Professional summary
Ross Morrison PhD FRMetS is an environmental research scientist focused on observations of the two-way exchange of mass and energy between ecosystems and the atmosphere. His career goal is to provide the solutions, data and evidence required to address real-world socio-environmental challenges, particularly around the transition to the net zero economy.
Ross is an expert biometeorologist, specialising in measurements of greenhouse gas, water and energy fluxes using eddy covariance (EC). With his collaborators across UKCEH and beyond, he pioneered the network approach to EC in the UK and overseas (India, Falklands). Over the past decade, Ross assembled and led the team to build the expertise and infrastructure required to realise his vision for a national carbon and water flux observatory, formed of more than fifty flux tower sites and growing. This unique scientific resource now delivers the data and information requirements of science, policymakers and land managers, and has transformed the ability to quantify and model GHG emissions and removals and their drivers at the national scale.
His primary focus is on carbon and water dynamics in peatland environments, but he delivers impact in other domains (e.g. coastal ecosystems, regenerative agriculture, bioenergy) through widespread collaboration and outreach.
His work now increasingly deploys paired flux towers and other observational tools at field trials, providing direct experimental evidence on greenhouse gas emissions reductions that can be achieved through land use interventions. Ross leads and collaborates across a portfolio of active research projects funded by NERC, DESNZ, DEFRA-family, eNGOs and the private sector, focused on achieving net zero emissions and other positive environmental outcomes in the land use sector.