Sam Poxon

Sam is a postgraduate researcher in the Geography and Environment department at Loughborough University. He holds an MSc in Environmental Monitoring for Management from Loughborough University and a BA in Geography from the University of Plymouth. Prior to starting his PhD, Sam worked as a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analyst, working in the private and public sector.

Research Interests: Dust, Remote Sensing, Aeolian Geomorphology, GIS.

Supervisors: Dr Matthew Baddock and Professor Joanna Bullard

There is wide recognition of the influential role that mineral dust and aeolian processes have within the Earth system, creating and modifying relationships between the atmosphere, the cryosphere, the ocean, and terrestrial environments. Much of what is known about the characteristics and behaviour of dust has been discovered in well-known hotspots across the mid- to low- latitudes, and remote sensing has been pivotal to this understanding. However, dust activity in the high latitude regions (≥50°N and ≥40°S) and their cold environments has only recently started to be appreciated.

This recognition of high latitude dust is acute because dust generation here may have regionally significant impacts on sensitive environmental and ecological systems. A number of challenges has meant the full potential of using remote sensing to better understand dust processes at the high latitudes has not yet been realised.

Sam’s PhD will aim to utilise a diverse range of earth observation techniques and remote sensing data and apply them to examine dust activity at different temporal and spatial scales in a global study of the high latitude regions.