I have a background in observational astronomy, including different types of cameras and spectrographs, both ground-based and using satellites from space. This specialization requires a lot of programming to allow for project-specific image processing and model calculations.
At Tema environmental change I use optical instruments and methods applied to environmental research, with a focus on greenhouse gases and climate change. One of the projects involves a camera that can image and film the greenhouse gas methane using infrared light and spectroscopic modeling. Using this method it is possible to detect emissions sources directly in a landscape and to identify these. Methane has a much higher potential than carbon dioxide, per molecule, to cause a climate change. Another project is to follow heat patterns in the surface waters of lakes, using infrared video, allowing calculation of surface velocities which in turn can be used to estimate the exchange of greenhouse gases between the lake surface and the atmosphere.
I teach Astronomy and Physics in the teacher education program, but also physical geography with a focus on the greenhouse effect.
