Professional summary

Carole obtained a BSc and MSc in Physics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, EPFL) in 2004. She went on to pursue doctoral studies in the group of Applied Optics and Photonics at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK from 2004 to 2007; her PhD thesis was concerned with the development of a non-invasive, laser-based technique to measure the flow of sap through the phloem tissue of woody plants. 

Carole joined the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology as an environmental physicist in 2007. She conducts research into the exchange of greenhouse gases between land, water and the atmosphere in natural and urban environments using micrometeorological techniques in the UK and abroad. She has a special interest in the role played by plants in modulating the exchange of methane in tropical wetlands, and has led research in the Okavango Delta, Botswana, under a succession of projects since 2017.    

Carole was deputy group leader of the Biosphere-Atmosphere Exchange and Effects group from 2017 to 2023, and acting shared group leader since February 2023.

Selected publications

Helfter Carole et al. , (2022), Phenology is the dominant control of methane emissions in a tropical non-forested wetland. Nature Communications, 13, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27786-4

Helfter Carole et al. , (2022), From sink to source: high inter-annual variability in the carbon budget of a southern African wetland. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 380, http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2021.0148

Helbig M. et al. , (2022), Warming response of peatland CO2 sink is sensitive to seasonality in warming trends. Nature Climate Change, 12, 743-749, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01428-z

Lembrechts Jonas J. et al. , (2022), Global maps of soil temperature. Global Change Biology, 28, 3110-3144, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.16060

Evans C.D. et al. , (2021), Overriding water table control on managed peatland greenhouse gas emissions. Nature, 593, 548-552, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03523-1

Gondwe M.J. et al. , (2021), Methane flux measurements along a floodplain soil moisture gradient in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 379, http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2020.0448

Delwiche Kyle B. et al. , (2021), FLUXNET-CH4: a global, multi-ecosystem dataset and analysis of methane seasonality from freshwater wetlands. Earth System Science Data, 13, 3607-3689, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-3607-2021

Helfter C. et al. , (2015), Drivers of long-term variability in CO2 net ecosystem exchange in a temperate peatland. 12, 1799-1811, http://www.biogeosciences.net/12/1799/2015/bg-12-1799-2015.html

Helfter Carole et al. , (2016), Spatial and temporal variability of urban fluxes of methane, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide above London, UK. 16, 10543-10557, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-10543-2016

Helfter, C. et al. , (2011), Controls of carbon dioxide concentrations and fluxes above central London . Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 11, 1913-1928, http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/11/1913/2011/acp-11-1913-2011.pdf