Projects per year
Personal profile
Research interests
Profile
Prof Mitchell has a BSc in Physics and Astronomy and a PhD in Atmospheric Physics from The University of Sheffield and worked at The University of Wales Aberystwyth before joining The University of Bath in 2002.
He is an Honorary Researcher at the British Antarctic Survey, an emeritus professor in Electronic and Electrical Engineering at Bath, and a member and former Director of Bath’s Centre for Space, Atmospheric and Oceanic Science.
Research
Prof Mitchell researches the physical processes that are critical in coupling the different layers of the Earth’s atmosphere. Understanding the nature of these processes is essential in developing the new generation of whole-atmosphere computer Global Circulation Models models (GCMs) for climate research and numerical weather prediction. He is particularly interested in experimental work to determine the role of gravity waves, tides and planetary waves that couple the stratosphere and mesosphere to the thermosphere/ionosphere above and to the troposphere below. Measurements are made by satellites, radars and other techniques to determine the fluxes and variability of these waves and tides on time scales from as short as the day-to-day up to the decadal timescales associated with climate change and the solar cycle.
A strong focus of his recent work is studies of the winds, waves and tides of the atmosphere at latitudes near 60 S, where modern computer models suffer their most significant, long-standing and perplexing biases - collectively known as the “cold pole problem”. Prof Mitchell and his colleagues are addressing this problem by measuring the fluxes of waves generated by winds blowing over the mountains of the Southern Andes, the island of South Georgia and the Antarctic Peninsula and by sources over the open Southern Ocean. They are investigating how these waves couple the atmosphere to heights of 100 km, effectively the edge of space.
Prof Mitchell was PI on the first permanently sited meteor radars deployed in both the Arctic and Antarctic and has been PI of radars deployed on Ascension Island and on the remote, isolated mountainous island of South Georgia. The radar measurements are complemented by satellite observations made by instruments including NASA’s MLS and AIRS and the COSMIC constellation. There is strong research collaboration with The British Antarctic Survey and with leading international groups in Europe, the US, Australia and Japan.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Projects
- 9 Finished
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Planetary and Gravity Waves as Drivers of Sudden Stratospheric Warmings
Wright, C. (PI) & Mitchell, N. (CoI)
Natural Environment Research Council
1/07/19 → 31/03/23
Project: Research council
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DRAGON-WEX: The Drake Passage and Southern Ocean Wave Experiment
Mitchell, N. (PI), Wright, C. (CoI) & Hindley, N. (Researcher)
Natural Environment Research Council
21/10/17 → 20/10/20
Project: Research council
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The South Georgia Wave Experiment
Mitchell, N. (PI)
4/09/17 → 20/10/17
Project: Central government, health and local authorities
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The South Georgia Wave Experiment (SG-WEX)
Mitchell, N. (PI)
Natural Environment Research Council
2/12/13 → 1/12/16
Project: Research council
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Wave Dynamics of the Mesosphere
Mitchell, N. (PI)
Natural Environment Research Council
17/05/10 → 16/05/13
Project: Research council
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Gravity waves generated by the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha′apai volcanic eruption and their global propagation in the mesosphere/lower thermosphere observed by meteor radars and modeled with the High-Altitude general Mechanistic Circulation Model
Stober, G., Vadas, S. L., Becker, E., Liu, A., Kozlovsky, A., Janches, D., Qiao, Z., Krochin, W., Shi, G., Yi, W., Zeng, J., Brown, P., Vida, D., Hindley, N., Jacobi, C., Murphy, D., Buriti, R., Andrioli, V., Batista, P. & Marino, J. & 12 others, , 24 Apr 2024, In: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. 24, 8, p. 4851-4873 23 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access4 Citations (SciVal) -
Interannual variability of winds in the Antarctic mesosphere and lower thermosphere over Rothera (67°S, 68°W) during 2005-2021 in meteor radar observations and WACCM-X
Noble, P. E., Hindley, N. P., Wright, C. J., Cullens, C. Y., Pedatella, N., England, S., Mitchell, N. J. & Moffat-Griffin, T., 28 Feb 2024, In: Journal of Geophysical Research : Atmospheres. 129, 4, e2023JD039789.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Long-Term Variability and Tendencies in Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere Winds From Meteor Radar Observations Over Esrange (67.9°N, 21.1°E)
Ramesh, K., Mitchell, N. J., Hindley, N. P. & Moffat-Griffin, T., 16 Apr 2024, In: Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. 129, 7, e2023JD040404.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Seasonal and Local Time Variation in the Observed Peak of the Meteor Altitude Distributions by Meteor Radars
Dawkins, E. C. M., Janches, D., Stober, G., Carrillo-Sánchez, J. D., Lieberman, R. S., Jacobi, C., Moffat-Griffin, T., Mitchell, N. J., Cobbett, N., Batista, P. P., Andrioli, V. F., Buriti, R. A., Murphy, D. J., Kero, J., Gulbrandsen, N., Tsutsumi, M., Kozlovsky, A., Lester, M., Kim, J. H. & Lee, C. & 7 others, , 16 Nov 2024, In: Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. 129, 21, e2024JD040978.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Identifying gravity waves launched by the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha′apai volcanic eruption in mesosphere/lower-Thermosphere winds derived from CONDOR and the Nordic Meteor Radar Cluster
Stober, G., Liu, A., Kozlovsky, A., Qiao, Z., Krochin, W., Shi, G., Kero, J., Tsutsumi, M., Gulbrandsen, N., Nozawa, S., Lester, M., Baumgarten, K., Belova, E. & Mitchell, N., 18 Apr 2023, In: Annales Geophysicae. 41, 1, p. 197-208 12 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access10 Citations (SciVal)