Rate My Professor Tim Arnold

Tim Arnold is an Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science at Lund University. He also serves as Senior Lecturer and Assistant Head of Office in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (MGeo), Director of ICOS Sweden, and member of the strategic research areas BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate, MERGE: ModElling the Regional and Global Earth system, and the LU Profile Area: Nature-based future solutions. In addition, he holds a position as Reader at the University of Edinburgh. Arnold completed his undergraduate studies in Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge from 2001 to 2005 and earned his PhD in isotope geochemistry at Imperial College London from 2005 to 2009. His professional career includes a postdoctoral position at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego from 2009 to 2014; a role at the Met Office Hadley Centre from 2014 to 2016; and a joint appointment at the University of Edinburgh and the National Physical Laboratory, London starting in 2016, prior to his move to Lund University in 2024.

Arnold's research focuses on changes in atmospheric composition over recent decades, with an emphasis on developing and applying high-precision ground-based measurements sensitive to greenhouse gas fluxes from local to global scales. He utilizes atmospheric transport models within mathematical inversion frameworks to quantify sources and sinks, particularly for methane and its isotopologues, to reduce uncertainties in emissions estimates and support climate change mitigation. His specializations encompass analytical chemistry, climate science, environmental sciences, meteorology and atmospheric sciences, and geochemistry. Key publications include 'Atmospheric data support a multi-decadal shift in the global methane budget towards natural tropical emissions' (Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 2023), 'Advancing Scientific Understanding of the Global Methane Budget in Support of the Paris Agreement' (Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 2019), 'The increasing atmospheric burden of the greenhouse gas sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)' (Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 2020), 'High-resolution inverse modelling of European CH4 emissions using the novel FLEXPART-COSMO TM5 4DVAR inverse modelling system' (Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 2022), and 'Uncertainties in Calibration of an Optical Spectrometer for Measuring Isotope Ratios in Methane' (ACS Measurement Science Au, 2026). At Lund University, he coordinates the course NGEA21 'The Climate System' and teaches in programs on physical geography, theory and methods, global elemental cycles, and environmental change. His contributions support UN SDG 13: Climate Action through oversight of the ICOS Sweden infrastructure.