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Interests: terrestrial-atmosphere exchange of trace gases, atmospheric chemistry and composition, halogen biogeochemistry, stratospheric ozone depletion issues, Arctic change
Humans have modified the chemical composition of the earth’s atmosphere through emissions of radiatively and environmentally active compounds. Consequently, our society faces a triumvirate of interrelated global atmospheric chemistry issues: stratospheric ozone depletion, the enhanced greenhouse effect, and the changing capacity of the atmosphere to oxidize pollutants. The primary players in these atmospheric chemistry problems are the trace gases, which account for only a fraction of a percent of the total atmospheric composition. Our laboratory's research is trace gas biogeochemistry, which involves elucidating the interactions between the atmosphere, biosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere.
My work involves laboratory and field-based measurements in different terrestrial ecosystems, such as coastal salt marsh, chaparral, desert, tundra, boreal forest, grassland, and temperate forest. Our research seeks to identify natural terrestrial sources and sinks of important trace gases, to quantify their fluxes, and to determine the environmental and biological controls on those fluxes. Recent innovations in measurement technology and analytical design have allowed for the precise and accurate analysis of gases at the parts-per-trillion concentration levels, opening up a wealth of research opportunity to study their biogeochemical cycles.
Major questions remain in the global budgets of many trace gases, including the methyl halides (CH3Br, CH3Cl, CH3I), chloroform (CHCl3), nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4), carbonyl sulfide (OCS), and methyl chloroform (CH3CCl3). Understanding their biogeochemical cycles will require controlled laboratory studies, extensive field work, and novel techniques using stable isotope tracers.
If you are interested in conducting graduate or post-doctoral research in atmospheric biogeochemistry, please contact me at: rrhew@atmos.berkeley.edu.
Recent publications include:
Rhew, R. C., Y. A. Teh, and T. Abel, Methyl halide and methane fluxes in the northern Alaskan coastal tundra, Journal of Geophysical Research, 112, G02009, doi:10.1029/2006JG000314 (2007).
Rhew, R. C., L. Østergaard, E. S. Saltzman, and M. F. Yanofsky, Genetic control of methyl halide production in Arabidopsis, Current Biology, Vol. 13, 1809-1813 (2003).
Rhew, R.C., M. Aydin, and E.S. Saltzman, Measuring terrestrial fluxes of methyl chloride and methyl bromide using a stable isotope tracer technique, Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 30, no. 21, 2103, doi: 10.1029/2003GL018160, (Nov. 7, 2003)..
Rhew, R. C., B. R. Miller, M. Bill, A. H. Goldstein, and R. F. Weiss, Environmental and biological controls on methyl halide emissions from southern California coastal salt marshes, Biogeochemistry, Vol. 60, 141-161 (2002).
Bill, M., R. C. Rhew, R. F. Weiss, and A. H. Goldstein, Carbon isotopic ratios of methyl bromide and methyl chloride emitted from a coastal salt marsh, Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 29 (4), 10.1029/2001GL012946 (2002).
Rhew, R. C., B. R. Miller, M. K. Vollmer, and R. F. Weiss, Shrubland fluxes of methyl bromide and methyl chloride, Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 106, 20,875-20,882 (2001).
Rhew, R. C., B. R. Miller, and R. F. Weiss, Natural methyl bromide and methyl chloride emissions from coastal salt marshes, Nature, Vol. 403, 292-295 (2000).
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