Projects per year
Personal profile
Key Research Interests and Expertise
Matt is an expert on the global carbon cycle and in particular the role of landscape fires and fossil fuel combustion in this cycle. His research focuses on the global and regional trends in wildfire and deforestation fire activity seen in satellite observations and models and the implications of these trends for carbon storage on land.
Matt contributes to the Global Carbon Project (GCP). Each year, the GCP evaluates the global carbon budget by accounting for emissions of CO2 from fossil sources, deforestation and other land use changes, the uptake of CO2 by the land and oceans, and the CO2 that remains in the atmosphere.
Academic Background
Matt completed his PhD in Physical Geography at the University of Exeter, where his thesis evaluated the impacts of fire on the quantity and quality of carbon flowing through rivers.
He went on to research the legacy effects of fire on the land carbon cycle at Swansea University.
In 2019, Matt joined UEA's Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. His work at UEA focuses on the global and regional impact of climate change on wildfires, their emissions and their legacy effects on land carbon storage. He also contributes to the Global Carbon Project, which is an international effort to account for all major emissions and sinks of carbon on an annual basis.
Biography
Matt has a broad interest in the global carbon cycle and a particular focus on the roles of landscape fires and fossil fuel combustion in this cycle.
The Global Carbon Budget
Matt contributes to the Global Carbon Project (GCP). Each year, the GCP evaluates the global carbon budget by accounting for emissions of CO2 from fossil sources, deforestation and other land use changes, the uptake of CO2 by the land and oceans, and the CO2 that remains in the atmosphere.
Matt contributed to the GCP's 2019 and 2020 assessments of the global carbon budget (Friedlingstein et al., 2019; 2020; Earth System Science Data).
Fire Emissions and Legacy Effects
Matt's research has focussed on the legacy effects of fire on the land and aquatic carbon cycles. Historical fires influence the modern carbon budget, while present-day fires will continue to influence the carbon budget in the coming decades, centuries and even millennia. The legacy effects of fire include: the long-term uptake of carbon through vegetation recovery, which is modulated by changes in vegetation cover; associated changes in soil carbon stocks; changes in the quality of soil carbon through storage of combustion by-products such as charcoal and ash (known as as "pyrogenic carbon"); and, the export of pyrogenic carbon to oceans via rivers.
Matt recently led key studies that estimated the global-scale production of pyrogenic carbon (Jones et al., 2019, Nature Geoscience) and the export of pyrogenic carbon from land to ocean via rivers (Jones et al., 2020, Nature Communications).
Fossil Fuel Emissions
Matt recently led the development of a new gridded fossil emissions dataset (GridFED) that extends the GCP's national estimates of CO2 emissions from (Jones et al., 2020, Scientific Data). GridFED is used in conjunction with atmospheric measurements of CO2 to mathematically derive the uptake of CO2 by the land and oceans using inverse models. GridFED helps to constrain the global carbon budget using observational data leading to key insights into the regional distribution of carbon sinks and their seasonality (Friedlingstein et al., 2020, Earth System Science Data).
Matt also contributed to recent estimates to evaluate the impact of international lockdowns during 2020, which were implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, on fossil CO2 emissions (Le Quéré et al., 2020, Nature Climate Change).
Research Group or Lab Membership
School of Environmental Sciences
Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
Research Group of Corinne Le Quéré CBE FRS
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Education/Academic qualification
Bachelor of Science, University of Exeter
15 Sep 2010 → 15 Jul 2013
Award Date: 15 Jul 2019
Doctor of Philosophy, University of Exeter
15 Sep 2014 → 1 Nov 2018
Award Date: 29 May 2019
External positions
Contributor, Global Carbon Project
1 Mar 2020 → …
Network
Projects
- 1 Active
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Climate change impacts on wildfire ignitions by lightning and the safe management of landscape fuels
Natural Environment Research Council
31/03/22 → 30/03/27
Project: Fellowship
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CO2 emissions from energy systems and industrial processes: Inventories from data- and proxy-driven approaches
Roten, D., Marland, G., Bun, R., Crippa, M., Gilfillan, D., Jones, M. W., Janssens-Maenhout, G., Marland, E. & Andrew, R., 14 Mar 2022, Balancing Greenhouse Gas Budgets: Accounting for Natural and Anthropogenic Flows of CO2 and other Trace Gases. 1 ed. ElsevierResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Definitions and methods to estimate regional land carbon fluxes for the second phase of the REgional Carbon Cycle Assessment and Processes Project (RECCAP-2)
Ciais, P., Bastos, A., Chevallier, F., Lauerwald, R., Poulter, B., Canadell, P., Hugelius, G., Jackson, R. B., Jain, A. K., Jones, M., Kondo, M., Luijkx, I. T., Patra, P. K., Peters, W., Pongratz, J., Petrescu, R., Piao, S., Qiu, C., von Randow, C., Regnier, P. & 7 others, , 16 Feb 2022, In: Geoscientific Model Development. 15, 3, p. 1289–1316 28 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile5 Downloads (Pure) -
Global Carbon Budget 2021
Friedlingstein, P., Jones, M. W., O'Sullivan, M., Andrew, R. M., Bakker, D. C. E., Hauck, J., Le Quéré, C., Peters, G. P., Peters, W., Pongratz, J., Sitch, S., Canadell, J. G., Ciais, P., Jackson, R. B., Alin, S. R., Anthoni, P., Bates, N. R., Becker, M., Bellouin, N., Bopp, L. & 74 others, , 26 Apr 2022, In: Earth System Science Data. 14, 4, p. 1917–2005 87 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile1 Downloads (Pure) -
Pyrogenic carbon decomposition critical to resolving fire’s role in the Earth system
Bowring, S. P. K., Jones, M. W., Ciais, P., Guenet, B. & Abiven, S., 10 Feb 2022, In: Nature Geoscience. 15, 2, p. 135-142 8 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Arctic warming amplifies climate change and its impacts
Smith, A., Smith, D., Cohen, J. & Jones, M., 28 Oct 2021, ScienceBrief, p. 1-4.Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article
Open AccessFile11 Downloads (Pure)
Datasets
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Gridded fossil CO2 emissions and related O2 combustion consistent with national inventories 1959-2020
Jones, M. (Creator), Andrew, R. M. (Creator), Peters, G. P. (Creator), Janssens-Maenhout, G. (Creator), De-Gol, A. J. (Creator), Dou, X. (Creator), Liu, Z. (Creator), Pickers, P. (Creator), Ciais, P. (Creator), Patra, P. K. (Creator), Chevallier, F. (Creator) & Le Quere, C. (Creator), Zenodo, 7 Feb 2022
Dataset
Press / Media
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Global warming driving California wildfire trends - study
24/09/20
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Press / Media
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Explainer: How climate change is affecting wildfires around the world
14/07/20
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Press / Media
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Human-induced climate change promotes the conditions on which wildfires depend, increasing their likelihood (Feb 2020)
12/02/20
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Press / Media
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Human-induced climate change promotes the conditions on which wildfires depend, increasing their likelihood (Jan 2020)
3/01/20 → 29/01/20
128 items of Media coverage
Press/Media: Press / Media
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Another Cost of Climate Change: More Wildfires (Jan 2020)
Corinne Le Quere & Matthew Jones
15/01/20 → 20/01/20
22 items of Media coverage
Press/Media: Press / Media