Professor William Bloss PhD

William Bloss

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Head of School
Professor of Atmospheric Science

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 7455 (Eileen Jackson, PA)
Telephone (2)
+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 controls the current and future composition of our atmosphere, and affects human and environmental health, air quality and climate. My research group addresses three areas of atmospheric chemistry central to these impacts :

  • Measurement and interpretation of ozone production in the atmospheric boundary layer
  • Sources and sinks for atmospheric oxidants: Impacts upon urban air quality and tropospheric composition
  • Sources and transformations of air pollutants in urban environments 

Our work combines laboratory, large simulation chamber, field measurement and numerical modelling approaches; we currently have an emphasis upon developing new integrated approaches to assess chemical processing (a complement to the traditional focus upon species abundance).  Our research delivers fundamental understanding of the atmospheric chemical system, in an applied context: providing knowledge to underpin policy developments to reduce air pollution.

Please see my Personal Research Pages 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 atmosphere, and 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 such as Particulate Matter and Nitrogen Dioxide in the urban atmosphere, ranging from the UK to developing megacities such as Delhi

- Quantifying the sources and sinks for atmospheric oxidants: Impacts upon urban air quality and tropospheric composition from new processes such as the formation of Criegee Intermediates, HONO and particulate-mediated renoxification

- Applying air pollution science to improve local and regional air quality policy measures, to ensure these can most effectively and efficiently improve human and environmental health

 

Work in the group combines atmospheric field measurements, simulation chamber and laboratory studies and numerical modelling approaches; we currently have an emphasis upon developing new integrated approaches to assess chemical processing (a complement to the traditional focus upon species abundance).​

 

While we are aiming to achieve fundamental understanding of the atmospheric chemical system, our work also takes place in an applied context: providing the knowledge to underpin policy development to alleviate air pollution.

 

Please see my Personal Research Pages for more details.

Other activities

  • Royal Society of Chemistry: CChem, FRSC
  • RSC Environmental Chemistry Group (Chair, 2012 – 2014)
  • Member, RSC Environment, Sustainability and Energy Division Council
  • Member, NERC Core Peer Review College
  • Associate Editor, Atmospheric Chemistry & Physics

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Crilley, LR, Singh, A, Kramer, LJ, Shaw, MD, Alam, MS, Apte, JS, Bloss, WJ, Hildebrandt Ruiz, L, Fu, P, Fu, W, Gani, S, Gatari, M, Ilyinskaya, E, Lewis, AC, Ng'ang'a, D, Sun, Y, Whitty, RCW, Yue, S, Young, S & Pope, FD 2020, 'Effect of aerosol composition on the performance of low-cost optical particle counter correction factors', Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 1181-1193. https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1181-2020

Hama, SML, Kumar, P, Harrison, RM, Bloss, WJ, Khare, M, Mishra, S, Namdeo, A, Sokhi, R, Goodman, P & Sharma, C 2020, 'Four-year assessment of ambient particulate matter and trace gases in the Delhi-NCR region of India', Sustainable Cities and Society, vol. 54, 102003. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2019.102003

Crilley, LR, Kramer, LJ, Ouyang, B, Duan, J, Zhang, W, Tong, S, Ge, M, Tang, K, Qin, M, Xie, P, Shaw, MD, Lewis, AC, Mehra, A, Bannan, TJ, Worrall, SD, Priestley, M, Bacak, A, Coe, H, Allan, J, Percival, CJ, Popoola, OAM, Jones, RL & Bloss, WJ 2019, 'Intercomparison of nitrous acid (HONO) measurement techniques in a megacity (Beijing)', Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, vol. 12, no. 12, pp. 6449-6463. https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6449-2019

Shi, Z, Vu, T, Kotthaus, S, Harrison, RM, Grimmond, S, Yue, S, Zhu, T, Lee, J, Han, Y, Demuzere, M, Dunmore, RE, Ren, L, Liu, D, Wang, Y, Wild, O, Allan, J, Joe Acton, W, Barlow, J, Barratt, B, Beddows, D, Bloss, WJ, Calzolai, G, Carruthers, D, Carslaw, DC, Chan, Q, Chatzidiakou, L, Chen, Y, Crilley, L, Coe, H, Dai, T, Doherty, R, Duan, F, Fu, P, Ge, B, Ge, M, Guan, D, Hamilton, JF, He, K, Heal, M, Heard, D, Nicholas Hewitt, C, Hollaway, M, Hu, M, Ji, D, Jiang, X, Jones, R, Kalberer, M, Kelly, FJ, Kramer, L, Langford, B, Lin, C, Lewis, AC, Li, J, Li, W, Liu, H, Liu, J, Loh, M, Lu, K, Lucarelli, F, Mann, G, McFiggans, G, Miller, MR, Mills, G, Monk, P, Nemitz, E, O'Connor, F, Ouyang, B, Palmer, PI, Percival, C, Popoola, O, Reeves, C, Rickard, AR, Shao, L, Shi, G, Spracklen, D, Stevenson, D, Sun, Y, Sun, Z, Tao, S, Tong, S, Wang, Q, Wang, W, Wang, X, Wang, X, Wang, Z, Wei, L, Whalley, L, Wu, X, Wu, Z, Xie, P, Yang, F, Zhang, Q, Zhang, Y, Zhang, Y & Zheng, M 2019, 'Introduction to the special issue “In-depth study of air pollution sources and processes within Beijing and its surrounding region (APHH-Beijing)”', Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, vol. 19, no. 11, pp. 7519-7546. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-7519-2019

Matthaios, VN, Kramer, LJ, Sommariva, R, Pope, FD & Bloss, WJ 2019, 'Investigation of vehicle cold start primary NO2 emissions inferred from ambient monitoring data in the UK and their implications for urban air quality', Atmospheric Environment, vol. 199, pp. 402-414. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2018.11.031

Kasibhatla, P, Sherwen, T, Evans, MJ, Carpenter, LJ, Reed, C, Alexander, B, Chen, Q, Sulprizio, MP, Lee, JD, Read, KA, Bloss, W, Crilley, LR, Keene, WC, Pszenny, AAP & Hodzic, A 2018, 'Global impact of nitrate photolysis in sea-salt aerosol on NOx, OH, and O3 in the marine boundary layer', Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, vol. 18, no. 15, pp. 11185-11203. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11185-2018

Ramsay, R, Di Marco, CF, Heal, MR, Twigg, MM, Cowan, N, Jones, MR, Leeson, SR, Bloss, WJ, Kramer, LJ, Crilley, L, Sörgel, M, Andreae, M & Nemitz, E 2018, 'Surface–atmosphere exchange of inorganic water-soluble gases and associated ions in bulk aerosol above agricultural grassland pre- and postfertilisation', Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, vol. 18, no. 23, pp. 16953-16978. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-16953-2018

Newland, M, Rickard, AR, Sherwen, T, Evans, MJ, Vereecken, L, Muñoz, A, Ródenas, M & Bloss, W 2018, 'The atmospheric impacts of monoterpene ozonolysis on global stabilised Criegee intermediate budgets and SO2 oxidation: experiment, theory and modelling', Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, vol. 18, no. 8, pp. 6095-6120. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-6095-2018

Singh, A, Bloss, WJ & Pope, FD 2017, '60 years of UK visibility measurements: Impact of meteorology and atmospheric pollutants on visibility', Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 2085-2101. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-2085-2017

Ropkins, K, DeFries, TH, Pope, F, Green, DC, Kemper, J, Kishan, S, Fuller, GW, Li, H, Sidebottom, J, Crilley, LR, Kramer, L, Bloss, WJ & Stewart Hager, J 2017, 'Evaluation of EDAR vehicle emissions remote sensing technology', Science of the Total Environment, vol. 609, pp. 1464-1474. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.07.137

Crilley, LR, Bloss, WJ, Sherwen, T, Read, KA, Lee, JD & Carpenter, LJ 2017, 'Evidence for renoxification in the tropical marine boundary layer', Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, vol. 17, no. 6, pp. 4081-4092. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4081-2017

Zhong, J, Cai, X & Bloss, W 2017, 'Large eddy simulation of reactive pollutants in a deep urban street canyon: Coupling dynamics with O3-NOx-VOC chemistry', Environmental Pollution. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2017.01.076

Crilley, LR, Lucarelli, F, Bloss, WJ, Harrison, RM, Beddows, DC, Calzolai, G, Nava, S, Valli, G, Bernardoni, V & Vecchi, R 2017, 'Source apportionment of fine and coarse particles at a roadside and urban background site in London during the 2012 summer ClearfLo campaign', Environmental Pollution, vol. 220, pp. 766-778. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2016.06.002

Review article

Sherwen, T, Evans, MJ, Sommariva, R, Hollis, LDJ, Ball, SM, Monks, PS, Reed, C, Carpenter, LJ, Lee, JD, Forster, G, Bandy, B, Reeves, CE & Bloss, WJ 2017, 'Effects of halogens on European air-quality', Faraday Discussions, vol. 200, pp. 75-100. https://doi.org/10.1039/c7fd00026j

Geiger, F, Pope, F, Mackenzie, R, Brune, W, Monks, PS, Bloss, W, Fuller, G, Moussiopoulos, N, Hort, M, Tomlin, A, Presto, A, Van Pinxteren, D, Vlachou, A, Heard, D, Hewitt, CN, Baltensperger, U, Lewis, A, Querol, X, Kim, S, Hamilton, J, Sommariva, R, McFiggans, G, Harrison, R, Jimenez, JL, Cross, E, Wenger, J, Pandis, S, Kiendler-Scharr, A, Donahue, NM, Whalley, L, McDonald, B, Pieber, S, Prévôt, A, Alam, MS, Krishna Kumar, N, Wahner, A, Skouloudis, A, Kalberer, M, Wallington, T & Dunmore, R 2016, 'Chemical complexity of the urban atmosphere and its consequences: General discussion', Faraday Discussions, vol. 189, pp. 137-167. https://doi.org/10.1039/C6FD90020H

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