People > Dr Rachael Beale

Dr Rachael Beale

Senior Analytical Marine Chemist



Contact Details

+44 (0)1752 633100 (switchboard)

rbea18/12/2018 10:26:36@pml.ac.uk

Dr Rachael Beale is a Senior Marine Analytical Chemist and has worked at PML since 2006. Rachael has a keen interest in marine trace gases and their atmospheric interaction, gas exchange processes and photochemical enhancement in the sea surface. Her expertise is method development with a wide variety of analytical instrumentation including proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry (PTR/MS), gas and liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry and sample preparation (purge and trap, equilibration, filtration, water minimisation). Rachael has made significant progress into the research of marine oxygenated volatile organic compounds (OVOCs) through the development and optimisation of a membrane inlet system coupled to a PTR/MS enabling quantification of the fist seasonal cycle of OVOCs in coastal waters. Rachael has also published the first ever measurements of ethanol and propanol in seawater. 

Rachael is currently involved with the first seasonal cycle of nitrogenous osmolytes in surface seawater, a method she helped develop at PML using liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. 

Rachael has taken part in 4 research cruises (DOGEE I & II, ICON and AMT19) measuring OVOCs and was also involved with the use of SF6 and 3He as Lagrangian tracers.

In addition to research, Rachael is the Chemical Health & Safety Advisor for PML and sits on the H&S committee. Her current role is writing new policies and updating documentation to improve the overall H&S effectiveness within PML.

Rachael manages PMLs first laboratory-based apprenticeship (funded through the Lloyds Register Foundation) and is currently supervising three PhD students. 

Projects

Bacterial DMS

Is bacterial DMS consumption dependent on methylamines in marine waters?

Contact: Dr Joanna L Dixon

Dimethylsulfide (DMS) is a key ingredient in the cocktail of gases that makes up the 'smell of the sea'. Around 300 million tons of DMS are...

A multidisciplinary study of DMSP production and lysis

A multidisciplinary study of DMSP production and lysis - from enzymes to organisms to process modelling

Contact: Dr Ruth Airs

A billion tonnes of the dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) is made each year by marine phytoplankton, seaweeds, corals, coastal plants and marine...

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Recent publications

  • Dall’Osto, M; Ovadnevaite, J; Paglione, M; Beddows, DCS; Ceburnis, D; Cree, C; Cortés, P; Zamanillo, M; Nunes, SO; Pérez, GL; Ortega-Retuerta, E; Emelianov, M; Vaqué, D; Marrasé, C; Estrada, M; Sala, MM; Vidal, M; Fitzsimons, MF; Beale, R; Airs, RL; Rinaldi, M; Decesari, S; Cristina Facchini, M; Harrison, RM; O’Dowd, C; Simó, R. 2017 Antarctic sea ice region as a source of biogenic organic nitrogen in aerosols. Scientific Reports, 7 (1). 10.1038/s41598-017-06188-x
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  • Sabbaghzadeh, B; Upstill-Goddard, RC; Beale, R; Pereira, R; Nightingale, PD. 2017 The Atlantic Ocean surface microlayer from 50°N to 50°S is ubiquitously enriched in surfactants at wind speeds up to 13 m s−1. Geophysical Research Letters, 44. 7, pp. 10.1002/2017GL072988
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  • Beale, R; Airs, RL. 2016 Quantification of glycine betaine, choline and trimethylamine N-oxide in seawater particulates: Minimisation of seawater associated ion suppression. Analytica Chimica Acta, 938. 10.1016/j.aca.2016.07.016
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  • Yang, M ; Beale, R; Smyth, TJ; Blomquist, BW. 2013 Vertical fluxes and atmospheric cycling of methanol, acetaldehyde, and acetone in a coastal environment. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions, 13 (3). 8101-8152. 10.5194/acpd-13-8101-2013
    View publication

  • Beale, R; Dixon, JL ; Smyth, TJ; Nightingale, PD. 2015 Annual study of oxygenated volatile organic compounds in UK shelf waters. Marine Chemistry, 171. 96-106. 10.1016/j.marchem.2015.02.013
    View publication

  • Yang, M ; Beale, R; Liss, PS; Johnson, M; Blomquist, BW; Nightingale, PD. 2014 Air–sea fluxes of oxygenated volatile organic compounds across the Atlantic Ocean. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 14 (14). 7499-7517. 10.5194/acp-14-7499-2014
    View publication

View more publications

Selected key publications

Beale, R; Johnson, MT; Liss, PS; Nightingale, PD. 2014 Air-Sea Exchange of Marine Trace Gases. In: Treatise on Geochemistry. Elsevier Ltd., Chapter 8.3, 53-92, 40pp.

Beale, R., P. S. Liss, J. L. Dixon, P. D. Nightingale (2011), Quantification of oxygenated volatile organic compounds in seawater by membrane inlet - proton transfer reaction / mass spectrometry, Anal. Chim. Acta., 706, 128-134.

Yang, M., R. Beale, T. Smyth and B. Blomquist (2013), Measurements of OVOC fluxes by eddy covariance using a proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometer – method development at a coastal site, Atmospheric Chemistry and  Physics, 13, 6165-6184, doi: 10.5194/acp-13-6165-2013.

Dixon, J., R. Beale and P. Nightingale (2013), Production of methanol, acetaldehyde and acetone in the Atlantic Ocean, Geophysical Research Letters, 40, 4700-4705. doi: 10.1002/grl.50922.

Carpenter, L. J., S. D. Archer and R. Beale (2012), Ocean-atmosphere trace gas exchange, Chem. Soc. Rev., 41(19), 6473-6506. Doi: 10.1039/c2cs35121h.

Beale, R., P. S. Liss, P. D. Nightingale (2010), First oceanic measurements of ethanol and propanol, Geophys. Res. Lett. 37, L24607.
 

Other activities

Member of the PML Health and Safety Committee