A team of Earth scientists at the University of Portsmouth has been awarded £950,000 to buy and install an integrated femtosecond laser ablation and laser induced breakdown spectroscopy system to study and better understand environmental pollution.
Funding was awarded by the UK’s leading funder of environmental science, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Professor Craig Storey, in the University’s School of the Environment, Geography and Geosciences, led the bid.
He said: “This instrument will provide a step change in environmental research capability. It’s the only one of its kind across the UK and Europe and opens the possibility of stealing a march in the study of how the planet works. This new instrument opens a window, giving us the ability with pinpoint accuracy to analyse a vast range of materials and elements to provide high quality data critical for addressing geo-environmental problems.”
The proposed facility will be housed at the University of Portsmouth and open for use by the UK scientific community.
