Contact Dr Valerio Ferracci
- Tel: +44 (0) 1234 750111 x3365
- Email: V.Ferracci@cranfield.ac.uk
- Twitter: @atmos_vf
- ORCID
- Google Scholar
- ResearchGate
Areas of expertise
- Air
- Energy and the Environment
- Environment and Health
- Instrumentation, Sensors and Measurement Science
- Monitoring and Environmental Informatics
Background
Valerio is an Academic Fellow in Atmospheric Chemistry. He specialises in atmospheric composition monitoring and modelling and in gas sensor development. His expertise spans all three pillars of atmospheric science, i.e. field observations, numerical modelling and laboratory studies, along with experience in analytical science.
Valerio joined Cranfield University in 2017. Prior to that, he worked on modelling atmospheric oxidation processes in Cambridge (2016-17), and on developing analytical approaches to gas monitoring at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL, 2012-16). His work on ammonia monitoring while at NPL was incorporated into a European Standard (EN-17346) by the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN),
Valerio has an MSci in Chemistry from University College London (UCL, 2008) and a PhD in Atmospheric Chemistry, also from UCL (2012). His doctoral studies focused on the kinetics of a number of ozone-depleting halogen oxide radical reactions. His work contributed to reconciling stratospheric ozone loss observations with models and was incorporated in the JPL-NASA kinetic evaluation, used to model atmospheric chemistry in Earth System Models.
Valerio is a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (MRSC), Treasurer of the RSC Environmental Chemistry Group and committee member of the Automation and Analytical Management Group.
Current activities
Valerio's research focuses on environmental issues that stem from changes in the composition of the Earth’s atmosphere. He takes advantage of recent advances in sensor technologies to develop atmospheric monitoring towards miniaturisation, allowing multiple autonomous deployments in a variety of relevant locations and unprecedented spatial and temporal coverage of key atmospheric species. His research spans three complementary themes:
Biogenic emissions under global change. In this theme Valerio explores how natural emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) respond to the changing climate. He has developed a portable gas chromatograph (the iDirac) capable of operating autonomously for prolonged periods of time, providing much needed long-term data on VOC abundances (e.g., isoprene and dimethyl sulfide) from a variety of key environments, from temperate and tropical forests to Antarctica. Through this he is able to identify previously overlooked processes, such as the increase in VOC emissions from vegetation under drought stress, which will affect future projections of climate scenarios.
Atmospheric oxidation processes. This area focuses on developing novel instrumentation for autonomous monitoring of atmospheric oxidation, and therefore pollutant removal (in particular, reactivity towards the principal atmospheric oxidant, the OH radical), as well as developing tools to interpret the measurements and obtain observation-based constraints for use in global climate models.
Greenhouse gas and air quality monitoring and modelling. Monitoring greenhouse gases (e.g., CO2 and methane) and air quality species (e.g., nitrogen oxides, ozone, particulate matter) is key to understanding emission trends and the efficacy of policy interventions. In collaboration with the University of Cambridge and local authorities, Valerio helped establish the first London-wide network for monitoring greenhouse gas emissions (the NERC funded London GHG project), as well as an air quality network in the Oxford-Cambridge arc area (11 monitoring sites).
Clients
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF)
Publications
Articles In Journals
- DiMaria CA, Jones DB, Worden H, Bloom AA, Bowman K, Stavrakou T, Miyazaki K, Worden J, Guenther A, Sarkar C, Seco R, Park JH, Tota J, Gomes Alves E & Ferracci V (2023) Optimizing the isoprene emission model MEGAN with satellite and ground-based observational constraints, Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 128 (4) Article No. e2022JD037822.
- di Meane EA, Brown RJC, Brewer PJ, Ferracci V & van Wijk JIT (2022) Investigation of cylinder pre-treatments for the stability of ammonia gas reference materials, Accreditation and Quality Assurance, 27 (4) 249-254.
- Culleton LP, di Meane EA, Ward MK, Ferracci V, Persijn S, Holmqvist A, Arrhenius K, Murugan A & Brewer PJ (2022) Characterization of Fourier transform infrared, cavity ring-down spectroscopy, and optical feedback cavity-enhanced absorption spectroscopy instruments for the analysis of ammonia in biogas and biomethane, Analytical Chemistry, 94 (44) 15207-15214.
- Song C, Becagli S, Beddows DCS, Brean J, Browse J, Dai Q, Dall’Osto M, Ferracci V, Harrison RM, Harris N, Li W, Jones AE, Kirchgäßner A, Kramawijaya AG, Kurganskiy A, Lupi A, Mazzola M, Severi M, Traversi R & Shi Z (2022) Understanding sources and drivers of size-resolved aerosol in the High Arctic islands of Svalbard using a receptor model coupled with machine learning, Environmental Science and Technology, 56 (16) 11189-11198.
- Landwehr S, Volpi M, Haumann FA, Robinson CM, Thurnherr I, Ferracci V, Baccarini A, Thomas J, Gorodetskaya I, Tatzelt C, Henning S, Modini RL, Forrer HJ, Lin Y, Cassar N, Simó R, Hassler C, Moallemi A, Fawcett SE, Harris N, Airs R, Derkani MH, Alberello A, Toffoli A, Chen G, Rodríguez-Ros P, Zamanillo M, Cortés-Greus P, Xue L, Bolas CG, Leonard KC, Perez-Cruz F, Walton D & Schmale J (2021) Exploring the coupled ocean and atmosphere system with a data science approach applied to observations from the Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition, Earth System Dynamics, 12 (4) 1295-1369.
- Ferracci V, Bolas CG, Freshwater RA, Staniaszek Z, King T, Jaars K, Otu-Larbi F, Beale JE, Malhi Y, Waine TW, Jones RL, Ashworth K & Harris NRP (2020) Continuous isoprene measurements in a UK temperate forest for a whole growing season: effects of drought stress during the 2018 heatwave, Geophysical Research Letters, 47 (15) Article No. e2020GL088885.
- Pan Y, Gu M, He Y, Wu D, Liu C, Song L, Tian S, Lü X, Sun Y, Song T, Walters WW, Liu X, Martin NA, Zhang Q, Fang Y, Ferracci V & Wang Y (2020) Revisiting the concentration observations and source apportionment of atmospheric ammonia, Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, 37 (9) 933-938.
- Hoare D, Jones RL, Harris NRP, Ferracci V, Carruthers D, Stidworthy A, Forsyth E & Rigby M (2020) Development of an urban greenhouse gas modelling system to support a London monitoring network, Weather, 75 (11) 353-359.
- Otu‐Larbi F, Bolas CG, Ferracci V, Staniaszek Z, Jones RL, Malhi Y, Harris NR, Wild O & Ashworth K (2020) Modelling the effect of the 2018 summer heatwave and drought on isoprene emissions in a UK woodland, Global Change Biology, 26 (4) 2320-2335.
- Bolas CG, Ferracci V, Robinson AD, Mead MI, Mohd MS, Pyle JA, Jones RL & Harris NRP (2020) iDirac: a field-portable instrument for long-term autonomous measurements of isoprene and selected VOCs, Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 13 (2) 821-838.
- Martin NA, Ferracci V, Cassidy N, Hook J, Battersby RM, di Meane EA, Tang YS, Stephens AC, Leeson SR, Jones MR, Braban CF, Gates L, Hangartner M, Stoll JM, Sacco P, Pagani D, Hoffnagle JA & Seitler E (2019) Validation of ammonia diffusive and pumped samplers in a controlled atmosphere test facility using traceable Primary Standard Gas Mixtures, Atmospheric Environment, 199 (February) 453-462.
- Fittschen C, Al Ajami M, Batut S, Ferracci V, Archer-Nicholls S, Archibald AT & Schoemaecker C (2019) ROOOH: the missing piece of the puzzle for OH measurements in low NO environments, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 19 (1) 349-362.
- Bacquart T, Perkins M, Ferracci V, Martin NA, Resner K, Ward MK, Cassidy N, Hook JB, Brewer PJ, Irvine JT, Connor PA & Murugan A (2018) Production and stability of low amount fraction of formaldehyde in hydrogen gas standards, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 43 (13) 6711-6722.
- Brewer PJ, Gieseking B, Ferracci VF, Ward M, van Wijk J, van der Veen AM, Lima AA, Augusto CR, Oh SH, Kim BM, Lee S, Konopelko LA, Kustikov Y, Shimosaka T, Niederhauser B, Guillevic M, Pascale C, Zhou Z, Wang D & Hu S (2018) International comparison CCQM-K116: 10 μmol mol-1 water vapour in nitrogen, Metrologia, 55 (1A) Article No. 08018.
- Ferracci V, Heimann I, Abraham NL, Pyle JA & Archibald AT (2018) Global modelling of the total OH reactivity: investigations on the “missing” OH sink and its atmospheric implications, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 18 (10) 7109-7129.
- Viallon J, Flores E, Idrees F, Moussay P, Wielgosz RI, Kim D, Kim YD, Lee S, Persijn S, Konopelko LA, Kustikov YA, Malginov AV, Chubchenko IK, Klimov AY, Efremova OV, Zhou Z, Possolo A, Shimosaka T, Brewer P, Macé T, Ferracci V, Brown RJC & Aoki N (2017) CCQM-K90, formaldehyde in nitrogen, 2 μmol mol− 1 Final report, Metrologia, 54 (Technical Supplement) Article No. 08029.
- Pogány A, Balslev-Harder D, Braban CF, Cassidy N, Ebert V, Ferracci V, Hieta T, Leuenberger D, Martin NA, Pascale C, Peltola J, Persijn S, Tiebe C, Twigg MM, Vaittinen O, van Wijk J, Wirtz K & Niederhauser B (2016) A metrological approach to improve accuracy and reliability of ammonia measurements in ambient air, Measurement Science and Technology, 27 (11) Article No. 115012.
- Martin N, Ferracci V, Cassidy N & Hoffnagle J (2016) The application of a cavity ring-down spectrometer to measurements of ambient ammonia using traceable primary standard gas mixtures, Applied Physics B, 122 (8) Article No. 219.
- Ferracci V, Brown A, Harris P & Brown R (2015) An investigation of the matrix sensitivity of refinery gas analysis using gas chromatography with flame ionisation detection, Journal of Chromatography A, 1383 144-150.
- Ferracci V & Rowley DM (2014) Kinetic studies of the BrO + ClO cross-reaction over the range T = 246-314 K, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 16 (3) 1182-1196.
- Ferracci V & Rowley D (2012) The temperature dependence of the bimolecular channels of the ClO + ClO reaction over the range T = 298-323 K, International Journal of Chemical Kinetics, 44 (6) 386-397.
- Ferracci V, Hino K & Rowley D (2011) Kinetic studies on the temperature dependence of the BrO + BrO reaction using laser flash photolysis, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 13 (17) 7997-8007.
- Ferracci V & Rowley D (2010) Kinetic and thermochemical studies of the ClO + ClO + M Cl 2O2 + M reaction, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 12 (37) 11596-11608.
Conference Papers
- Hoare D, Jones RL, Fan S, Harris N, Ferracci V, Carruthers D, Stidworthy A, Forsyth E & Rigby M (2021) Inferring London’s methane emissions from atmospheric measurements. In: EGU General Assembly, 2021, Virtual Event, 19-30 April 2021.
- Bird D, Cook A, Melgari P, Robbins D, Hollis P, Brewer P & Ferracci V (2016) Production and measurement of large-area moisture barriers for electronic applications. In: Sixth Electronic System-Integration Technology Conference (ESTC 2016), Grenoble, 13-16 September 2016.
- Pogany A, Balslev-Harder D, Braban C, Cassidy N, Ebert V, Ferracci V, Hieta T, Leuenberger D, Luttschwager N, Martin N, Pascale C, Tiebe C, Twigg M, Vaittinen O, Van Wijk J, Wirtz K & Niederhauser B (2015) Metrology for ammonia in ambient air-concept and first results of the EMRP project MetNH3. In: 17th International Congress of Metrology (CIM 2015), Paris, 21-24 September 2015.