In 2001, I completed my Ph.D. in Oceanography at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, USA. During my thesis work, I developed the world’s first continuous, high precision atmospheric O₂ analyser and installed it at the remote monitoring station, Baring Head, New Zealand, where it has continued to collect data since 1999. Atmospheric O₂ measurements (together with concurrent CO₂ measurements) are a powerful tool for studying the global (and regional) carbon cycle. For example, we are able to partition and quantify the uptake of fossil fuel CO₂ emissions by the oceans and land biosphere, and we can explore oxygen, carbon and heat exchanges between the atmosphere and oceans.  

From 2001-2005, I worked at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Germany, where I was the leader of the “Tall Towers Group”. Here I expanded my work to monitor other greenhouse and greenhouse-related gases such as CH₄, CO, N₂O, and SF₆. We set up multi-species, continuous, automated measurements from very high (up to 300 m) towers in Siberia, Poland, and Germany. Tall tower measurements are a relatively new approach to study regional, terrestrial carbon cycles in continental interiors.  

I moved to UEA/ENV in 2005 and established the “Carbon Related Atmospheric Measurements” (CRAM) Laboratory as part of COAS. With this laboratory, I brought atmospheric O₂ measurement capability to the UK.  My group also established continuous atmospheric O₂ and CO₂ measurements at the Weybourne Atmospheric Observatory on the north Norfolk coast in 2008, which is now the longest running CO₂ record in the UK. I am and have been a P.I. or co-I. for numerous NERC and EU projects related to improving our understanding of carbon cycle and greenhouse gas science, and their impacts on climate change. Since 2004, I have been leading an international atmospheric O₂ intercomparison programme (GOLLUM), which brings together the 11 international atmospheric O₂ laboratories from around the world in an effort to link our various measurement programmes.  I also manage UEA's "Calibration Cylinder Filling Facility", a facility unique within the UK that provides calibration and reference gases to the atmospheric sciences community. 

PhD Positions:  

Click here for current PhD opportunities in the School of Environmental Sciences. However, please feel free to email me to discuss projects outside these areas and alternative sources of funding. 

• 2010–present:  Associate Professor, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia (UEA), Norwich, UK.    
• 2005–2010:  NERC Advanced Research Fellow, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia (UEA), Norwich, UK.    
• 2002–2005:  Research Scientist and Group Leader, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany.    
• 2000–2002:  Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Researcher, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany.    
• 1993:  Staff Research Associate, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, California, USA.    
• 1991–1992:  Visiting Scientist, Atmospheric Chemistry Division, National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, Colorado, USA.    
• 1990–1991:  Laboratory Assistant, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), Gracefield, New Zealand.    

• Improved understanding of global, regional and local greenhouse gas cycles from spatial and temporal perspectives as they pertain to the land biosphere, oceans and atmosphere;     
• Development and application of land and ocean observing systems for all major greenhouse gases, related species and related isotopologues (e.g. CO₂, O₂, CH₄, N₂O, SF₆, CO, Rn, Ar, δ¹³C-CO₂, δ¹⁸O-CO₂, Δ¹⁷O);     
• Innovative state-of-the-art technological and methodological developments in very high-precision greenhouse gas measurement;     
• Developing new tools, techniques and database products in atmospheric time series analysis;     
• Utilising atmospheric greenhouse gas data in regional and global transport models, and in biogeochemical, land-atmosphere and ocean-atmosphere modelling efforts.     

Significant Publications:  

• Pickers, P. A., A. C. Manning, C. Le Quere, G. L. Forster, I. T. Luijkx, C. Gerbig, L. S. Fleming, and W. T. Sturges, Novel quantification of regional fossil fuel CO₂ reductions during COVID-19 lockdowns using atmospheric oxygen measurements, Science Advances, 8 (16), doi:10.1126/sciadv.abl9250, 2022.     

• Nisbet, E. G., M. R. Manning, E. J. Dlugokencky, R. E. Fisher, D. Lowry, S. E. Michel, C. Lund Myhre, S. M. Platt, G. Allen, P. Bousquet, R. Brownlow, M. Cain, J. L. France, O. Hermansen, R. Hossaini, A. E. Jones, I. Levin, A. C. Manning, G. Myhre, J. A. Pyle, B. H. Vaughn, N. J. Warwick, and J. W. C. White, Very Strong Atmospheric Methane Growth in the 4 Years 2014-2017: Implications for the Paris Agreement, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 33 (3), 318-342, doi:10.1029/2018gb006009, 2019.     

• Le Quéré, C., R. M. Andrew, P. Friedlingstein, S. Sitch, J. Pongratz, A. C. Manning, et al., Global Carbon Budget 2017, Earth System Science Data, 10 (1), 405-448, doi:10.5194/essd-10-405-2018, 2018.     

• Pickers, P. A., A. C. Manning, W. T. Sturges, C. Le Quéré, S. E. Mikaloff Fletcher, P. A. Wilson, and A. J. Etchells, In situ measurements of atmospheric O₂ and CO₂ reveal an unexpected O₂ signal over the tropical Atlantic Ocean, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, doi:10.1002/2017GB005631, 2017.     

• Keeling, R. F., and A. C. Manning, 5.15 - Studies of Recent Changes in Atmospheric O₂ Content, in Treatise on Geochemistry (Second Edition), edited by Holland, H. D., and K. K. Turekian, pp. 385-404, doi:10.1016/B978-0-08-095975-7.00420-4, Elsevier, Oxford, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780080959757004204, 2014.     

• Kozlova, E.A., A.C. Manning, Y. Kisilyakhov, T. Seifert, and M. Heimann, Seasonal, synoptic, and diurnal scale variability of biogeochemical trace gases and O₂ from a 300 m tall tower in central Siberia,Global Biogeochemical Cycles, doi:10.1029/2008GB003209, 2008.     

• Ciais, P., A.C. Manning, M. Reichstein, S. Zaehle and L. Bopp, Nitrification amplifies the decreasing trends of atmospheric oxygen, Global Biogeochemical Cycles 21(2), GB2030. doi: 10.1029/2006GB002799, 2007.     

• Manning, A.C., and R. F. Keeling, Global oceanic and land biotic carbon sinks from the Scripps atmospheric oxygen flask sampling network, Tellus-B, 58B, 95-116, doi:10.1111/j.1600-0889.2006.00175.x, 2006.     

• Bopp, L., C. Le Quéré, M. Heimann, A.C. Manning, and P. Monfray, Climate-induced oceanic oxygen fluxes: Implications for the contemporary carbon budget, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 16 (2),doi:10.1029/2001GB001445, 2002.     

• Manning, A.C., R.F. Keeling, and J.P. Severinghaus, Precise atmospheric oxygen measurements with a paramagnetic oxygen analyzer, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 13 (4), 1107-1115,doi:10.1029/1999GB900054, 1999.     

Publications: EPrints Digital Repository

I teach or have taught on the following modules:

• ENV-6008A: The Carbon Cycle and Climate Change (module organiser);    

• ENV-7031A: Geoengineering the Climate: Science and Policy;    
• ENV-7040B: Modern Methods in Air Pollution Science;    
• ENV-5003A: Climate Change: Science and Policy;    
• ENV-5015A: Atmospheric Chemistry and Global Change;    
• ENV-5019A: Marine Biogeochemistry;    
• ENV-4007B: Atmosphere and Oceans;    
• ENV-4008B: Physical and Chemical Processes in the Earth System;    
• ENV-4001A: Global Environmental Challenges.

 I serve or have served on the following committees at UEA:

• ENV Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Committee (2015-present); including Chair (2023-present);    
• SCI Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Committee (2023-present);    
• ENV Promotions Committee (2023-present);    
• ENV School Executive (2018-2021; 2023-present);    
• ENV Director of Postgraduate Research (2018-2020);    
• UEA Senate Student Discipline Committee (2016-2019);    
• ENV Research Staff Coordinator (2016-2018);    
• ENV Marketing and Communications Committee (2015-2016);    
• ENV Health and Safety Committee (2010-2016; including Deputy Chair: 2014-2016); including Radiation Protection Officer (2010-2014);    
• UEA Senate (2008-2010);    
• ENV Research Executive (2007-2010).    

Current postdoctoral researchers:   

• Penelope Pickers   
• Karina Adcock   

Current PhD students (including co-supervision):   

• Joe Guest    

Current technicians:   

• Marica Hewitt   
• Alex Etchells   
• Nick Garrard   

Previous postdoctoral researchers:   

• James France   
• Sander van der Laan   
• Phil Wilson   

Previous PhD students (to completion):   

• Leigh Fleming   
• Thomas Barningham   
• Penelope Pickers   
• Oliver Andrews    
• Phil Wilson   
• Steve Jones   
• Elena Kozlova   
• Elena Popa   
• Rona Thompson   

Previous technicians:   

• Ben McLeod   
• Andy Macdonald