Eloise Ann Marais is a South African chemist who is a professor at University College London. She leads the UCL Atmospheric Composition and Air Quality group, which develop complex models to understand human influence on air quality.
Eloise Ann Marais | |
|---|---|
| Alma mater | Harvard University Rhodes University University of KwaZulu-Natal |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Harvard University University College London |
| Thesis | Non-methane volatile organic compounds in Africa: a view from space (2014) |
Early life and education
editMarais is from South Africa.[1] She studied chemistry and applied chemistry at the University of KwaZulu-Natal for her undergraduate degree,[1] before moving to Rhodes University for an MSc in physical and analytical chemistry.[citation needed] She was awarded an International Fulbright Science and Technology Award and completed her doctorate at Harvard University.[citation needed] Her doctoral research used satellite observations and chemical transport models to quantify air pollutant precursor emissions of volatile organic compounds across Africa. Marais spent two years at Harvard as a postdoctoral researcher. She joined the University of Birmingham in 2016, where she developed tools for air monitoring in urban environments.[citation needed] and established the Atmospheric Composition and Air Quality research group.
Research and career
editIn 2018, Marais joined Leicester as an associate professor.[2] She spent two years in Leicester before moving to University College London, where she studied the impact of fossil fuel emissions on human health.[3] Her research has shown that fossil fuel emissions accounted for 18% of deaths around the world in 2018, and that regions with the highest concentrations of fossil fuels in the air had the highest rates of mortality.[3]
Marais was awarded a European Research Council grant to understand the understudied upper troposphere using multi-modal data.[1] There are uncertainties in the composition of the upper troposphere, and limited understanding of how it influences climate and air quality. She has studied how space tourism impacts the climate.[4] She ran a 10-year simulation to understand how rocket emissions compared with traditional sources of carbon dioxide, finding space tourism undermined environmental efforts on planet Earth.[4] Her research showed that a SpaceX launch emitted one hundred times more carbon dioxide than a traditional transatlantic flight,[5][6] and that these pollutants could destroy the ozone if injected into the stratospheric ozone layer.[4][7] She showed that this could persist for two or more years.[8]
Marais has ongoing projects to measures the atmosphere above Central London, develop inventories and derive new data sets from satellite observations.[9] She worked as a researcher in residence with the Connected Places Catapult, where she developed tools to better understand the city environment.[10] She has used Multi-Axis Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy to evaluate the presence of nitrogen dioxide and formaldehyde.[11] Marias was supported by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to understand air pollution above Leicester. In 2024 she was promoted to Professor at University College London.[citation needed]
Selected publications
edit- Karn Vohra; Alina Vodonos; Joel Schwartz; Eloise A. Marais; Melissa P Sulprizio; Loretta J. Mickley (April 2021). "Global mortality from outdoor fine particle pollution generated by fossil fuel combustion: Results from GEOS-Chem". Environmental Research. 195: 110754. doi:10.1016/J.ENVRES.2021.110754. ISSN 0013-9351. Wikidata Q114191726.
- Hannah M. Horowitz; Daniel J. Jacob; Yanxu Zhang; et al. (17 January 2017). "A new mechanism for atmospheric mercury redox chemistry: Implications for the global mercury budget". Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions: 1–33. doi:10.5194/ACP-2016-1165. ISSN 1680-7375. Wikidata Q63487407.
- Qiaoqiao Wang; Daniel J. Jacob; J. Ryan Spackman; et al. (14 January 2014). "Global budget and radiative forcing of black carbon aerosol: Constraints from pole-to-pole (HIPPO) observations across the Pacific". Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. 119 (1): 195–206. Bibcode:2014JGRD..119..195W. doi:10.1002/2013JD020824. ISSN 2169-897X. Wikidata Q59164538.
References
edit- ^ a b c "Out of Africa: global collaboration benefits all". ERC. 2021-10-06. Retrieved 2024-09-24.
- ^ "Eloise Marais | CASIE". espo.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2024-09-24.
- ^ a b "Deaths from fossil fuel emissions higher than previously thought". seas.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2024-09-24.
- ^ a b c UCL (2021-10-28). "Climate sacrifices undermined by space tourism, says Dr Eloise Marais". UCL Department of Geography. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
- ^ Gammon, Katharine (2021-07-19). "How the billionaire space race could be one giant leap for pollution". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-09-24.
- ^ "Experts say climate impact is a question mark if space tourism takes off". ABC News. Retrieved 2024-09-24.
- ^ Marais, Eloise (2021-07-19). "Space tourism: rockets emit 100 times more CO₂ per passenger than flights – imagine a whole industry". The Conversation. Retrieved 2024-09-24.
- ^ Team, Y. C. C. (2022-09-08). "The climate cost of space tourism » Yale Climate Connections". Yale Climate Connections. Retrieved 2024-09-24.
- ^ Marais, Eloise A; Vohra, Karn; Kelly, Jamie M; Li, Yifan; Lu, Gongda (November 2023). "The health burden of air pollution in the UK: a modelling study using updated exposure-risk associations". The Lancet. 402: S66. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(23)02099-8. PMID 37997110.
- ^ Marketing (2024-07-11). "Enhancing Air Quality Monitoring: A Case Study of Eloise Marais' Research in Residence Journey with the Catapult". Satellite Applications Catapult. Retrieved 2024-09-24.
- ^ G., Ryan, Robert; Ann, Marais, Eloise; Eleanor, Gershenson-Smith; Robbie, Ramsay; Jan-Peter, Muller; Jan-Lukas, Tirpitz; Udo, Frieß (2023-02-09). "Measurement Report: MAX-DOAS measurements characterise Central London ozone pollution episodes during 2022 heatwaves". EGUsphere. doi:10.5194/egu (inactive 1 November 2024).
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