Climate change in Borneo measured by Salford experts  Monday, 19 May 2008
     Climate control in the rainforests of Borneo

    
A team of environmental scientists from Salford University has been carrying out research in the rainforests of Borneo that will help us to understand more about climate change.
  
Professor Chris Collier along with Dr Fay Davis and Dr Guy Pearson, went out to the Danum Valley in North East Borneo to set up equipment that tracks atmospheric aerosols - which influence cloud production and ultimately affect changes in climate.
  
Chris said: "It's all about helping to understand climate change. Our equipment uses laser light to measure the motions of aerosol in the rainforest, and how chemicals transfer from the forest into the atmosphere affecting the greenhouse effect."
  
The research set up by Salford is the first to measure aerosol from the ground in such a hostile environment. The data will then be added to other readings taken from a tower high in the rainforest enabling a more accurate picture of energy and particle exchanges from the forest into the atmosphere.
  
Salford's piece of research kit, the portable miniature Doppler lidar, measures aerosol concentration and wind velocity from ground level. The data will complement readings taken by teams of researchers also in Borneo from Manchester University.
  
Chris said: "We were based at a nursery near an area that had seen extensive logging in the past. Unfortunately we didn't see any orangutans or wild elephants - but we did catch sight of monkeys and wild boar.
  
"Understanding atmospheric aerosols is one of the most important ways we can improve models of likely climate change, which undoubtedly a lot of people are keen to find out more about."
  Ends
  
Notes to Editors
  Salford University is collaborating in research funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Other Universities in the consortium are University of Lancaster, Leicester, Leeds, Manchester, York, Cambridge, East Anglia and Edinburgh, alongside researchers in Malaysia.


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