Newcastle University

Background

My early research was in the role of sediment–water exchange in estuarine chemistry and the estuarine reactivity of the rare earth elements (REEs) but I subsequently developed an interest in climatically active trace-gas cycling and air–sea exchange. I was part of a small team at The Marine Biological Association of the UK (later Plymouth Marine Laboratory) and the University of East Anglia that developed the so-called ‘dual-tracer technique’ for estimating gas transfer velocities at sea using sulphur hexafluoride and helium-3, a method now regarded as the ‘gold standard’ for measuring air–sea gas exchange rates on short timescales. My current work includes evaluating the environmental controls of air–sea gas transfer, especially the role of surfactants and the microbiology of the sea-surface microlayer, and the biogeochemical cycling and air–sea exchange of methane and nitrous oxide in estuaries and mangroves, on coastal shelves, and in the open ocean. I also maintain an interest in the role of terrestrial dissolved organic matter in marine trace gas and ‘available nitrogen’ photo-production. I have served on a number of UK and EU Committees, contributed to the European Nitrogen Assessment and the CARBOEUROPE report on greenhouse gas emissions from the European Coastal Zone, and I co-edited proceedings of the International Symposium on Greenhouse Gas and Carbon Balances in Mangrove Coastal Ecosystems, 2005.

Roles and Responsibilities

Degree Stream Director: BSc. Hons. Marine Biology and Oceanography
Chair, Board of Examiners: BSc Marine Biology; BSc Marine Biology and Oceanography; BSc Marine Zoology
Chair: Marine Science Research Group
Chair: Ridley Management Group
Member: MAST School Executive Board
Member: MAST Staff-Student Liaison Committee
Member: MAST Teaching and learning Committee
Member: MAST Board of Studies

Qualifications

PhD University of Leeds 1985
MSc University of Southampton 1981
BSc University of Lancaster 1979

Previous Positions

PGRF: University of East Anglia, Environmental Sciences: 1987-2001

PGRA: University of Cambridge, Earth Sciences: 1984-1987

Memberships

Informal Interests

Research Interests

Current Work

RECENTLY EXPIRED AWARDS.

Postgraduate Supervision

Esteem Indicators

Funding

Projects

• SOLAS
  Project Leader(s): Professor RC Upstill-Goddard

Undergraduate Teaching

MST1003:   Field and Laboratory Techniques in Marine Science                                                                      MST1012:   Research Skills                                                                                                                      MST2014:   Biogeochemistry of Estuaries and Coastal seas (Module Leader)
MST2005:   Biological Oceanography
MST2006:   Marine and Coastal Habitats
MST2011:   Marine Practical skills
MST3003:   Marine Biogeochemical Cycles (Module Leader)                                                                       MST3017:   Global Marine Science
MST3095/3096/3099:  Research Project in Marine Science                                                         MST3011/3015/3016:  Advanced Marine Biology/Zoology/Oceanography

Postgraduate Teaching

MST8011: Critical Appraisal of Coastal Production Systems

• Salter ME, Upstill-Goddard RC, Nightingale PD, Archer S, Blomquist B, Ho DT, Huebert B, Schlosser P, Yang M. Impact of an artificial surfactant release on air‐sea gas fluxes during Deep Ocean Gas Exchange Experiment II. Journal of Geophysical Research 2011, 116, C11016.
• Barnes J, Upstill-Goddard RC. N₂O seasonal distributions and air-sea exchange in UK estuaries: implications for the tropospheric N₂O source from European coastal waters. Journal of Geophysical Research 2011, 116, G01006.
• Butterbach-Bahl K, Nemitz E, Zaehle S, Billen G, Boeckx P, Erisman JW, Garnier J, Upstill-Goddard R, Kreuzer M, Oenema O, Reis S, Schaap M, Simpson D, deVries W, Winiwarter W, Sutton MA. Nitrogen as a threat to the European greenhouse balance. In: Sutton, M.A., Howard, C.M., Erisman, J.W., Billen, G., Bleeker, A., Grennfelt, P., van Grinsven, H., Grizzetti, B, ed. The European Nitrogen Assessment. Sources, Effects and Policy Perspectives. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2011, pp.664.
• Cunliffe M, Upstill-Goddard RC, Murrell JC. Microbiology of aquatic surface microlayers. FEMS Microbiology Reviews 2011, 35(2), 233-246.
• Stubbins A, Law CS, Uher G, Upstill-Goddard RC. Carbon monoxide apparent quantum yields and photoproduction in the Tyne estuary. Biogeosciences 2011, 8(3), 703-713.
• Kitidis V, Upstill-Goddard RC, Anderson LG. Methane and nitrous oxide in surface water along the North-West Passage, Arctic Ocean. Marine Chemistry 2010, 121(1-4), 80-86.
• Bange HW, Bell TG, Cornejo M, Freing A, Uher G, Upstill-Goddard RC, Zhang G. MEMENTO: a proposal to develop a database of marine nitrous oxide and methane measurements. Environmental Chemistry 2009, 6(3), 195-197.
• Brooks IM, Upstill-Goddard RC, Yelland MJ, Archer S, d'Asaro E, Balitsky P, Beale P, Beatty C, Blomquist B, Bloom AA, Brooks BJ, Cluderay J, Coles D, Dacey J, DeGrandpre M, Dixon J, Drennan WM, Gabriele J, Goldson L, Hardman-Mountford N, Hill MK, Horn M, Hsueh P, Huebert B, de Leeuw G, Leighton TG, Liddicoat M, Lingard JJN, McNeil C, McQuaid JB, Moat BI, Moore G, Neill C, Nightingale PD, Norris SJ, O'Doherty S, Pascal RW, Rebozo M, Sahlee E, Salter S, Schuster U, Skjelvan I, Slagter H, Smith MH, Smith PD, Srokosz M, Stephens JA, Taylor PK, Telszewski M, Walsh R, Ward B, Woolf DK, Young D, Zemmelink H. Physical Exchanges at the Air-Sea Interface: UK-SOLAS Field Measurements. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 2009, 90(5), 629-644.
• Brooks IM, Upstill-Goddard RC, Yelland MJ, Nightingale PD, Archer S, d'Asaro E, Beale R, Beatty C, Blomquist B, Bloom AA, Brooks BJ, Cluderay J, Coles D, Dacey J, Degrandpre M, Dixon J, Drennan WM, Gabriele J, Goldson L, Hardman-Mountford N, Hill MK, Horn M, Hsueh P-C, Huebert B, de Leeuw G, Leighton TG, Liddicoat M, Lingard JJN, McNeil C, McQuaid JB, Moat BI, Moore G, Neill C, Norris SJ, O'Doherty S, Pascal RW, Prytherch J, Rebozo M, Sahlee E, Salter M, Schuster U, Skjelvan I, Slagter H, Smith MH, Smith PD, Srokosz M, Stephens JA, Taylor PK, Telszewski M, Walsh R, Ward B, Woolf DK, Young D, Zemmelink H. Supplement to Physical Exchanges at the Air–Sea Interface: UK–SOLAS Field Measurements. Instrumentation. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 2009,90 5 ES9-ES16.
• Cunliffe M, Harrison E, Salter M, Schäfer H, Upstill-Goddard RC, Murrell JC. Comparison and validation of sampling strategies for the molecular microbial analysis of surface microlayers. Aquatic Microbial Ecology 2009, 57(1), 69-77.
• Cunliffe M, Salter ME, Mann PJ, Whiteley AS, Upstill-Goddard RC, Murrell JC. Dissolved organic carbon and bacterial populations in the gelatinous surface microlayer of a Norwegian fjord mesocosm. FEMS Microbiology Letters 2009, 299(2), 248-254.
• Forster GL, Upstill-Goddard RC, Gist N, Robinson R, Uher G, Woodward EMS. Nitrous oxide and methane in the Atlantic Ocean between 50˚N and 52˚S: latitudinal distribution and sea-to-air flux. Deep Sea Research II: Topical Studies in Oceanography 2009, 56(15), 964-976.
• Cunliffe M, Schafer H, Harrison E, Cleave S, Upstill-Goddard R, Murrell JC. Phylogenetic and functional gene analysis of the bacterial and archaeal communities associated with the surface microlayer of an estuary. ISME Journal 2008, 2(7), 776-789.
• Jickells TD, Liss PS, Broadgate W, Turner S, Kettle AJ, Read J, Baker J, Cardenas LM, Carse F, Hamren-Larssen M, Spokes L, Steinke M, Thompson A, Watson A, Archer SD, Bellerby RGJ, Law CS, Nightingale PD, Liddicoat MI, Widdicombe CE, Bowie A, Gilpin LC, Moncoiffe G, Savidge G, Preston T, Hadziabdic P, Frost T, Upstill-Goddard R, Pedros-Alio C, Simo R, Jackson A, Allen A, DeGrandpre MD. A Lagrangian biogeochemical study of an eddy in the Northeast Atlantic. Progress in Oceanography 2008, 76(3), 366-398.
• Kitidis V, Uher G, Woodward EMS, Owens NJP, Upstill-Goddard RC. Photochemical production and consumption of ammonium in a temperate river-sea system. Marine Chemistry 2008, 112(1-2), 118-127.
• Rajkumar AN, Barnes J, Ramesh R, Purvaja R, Upstill-Goddard RC. Methane and nitrous oxide fluxes in the polluted Adyar River and estuary, SE India. Marine Pollution Bulletin 2008, 56(12), 2043-2051.
• Stubbins A, Hubbard V, Uher G, Law CS, Upstill-Goddard RC, Aiken GR, Mopper K. Relating carbon monoxide photoproduction to dissolved organic matter functionality. Environmental Science and Technology 2008, 42(9), 3271-3276.
• Upstill-Goddard RC. Just a pipe dream? Could thousands of pipes in the oceans put an end to global warming?. Seafarer 2008, Spring 2008, 30.
• Barnes J, Purvaja R, Ramesh R, Uher G, Upstill-Goddard RC. Nitrous oxide fluxes in Indian Mangroves; tidal production mechanisms, fluxes and global significance. In: Greenhouse Gas and Carbon Balances in Mangrove Coastal Ecosytems. 2007, Kanagawa, Japan: Gendai Tosho.
• Kitidis V, Tizzard L, Uher G, Judd A, Upstill-Goddard RC, Head IM, Gray ND, Taylor G, Duran R, Diez R, Iglesias J, Garcia-Gil S. The biogeochemical cycling of methane in Ria de Vigo, NW Spain: Sediment processing and sea-air exchange. Journal of Marine Systems 2007, 66(1-4), 258-271.
• Ramesh R, Purvaja R, Neetha V, Divia J, Barnes J, Upstill-Goddard RC. CO2 and CH4 emissions from Indian mangroves and surrounding waters. In: Greenhouse Gas and Carbon Balances in Mangrove Coastal Ecosytems. 2007, Kanagawa, Japan: Gendai Tosho.
• Rodrigues PPGW, Barnes J, Upstill-Goddard RC. Simulating estuarine nitrous oxide production by means of a dynamic model. Marine Pollution Bulletin 2007, 54(2), 164-172.
• Spencer RGM, Ahad JME, Baker A, Cowie GL, Ganeshram R, Upstill-Goddard RC, Uher G. The estuarine mixing behaviour of peatland derived dissolved organic carbon and its relationship to chromophoric dissolved organic matter in two North Sea estuaries (U.K.). Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 2007, 74(1-2), 131-144.
• Spencer RGM, Baker A, Ahad JME, Cowie GL, Ganeshram R, Upstill-Goddard RC, Uher G. Discriminatory classification of natural and anthropogenic waters in two U.K. estuaries. Science of the Total Environment 2007, 373(1), 305-323.
• Upstill-Goddard RC, Barnes J, Ramesh R. Are mangroves a source or a sink for greenhouse gases?. In: Greenhouse Gas and Carbon Balances in Mangrove Coastal Ecosytems. 2007, Kanagawa, Japan: Gendai Tosho.
• Ahad JME, Ganeshram RS, Spencer RGM, Uher G, Upstill-Goddard RC, Cowie GL. Evaluating the sources and fate of anthropogenic dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) in two contrasting North Sea estuaries. Science of the Total Environment 2006, 372(1), 317-333.
• Barnes J, Ramesh R, Purvaja R, Rajkumar AN, Kumar BS, Krithika K, Ravichandran K, Uher G, Upstill-Goddard R. Tidal dynamics and rainfall control N2O and CH4 emissions from a pristine mangrove creek. Geophysical Research Letters 2006, 33(15), L15405.
• Kitidis V, Stubbins AP, Uher G, Upstill-Goddard RC, Law CS, Woodward EMS. Variability of chromophoric organic matter in surface waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography 2006, 53(14-16), 1666-1684.
• Kitidis V, Uher G, Upstill-Goddard RC, Mantoura RFC, Spyres G, Woodward EMS. Photochemical production of ammonium in the oligotrophic Cyprus Gyre (Eastern Mediterranean). Biogeosciences 2006, 3(4), 439-449.
• Robinson C, Poulton AJ, Holligan PM, Baker AR, Forster G, Gist N, Jickells TD, Malin G, Upstill-Goddard RC, Williams RG, Woodward EMS, Zubkov MV. The Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT) Programme: a contextual view 1995 – 2005. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography 2006,53 14-16 1485-1515.
• Stubbins AP, Uher G, Law CS, Mopper K, Robinson C, Upstill-Goddard RC. Open Ocean Carbon Monoxide Photoproduction.. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography 2006,53 14-16 1695-1705.
• Stubbins AP, Uher G, Kitidis V, Law CS, Upstill-Goddard RC, Woodward EMS. The Open Ocean Source of Atmospheric Carbon Monoxide. Deep-Sea Research II 2006, 53(14-16), 1685-1694.
• Upstill-Goddard RC. Air-sea gas exchange in the coastal zone. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 2006, 70(3), 388-404.
• Franklin MP, McDonald IR, Bourne DG, Owens NJP, Upstill-Goddard RC, Murrell JC. Bacterial diversity in the bacterioneuston (sea surface microlayer): The bacterioneuston through the looking glass. Environmental Microbiology 2005, 7(5), 723-736.
• Naqvi SWA, Bange HW, Gibb SW, Goyet C, Hatton AD, Upstill-Goddard RC. Biogeochemical ocean-atmosphere transfers in the Arabian Sea. Progress in Oceanography 2005. ,65 2-4 116-144.
• Percival P, Frid C, Upstill-Goddard R. The Impact of Trawling on Benthic Nutrient Dynamics in the North Sea: Implications of Laboratory Experiments.. In:Barnes, P.W., James, P.T., ed. Benthic Habitats and the Effects of Fishing.Bethesda, Maryland, USA:American Fisheries Society,2005.
• Upstill-Goddard RC. The role of the oceans in the global cycles of climatically-active trace-gases. In:Lehr, J.H., Keeley, J., ed. Encyclopedia of Water.Hoboken, New Jersey, USA:John Wiley & Sons,2005.
• Upstill-Goddard RC, Frost T, Henry GR, Franklin M, Murrell JC, Owens NJP. Bacterioneuston control of air-water methane exchange determined with a laboratory gas exchange tank. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 2003,17 4 19-1.
• Truesdale VW, Upstill-Goddard R. Dissolved iodate and total iodine along the British east coast. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 2003,56 2 261-270.
• Frost T, Upstill-Goddard RC. Meteorological controls of gas exchange at a small English lake. Limnology and Oceanography 2002, 47(4), 1165-1174.
• Jacobs C, Kjeld JF, Nightingale P, Upstill-Goddard R, Larsen S, Oost W. Possible errors in CO2 air-sea transfer velocity from deliberate tracer releases and eddy covariance measurements due to near-surface concentration gradients. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 2002, 107(C9), 3128.
• Jacobs CMJ, Nightingale PD, Upstill-Goddard RC, Kjeld JF, Larsen S, Oost W. Comparison of the Deliberate Tracer Method and Eddy Covariance Measurements to Determine the Air/Sea Transfer Velocity of CO2. In: Donelan, M.A., Drennan, W.M., Saltzman, E.S., Wanninkhof, R, ed. Gas Transfer At Water Surfaces. Washington, DC, USA: American Geophysical Union, 2002, pp.225-231.
• Oost W, Jacobs CMJ, Kohsiek W, Goosens G, van der Horn J, Sprung D, Rapsomanikis S, Kenntner T, Reiner T, Bowyer P, Larsen S, de Leeuw G, Kunz G, Hall A, Liss P, Malin G, Upstill-Goddard RC, Woolf D, Graham A, Nightingale PD, Fairall C, Hare J, Dissly R, Tans P, Anderson R, Smith S. ASGAMAGE, the Air-Sea Gas Exchange/MAGE Experiment. In: Donelan, M.A., Drennan, W.M., Saltzman, E.S., Wanninkhof, R, ed. Gas Transfer At Water Surfaces. Washington, DC, USA: American Geophysical Union, 2002, pp.219-223.
• Bange, H.W., Andreae, M.O., Lal, S., Law, C.S., Naqvi, S.W.A., Patra, P.K., Rixen, T. and Upstill-Goddard, R.C. Nitrous oxide emissions from the Arabian Sea: a synthesis. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 2001, 1, 61-71.
• Uher G, Hughes C, Henry G, Upstill-Goddard C. Non-conservative mixing behavior of colored dissolved organic matter in a humic-rich, turbid estuary. Geophysical Research Letters 2001, 28(17), 3309-3312.
• Upstill-Goddard, R. C., Suijlen, J. M., Malin, G. and Nightingale, P. D. The use of photolytic rhodamines WT and sulpho G as conservative tracers of dispersion in surface waters. Limnology and Oceanography 2001, 46(4), 927–934.
• Nightingale PD, Malin G, Law CS, Watson AJ, Liss PS, Liddicoat MI, Boutin J, Upstill-Goddard RC. In situ evaluation of air-sea gas exchange parameterizations using novel conservative and volatile tracers. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 2000, 14(1), 373-387.
• Upstill-Goddard RC, Barnes J, Frost T, Punshon S, Owens NJP. Methane in the southern North Sea: Low-salinity inputs, estuarine removal, and atmospheric flux. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 2000, 14(4), 1205-1217.
• Frost, T. and Upstill-Goddard, R.C. Air-sea gas exchange into the millennium: progress and uncertainties.. Oceanography and Marine Biology An Annual Review 1999, 37, 12-45.
• Upstill-Goddard, R.C., Owens, N.J.P. and Barnes, J. Nitrous oxide and methane during the 1994 SW monsoon in the Arabian sea/northwestern Indian Ocean.. Journal of Geophysical Research. 1999, 104, 30,067-30,084.
• Rees, A.P., Owens, N.J.P. and Upstill-Goddard, R.C. Nitrous oxide in the Bellingshausen sea and Drake Passage.. Journal of Geophysical Research 1997, 102, 3383-3391.
• Upstill-Goddard, R.C., Rees, A.P. and Owens, N.J.P. Simultaneous high-precision measurements of methane and nitrous oxide in water and seawater by single-phase equilibration gas chromatography.. Deep Sea Research 1996, 43, 1669-1682.
• Upstill-Goddard, R.C. and Wilkins, C.S. The potential of SF6 as a geothermal tracer.. Water Research 1995, 29, 1065-1068.
• Liss, P. S., Watson, A. J., Liddicoat, M.I., Malin, G., Nightingale, P.D., Turner, S.M. and Upstill-Goddard, R.C. Trace gases and air-sea exchanges.. In: Understanding the North Sea system (eds. H. Charnock, K.R. Dyer, J. M. Huthnance, P.S. Liss, J.H. Simpson and P.B. Tett) 1994, Chapman and Hall, London, 153-164.
• Upstill-Goddard, R.C., Watson, A. J. and Liss, P.S. The gas transfer velocity-windspeed relationship at Siblyback Lake. A reply to comments by Kwan and Taylor.. Tellus 1993, 45B, 229-300.
• Liss, P.S., Watson, A.J., Liddicoat, M.I., Malin, G., Nightingale, P.D., Turner, S.M. and Upstill-Goddard, R.C. Trace gases and air-sea exchanges.. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London A 1993, 343, 531-541.
• Watson, A.J., Upstill-Goddard, R.C. and Liss, P.S. Air-sea gas exchange in rough and stormy seas measured by a dual tracer technique.. Nature 1991, 349, 145-147.
• Upstill-Goddard, R.C., Watson, A.J., Wood, J. and Liddicoat, M.I. Sulphur hexafluoride and helium-3 as seawater tracers: deployment techniques and continuous underway analysis for sulphur hexafluoride.. Analytica Chimica Acta 1991, 249, 555-562.
• Upstill-Goddard, R.C., Watson, A.J., Liss, P.S. and Liddicoat, M.I. Gas transfer velocities in lakes measured with SF6.. Tellus 1990, 42B, 364-377.
• Elderfield, H., Upstill-Goddard, R. and Sholkovitz, E.R. The rare earth elements in rivers, estuaries, and coastal seas and their significance to the composition of ocean waters.. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta 1990, 54, 971-991.
• Upstill-Goddard, R.C., Alexander, W.R., Elderfield, H. and Whitfield, M. Chemical diagenesis in the Tamar estuary.. Contributions to Sedimentology 1989, 16, 1-49.
• Upstill-Goddard, R.C. and Elderfield, H. The role of diagenesis in the estuarine budgets of iodine and bromine.. Continental Shelf Research 8 1988, 8, 405-430.