, Li, K, Zhao, B, Shen, J, Bloss, WJ, Azzi, M & Zhang, Y 2022, 'Evaluating the real changes of air quality due to clean air actions using a machine learning technique: results from 12 Chinese mega-cities during 2013–2020', Chemosphere, vol. 300, 134608. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.134608

Cowell, N, Chapman, L, Bloss, W & Pope, F 2022, 'Field Calibration and Evaluation of an Internet-of-Things-Based Particulate Matter Sensor', Frontiers in Environmental Science, vol. 9, 798485. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2021.798485

Singh, A, Bartington, SE, Song, C, Ghaffarpasand, O, Kraftl, M, Shi, Z, Pope, FD, Stacey, B, Hall, J, Thomas, GN, Bloss, WJ & Leach, FCP 2022, 'Impacts of emergency health protection measures upon air quality, traffic and public health: evidence from Oxford, UK', Environmental Pollution, vol. 293, 118584. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2021.118584

Mazzeo, A, Zhong, J, Hood, C, Smith, S, Stocker, J, Cai, X & Bloss, W 2022, 'Modelling the impact of national vs. local emission reduction on PM2.5 in the West Midlands, UK using WRF-CMAQ', Atmosphere, vol. 13, no. 3, 377. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos13030377

Vohra, K, Marais, EA, Bloss, WJ, Schwartz, J, Mickley, LJ, Damme, MV, Clarisse, L & Coheur, P-F 2022, 'Rapid rise in premature mortality due to anthropogenic air pollution in fast-growing tropical cities from 2005 to 2018', Science Advances, vol. 8, no. 14, abm4435. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abm4435

Li, K, Zhang, X, Zhao, B, Bloss, WJ, Lin, C, White, S, Yu, H, Chen, L, Geng, C, Yang, W, Azzi, M, George, C & Bai, Z 2022, 'Suppression of anthropogenic secondary organic aerosol formation by isoprene', npj Climate and Atmospheric Science, vol. 5, no. 1, 12. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-022-00233-x

Shi, Z, Song, C, Liu, B, Lu, G, Xu, J, VU, VT, Elliott, RJR, Li, W, Bloss, W & Harrison, R 2021, 'Abrupt but smaller than expected changes in surface air quality attributable to COVID-19 lockdowns', Science Advances, vol. 7, no. 3, eabd6696. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abd6696

Campbell, SJ, Wolfer, K, Utinger, B, Westwood, J, Zhang, Z, Bukowiecki, N, Steimer, SS, Vu, TV, Xu, J, Straw, N, Thomson, S, Elzein, A, Sun, Y, Liu, D, Li, L, Fu, P, Lewis, AC, Harrison, RM, Bloss, WJ, Loh, M, Miller, MR, Shi, Z & Kalberer, M 2021, 'Atmospheric conditions and composition that influence PM2.5 oxidative potential in Beijing, China', Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, vol. 21, no. 7, pp. 5549-5573. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5549-2021

Hama, S, Kumar, P, Alam, MS, Rooney, DJ, Bloss, WJ, Shi, Z, Harrison, RM, Crilley, LR, Khare, M & Gupta, SK 2021, 'Chemical source profiles of fine particles for five different sources in Delhi', Chemosphere, vol. 274, 129913. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.129913

Sommariva, R, Crilley, LR, Ball, SM, Cordell, RL, Hollis, LDJ, Bloss, WJ & Monks, PS 2021, 'Enhanced wintertime oxidation of VOCs via sustained radical sources in the urban atmosphere', Environmental Pollution, vol. 274, 116563. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2021.116563

Whalley, LK, Slater, EJ, Woodward-Massey, R, Ye, C, Lee, JD, Squires, F, Hopkins, JR, Dunmore, RE, Shaw, M, Hamilton, JF, Lewis, AC, Mehra, A, Worrall, SD, Bacak, A, Bannan, TJ, Coe, H, Percival, CJ, Ouyang, B, Jones, RL, Crilley, LR, Kramer, LJ, Bloss, WJ, Vu, T, Kotthaus, S, Grimmond, S, Sun, Y, Xu, W, Yue, S, Ren, L, Joe, W, Nicholas Hewitt, C, Wang, X, Fu, P & Heard, DE 2021, 'Evaluating the sensitivity of radical chemistry and ozone formation to ambient VOCs and NOxin Beijing', Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 2125-2147. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-2125-2021

Commissioned report

Acton, J, Anderson, P, Andres, L, Angus, M, Amor, P, Arrowsmith, J (ed.), Asmelash, H, Bartington, S (ed.), Bengtsson, F, Bhullar, L, Bloss, W, Bonet, B, Börner, S, O Bonsu, N, Bryson, JR, Burns, V, Burrows, A, Calvert, C, Cassidy, N, Cavoski, A, Chadyiwa, M, Chapman, H, Chapman, L, Cockram, M, Degendardt, L, Dickinson, D, Ding, Y, Dobrzynski, D, Dolo, M, Dora, J, Ercolani, M, Ersoy, A, Farag, H, Ferranti, E, Fisher, R, Freer, M, Goldmann, N, Goode, CE, Greenham, S, Gulati, S, Hadfield-Hill, S, Harper, G, Hegerl, G, Hillmansen, S, Holmes, J, Huang, JJ, Huser, C, Jackson, R, Jaroszweski, D, Jefferson, I, Johnson, J, Kaewunruen, S, Kelly-Akinnuoye, F, Kettles, G, Kraftl, P, Krause, S, Leckebusch, GC, Lee, R, Lockwood, B (ed.), Lohse, J, Luna Diez, E, Lynch, I (ed.), MacKenzie, R, Maddison, D, Makepeace, J, Mann, V, Marino, R, Mavronicola, N, McDonald, M, McGowan, K (ed.), Metje, N, Ng, K, Nicol, J, O'Sullivan, C, Phalkey, N, Prestwood, E, Pyatt, N, Quinn, A, Radcliffe, J (ed.), Ravi, M, Reardon, L, Reeder, T, O’Regan, P, Remedios, L, Roberts, J, Rogers, C, Rungskunroch, P, van Schaik, W, Swan, J (ed.), Thomson, I, Toft, H (ed.), Tong, J, Botello Villagrana, F, Walton, A, Wason, C (ed.), Weir, C, Wood, R & Zhong, J 2021, Addressing the climate challenge. University of Birmingham. https://doi.org/10.25500/epapers.bham.00003451

Lewis, A, Wild, O, Carslaw, D, David, F, Bloss, WJ, Collins, W, Fiore, A, Harrison, RM & Pyle, JA 2021, Effects of Climate Change on Air Quality. The Royal Society, London. <http://royalsociety.org/air-quality-climate-change>

Working paper

Shi 时宗波, Z, Xu 徐婧莎, J, Harrison, R, Bloss, W, Allan, J, Barratt, B, Coe, H, Doherty, R, Fu 傅平青, P, Grimmond, S, Guan 关大博, D, Guo 郭新彪, X, Hamilton, J, He 贺克斌, K, Heard, D, Hewitt, N, Jones, R, Kalberer, M, Kelly, F, Lee, J, Lewis, A, Li 李杰, J, Loh, M, Miller, M, Monks, P, Netmitz, E, Palmer, P, Reeves, C, Shao 邵龙义, L, Sun 孙志伟, Z, Tao 陶澍, S, Tong 佟胜睿, S, Whalley, L, Wang 王新明, X, Wild, O, Wu 吴志军, Z, Xie 谢品华, P, Zhang 张强, Q, Zheng 郑玫, M & Zhu 朱彤, T 2021 'Atmospheric pollution and human health in a Chinese megacity (APHH-Beijing) programme: final report' University of Birmingham. https://doi.org/10.25500/epapers.bham.00003381

View all publications in research portal

Expertise

Air Quality & Human Health

Sources of air pollutants: Traffic emissions

Air Pollution in Developing Megacities: Beijing, Delhi

Expertise

Air Quality & Human Health; Sources of air pollutants: Traffic emissions; Air Pollution in Developing Megacities: Beijing, Delhi