Staff Profile

My background is in marine biogeochemistry, and I joined the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences (SNES) in 2019. My current work is evaluating surfactant control of air-water gas exchange in freshwater lakes.

Previously, I studied for my PhD at Newcastle University, which focussed on surfactant photochemistry in the sea-surface microlayer (SML; uppermost ~1000 µm of surface water) and subsurface water of coastal and estuarine systems. Surfactant enrichment in the SML mediates all mass transfer between air and water, hence the output from this research has implications for global climate models.

Previous to my PhD I achieved a first-class (with distinction) degree in Environmental Science from the University of York, where my dissertation project developed a novel application of particle size analysis to reconstruct past climate changes at a site on the Western Antarctic Peninsula using changes in diatom biomass in a marine sediment core.

Additional roles

SOLAS UK National Representative (2022-present)

Postdoc Futures Committee (2021-present)

Newcastle University, SNES Fieldtrip and Off Campus Health and Safety Committee (2020-present)

Previous roles

National Postdoc Conference Steering Group (2021)

National Postdoc Appreciation Week Steering Group (2021)

Newcastle University, SNES Induction Working Group (2020-2021)

Enviresearch Foundation funding panel member and event organiser (2019)

Editor of Newcastle University science communication magazine {react} (2017-2018)

Qualifications

PhD Surfactant photochemistry in marine systems (Newcastle University, UK; 2019)

BSc (Hons) Environmental Science (University of York, UK; 2014)

ORCID ID

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6318-077X

I am a member of the Earth, Ocean and Planetary Sciences Research Group. My current research explores surfactant control of air-water gas exchange in freshwater lakes, with Professor Robert Upstill-Goddard. This work is supported by The Leverhulme Trust and is in collaboration with Dr Erik Sahlée at the Department of Earth Sciences at Uppsala University, Sweden. Fieldwork takes place at Uppsala University's Erken Laboratory, Sweden.

Previous work has shown that, in seawater, accumulation of natural biological surfactants in the sea-surface microlayer (SML) reduces the rate of air-sea gas exchange at the ocean basin scale, with clear implications for global cycling of trace gases (i.e. CO₂). Given the increasingly acknowledged importance of the freshwater contribution to the global carbon cycle, this work aims to address the absence of studies that explore the role of freshwater microlayer surfactant enrichment on air-water gas exchange. 

• Rickard PC, Uher G, Upstill-Goddard RC. Photo-Reactivity of Surfactants in the Sea-Surface Microlayer and Subsurface Water of the Tyne Estuary, UK. Geophysical Research Letters 2022, 49(4), e2021GL095469.
• Stolle C, Ribas-Ribas M, Badewien T, Barnes J, Carpenter L, Chance R, Damgaard L, Durán Quesada A, Engel A, Frka S, Galgani L, Gasparovic B, Gerriets M, Mustaffa NIH, Herrmann H, Kallajoki L, Pereira R, Radach F, Revsbech NP, Rickard P, Saint A, Salter M, Striebel M, Triesch N, Uher G, Upstill-Goddard RC, van Pinxteren M, Zäncker B, Zieger P, Wurl O. The MILAN campaign: Studying diel light effects on the air-sea interface. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 2020, E146-E166.
• Rickard PC, Uher G, Upstill-Goddard RC, Frka S, Mustaffa NIH, Banko-Kubis HM, Kusan AC, Gasparovic B, Stolle C, Wurl O, Ribas-Ribas M. Reconsideration of seawater surfactant activity analysis based on an inter-laboratory comparison study. Marine Chemistry 2019, 208, 103-111.