Professor Jerry Blackford

Professor Jerry Blackford

Head of Science: Marine Systems Modelling

jcb2024-09-18@pml.ac.uk    |     +44 (0)1752 633100 (switchboard)

Jerry is a band 4 merit scientist with a 32 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.

Key Projects

  • OCEAN ICU Improving the predictability of global carbon cycles
  • ACTOM Developing Decision Support Tolls for Offshore CCS monitoring
  • PreACT Pressure management of Carbon Storage
  • NOWMAPS (1/2/3) Operational modelling for the UK
  • CLASS Developing optimal marine system models
  • TerraFirma Global impacts of climate change
  • MOET Managing the Offshore Energy Transition
  • STEMM-CCS Operational monitoring for offshore storage, Horizon 2020

Selected Publications

  • Blackford, J., Stahl, H., Bull, J., et al., (2014). Detection and impacts of leakage from sub-seafloor deep geological carbon dioxide storage. Nature Climate Change, 4(11), 1011-1016. (131)
  • Flynn, K., Blackford, J., Baird, M., … (2012). Changes in pH at the exterior surface of plankton with ocean acidification. Nature Climate Change, 2(7), 510-513. (138)
  • Rose, K., Allen, J., Artioli, Y., Barange, M., Blackford, J., …. (2010). End-To-End Models for the Analysis of Marine Ecosystems: Challenges, Issues, and Next Steps. Marine and Coastal Fisheries, 2(1), 115-130. (191)
  • Clark, J.R., Cole, M., Lindeque, P.K., Fileman, E., Blackford, J., Lewis, C., Lenton, T.M. and Galloway, T.S. (2016) Marine microplastic debris: a targeted plan for understanding and quantifying interactions with marine life. Front Ecol Environ 14, 317-324. (119)
  • Butenschoen, M., …. Blackford, J., et al., (2016) ERSEM 15.06: a generic model for marine biogeochemistry and the ecosystem dynamics of the lower trophic levels. Geosci Model Dev 9, 1293-1339. (143)
  • Blackford, J., & Gilbert, F. (2007). pH variability and CO2 induced acidification in the North Sea. Journal of Marine Systems, 64, 229-241. (143)