Jennie L. Thomas, PhD

Atmospheric chemistry in the polar regions

Jennie L. Thomas, PhD

CNRS Senior Researcher · Institut des Géosciences de l'Environnement (IGE), Université Grenoble Alpes

I develop and use atmospheric models, including WRF-Chem-Polar for the polar regions and a microplastics-enabled GEOS-Chem, to understand atmospheric chemistry, air quality and their links to climate change, with a focus on the coupled ocean–sea ice–snow–atmosphere system.

About

I am a CNRS Senior Researcher at the Institut des Géosciences de l'Environnement (IGE) in Grenoble, France. My research focuses on using modeling to understand and describe atmospheric chemistry, air quality, and links to climate change.

My current modeling tools are WRF-Chem-Polar, a regional chemistry-climate model enhanced for the polar regions, and a microplastics-enabled version of the global GEOS-Chem model. Earlier work used 1D chemistry-transport models, 3D regional chemical transport models, meteorological models and Lagrangian particle dispersion models, with a primary focus on atmospheric chemistry in the polar regions of the Earth.

My current work examines halogen and mercury chemistry over snow and ice, marine aerosols and their interactions with Arctic clouds, and how polar processes feed back on the global climate system.

I coordinate CERTAINTY, a Horizon Europe project on aerosol–cloud interactions, and co-lead the OPERA group, my team at IGE for open computational earth and climate science.

Research interests

❄Polar atmospheric chemistry

Snow, sea ice and the ocean exchange halogens, mercury and nitrogen with the atmosphere. I study how these interactions drive ozone depletion events, mercury deposition and the oxidative capacity of the polar boundary layer.

☁Aerosols, clouds & climate

Marine aerosols from leads, open ocean and biogenic sulfur cycling shape Arctic cloud properties. I quantify how aerosol–cloud interactions affect polar amplification and near-term climate projections.

⚖Air quality in cold environments

From Arctic shipping and petroleum extraction to home heating in Fairbanks, I model how emissions, stable boundary layers and snow interact to trap air pollution near the surface in cold regions.

💻Open & reproducible science

I develop my models in the open: WRF-Chem-Polar and a microplastics-enabled GEOS-Chem are released as open-source code with open data, and I co-lead a research group dedicated to open computational earth science.

Short Curriculum Vitae

  1. B.S. in Chemistry University of Washington
  2. Senior Consultant Ernst & Young
  3. Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry University of California, Irvine Modeling of atmospherically relevant aqueous interfaces
  4. Postdoctoral Researcher University of California, Los Angeles
  5. AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow U.S. National Science Foundation, Directorate for Geosciences
  6. Postdoctoral Researcher, then CNRS Researcher Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS), Paris
  7. CNRS Senior ResearcherPresent Institut des Géosciences de l'Environnement (IGE), Grenoble Co-leader of the OPERA research group