Dr Matthew Baddock

PhD (Leicester)

  • Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography

Academic Career

  • 2021- Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography, Loughborough University
  • 2014-21: Lecturer in Physical Geography, Loughborough University
  • 2012-14: Research Fellow, Griffith University, Australia
  • 2010-2011: Post-Doctoral Research Associate, University of Virginia, USA
  • 2008-2010: Post-Doctoral Research Associate, United States Department of Agriculture, Wind Erosion and Water Conservation Research Unit, Lubbock, Texas, USA.
  • 2006-2008: Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Loughborough University

Matthew is an aeolian geomorphologist with interests in the Earth’s surface processes and landforms that are associated with the work of the wind. His research investigates the transport of sediment within different environmental systems and he studies this using a range of approaches including remote sensing and geospatial analysis, together with field-based measurement.

His work currently concentrates on two different themes. To understand the variability of mineral aerosol emissions into the atmosphere he is engaged in the characterisation of sources and environmental drivers of dust and wind erosion in both low and high latitude regions. In the high latitudes, his research is helping to drive the emerging recognition of the role played by the dust cycle in those environments. His second area of focus covers the processes governing the initiation of sand dunes and the fundamental interactions between airflow and sand transport that control how dune bedforms evolve. Matthew has conducted fieldwork on different aeolian systems across four continents.

Matthew’s teaching covers a range of physical geography, but especially geomorphology and the processes and landforms related to the transport of sediment by wind. He also specialises in teaching Geographical Information Systems and satellite remote sensing as tools for monitoring the changing Earth.   

  • Sam Poxon: “Multi-scale environmental remote sensing for understanding dust in the high latitudes”
  • Alex Hall: "Arctic dust from above and below: estimating the unseen contributions of northern high latitude dust sources"

Selected Publications

  • Baddock, M., Hall, A., Rideout, J., Bryant, R., Bullard, J. and Gassó, S. (2024) Satellite observations of Arctic blowing dust events >82°N. Weather. doi:10.1002/wea.7617
  • Bullard, J.E., Prater, C., Baddock, M.C., and Anderson, N.J. (2023) Diurnal and seasonal source-proximal dust concentrations in complex terrain, West Greenland. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 48, 2808-2827. doi: 10.1002/esp.5661
  • Delorme, P., Nield, J.M., Wiggs, G.F.S., Baddock, M.C., Bristow, N.R., Best, J., Christensen, K.T., and Claudin, P. (2023) Field evidence for the initiation of isolated aeolian sand patches. Geophysical Research Letters, 50: e2022GL101553. doi: 10.1029/2022GL101553
  • Wiggs, G.F.S., Baddock, M.C., Thomas, D.S.G., Washington, R., Nield, J.M., Engelstaedter, S., Eckardt, F.D., Bryant, R.G., von Holdt, J.R.C., and Kötting, S. (2022) Quantifying mechanisms of aeolian dust emission: field measurements at Etosha Pan, Namibia. Journal of Geophysical Research-Earth Surface, 127: e2022JF006675. doi: 10.1029/2022JF006675
  • Hennen, M., Chappell, A., Edwards, B.L., Faist, A.M., Kandakji, T., Baddock, M.C., Wheeler, B., Tyree, G., Treminio, R. and Webb, N.P. (2022) A North American dust emission climatology (2001–2020) calibrated to dust point sources from satellite observations. Aeolian Research, 54: 100766. doi:10.1016/j.aeolia.2021.100766
  • Baddock, M.C., Bryant, R.G., Dominguez Acosta, M. and Gill, T.E. (2021) Understanding dust sources through remote sensing: Making a case for CubeSats. Journal of Arid Environments, 184: 104335. doi:10.1016/j.jaridenv.2020.104335
  • Nield, J.M., Wiggs, G.F.S., Baddock, M.C. and Hipondoka, M.H.T. (2017) Coupling leeside grainfall to avalanche characteristics in aeolian dune dynamics. Geology, 45: 271-274. doi: 10.1130/G38800.1
  • Baddock, M.C., Ginoux, P., Bullard, J.E. and Gill, T.E. (2016) Do MODIS-defined dust sources have a geomorphological signature? Geophysical Research Letters, 43: 2606-2613. doi: 10.1002/2015GL067327