
Jerry Blackford
Head of Science: Marine Systems Modelling Group
jcb @pml.ac.uk | +44 (0)1752 633100 (switchboard)Jerry is a band 4 merit scientist with a 30 year career specialising in marine system modelling. As the Head of Science for the PML Marine Systems Modelling Group, he is responsible for leading, guiding and developing the work of ~20 scientists ranging from post docs to professors. Over his career he has promoted the development of marine biogeochemical and ecosystem models as vehicles for both heuristic and societally relevant studies, in particular balancing appropriate complexity with computational efficiency. He is particularly interested in the interaction of elevated CO2 with marine systems. The latter focuses on Climate Change and Ocean Acidification as well as environmental risk assessment and monitoring research for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).
Concerning Climate and Ocean Acidification he pioneered the development of local and regional scale projections, including impacts and feedbacks to ecosystems, leading a NERC-Defra funded project within the UKOA programme investigating the evolution of ocean acidification in shelf seas, including the Arctic.
More generally Jerry has been a principal investigator in >25 national and EU scientific projects developing marine system models for both applied and theoretical research. He is currently institute PI in the CMEMS funded operational oceanography project NOWMAPS, the NERC National Capability program CLASS and leads PML’s contribution to the NERC UK Earth System Model program. He provides advice to UK government departments (e.g. BEIS, Defra, Marine Management Organisation), international organisations (e.g. ICES, IPCC), industry and environmental NGOs on issues related to climate change and CCS.
- Blackford, J., Allen, J., & Gilbert, F. (2004). Ecosystem dynamics at six contrasting sites: a generic modelling study. Journal of Marine Systems, 52(1-4), 191-215. doi:10.1016/j.jmarsys.2004.02.004
- Rose, K., Allen, J., Artioli, Y., Barange, M., Blackford, J., Carlotti, F., . . . Zhou, M. (2010). End-To-End Models for the Analysis of Marine Ecosystems: Challenges, Issues, and Next Steps. Marine and Coastal Fisheries, 2(1), 115-130. doi:10.1577/C09-059.1
- Blackford, J., & Gilbert, F. (2007). pH variability and CO2 induced acidification in the North Sea. Journal of Marine Systems, 64(1-4), 229-241. doi:10.1016/j.jmarsys.2006.03.016
- Flynn, K., Blackford, J., Baird, M., Raven, J., Clark, D., Beardall, J., . . . Wheeler, G. (2012). Changes in pH at the exterior surface of plankton with ocean acidification. Nature Climate Change, 2(7), 510-513. doi:10.1038/NCLIMATE1489
- Blackford, J., Stahl, H., Bull, J., Berges, B., Cevatoglu, M., Lichtschlag, A., . . . Widdicombe, S. (2014). Detection and impacts of leakage from sub-seafloor deep geological carbon dioxide storage. Nature Climate Change, 4(11), 1011-1016. doi:10.1038/NCLIMATE2381
- Clark, J., Cole, M., Lindeque, P., Fileman, E., Blackford, J., Lewis, C., . . . Galloway, T. (2016). Marine microplastic debris: a targeted plan for understanding and quantifying interactions with marine life. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 14(6), 317-324. doi:10.1002/fee.1297
Recent publications
- Connelly, DP; Bull, JM; Flohr, A; Schaap, A; Koopmans, D; Blackford, JC; White, PR; James, RH; Pearce, CR; Lichtschlag, A; Achterberg, EP; de Beer, D; Roche, B; Li, J; Saw, K; Alendal, G; Avlesen, H; Brown, R; Borisov, SM; Böttner, C; Cazenave, PW; Chen, B; Dale, AW; Dean, M; Dewar, M; Esposito, M; Gros, J; Hanz, R; Haeckel, M; Hosking, B; Huvenne, VAI; Karstensen, J; Le Bas, T; Leighton, TG; Linke, P; Loucaides, S; Matter, JM; Monk, S; Mowlem, MC; Oleynik, A; Omar, AM; Peel, K; Provenzano, G; Saleem, U; Schmidt, M; Schramm, B; Sommer, S; Strong, J; Falcon Suarez, I; Ungerboeck, B; Widdicombe, S; Wright, H; Yakushev, E; 2022. Assuring the integrity of offshore carbon dioxide storage. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews.
- Dewar, M; Blackford, JC; Espie, T; Wilford, S; Bouffin, N; 2022. Impact potential of hypersaline brines released into the marine environment for CCS reservoir pressure management. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control.
- Sands, C; Connelly, DP; Blackford, JC; 2021. Introduction to the STEMM-CCS special issue. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control.
- Lichtschlag, A; Pearce, CR; Suominen, M; Blackford, JC; Borisov, SM; Bull, JM; de Beer, D; Dean, M; Esposito, M; Flohr, A; Gros, J; Haeckel, M; Huvenne, VAI; James, RH; Koopmans, D; Linke, P; Mowlem, M; Omar, AM; Schaap, A; Schmidt, M; Sommer, S; Strong, JA; Connelly, DP; 2021. Suitability analysis and revised strategies for marine environmental carbon capture and storage (CCS) monitoring. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control.
- Dewar, M; Saleem, U; Flohr, A; Schaap, A; Strong, JA; Li, J; Roche, B; Bull, JM; Chen, B; Blackford, JC; 2021. Analysis of the physicochemical detectability and impacts of offshore CO2 leakage through multi-scale modelling of in-situ experimental data using the PLUME model. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control.