I'm currently doing a 3-year post-doc in the School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences (CeG) at Newcastle University, in the north-east of England. As part of the project, I recently spent 5 months (Sept '10 - Jan '11) working at MIT in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences . It was very interesting and I learnt a lot, mostly about orbit determination but also about Massachusetts winter weather!
Research Interests
My areas of interest and expertise include:
- Non-gravitational effects on GPS satellite orbits
- Higher-order ionospheric effects on GPS
- GPS reference frames and precise long-term GPS timeseries
- GPS data processing and analysis, particularly in relation to vertical rates of ground motion
- Sea-level change (and climate change more generally)
- Vertical reference surfaces - chart datum.
I'm also interested in developing skills (my own and other people's) in scientific computing. In 2011 I was lead organiser for a workshop on 'Effective use of programming in scientific research' - resources from the workshop are here. The workshop led to a seminar series on the same theme which I'm co-organising with another postdoc, Matt Wade. A relevant website I'd recommend is Software Carpentry.
Publications
E.J. Petrie, M. Hernández-Pajares, P. Spalla, P. Moore, M. King (2011), A Review of Higher Order Ionospheric Refraction Effects on Dual Frequency GPS, Surveys in Geophysics: 1-57.
E.J. Petrie, M.A. King, P. Moore, D.A. Lavallée, (2010), A first look at the effects of ionospheric signal bending on a globally processed GPS network, J. Geod 84(8): 491-499. This paper received the IAG Young Author Award 2010 (presented every two years for the best paper in the Journal of Geodesy by a scientist aged 35 or under).
E.J. Petrie, M.A. King, P. Moore, D.A. Lavallée, (2010), Higher-order ionospheric effects on the GPS reference frame and GPS velocities, J. Geophys. Res., doi:10.1029/2009JB006677.
Lavallée, D. A., P. Moore, P. J. Clarke, E. J. Petrie, T. van Dam, M.A. King, (2010). "J2: An evaluation of new estimates from GPS, GRACE, and load models compared to SLR." Geophys. Res. Lett. 37(22): L22403.
Selected conference presentations
AGU 2010, San Francisco
Oral presentations:
E.J. Petrie, M.A. King, P. Moore, D.A. Lavallée. ‘Effects of modelling higher-order ionospheric terms on global GPS solutions'.
D.A. Lavallée, P. Moore, P.J. Clarke, E.J. Petrie, T. Van Dam, M. A. King. ‘J2: an evaluation of new estimates from GPS, GRACE and load models compared to SLR'.
International GNSS Service Workshop 2010, Newcastle upon Tyne
Invited oral presentation: E.J. Petrie, M. Hernandez‐Pajares, M.A. King,
D.A. Lavallée, P. Moore ‘Methods for correcting higher-order ionospheric effects’.
Workshop on Precision Observations of Vertical Land Motion at Tide Gauge 2009, Paris
Invited oral presentation: E.J. Petrie, M.A. King, P. Moore, D.A. Lavallée. ‘Higher-Order Ionospheric Effects on the GPS Reference Frame and GPS velocities’.
EGU 2009, Vienna
Invited oral presentation: E.J. Petrie, M.A. King, P. Moore, D.A. Lavallée. ‘Higher-Order Ionospheric Effects on the GPS Reference Frame and GPS velocities’.
EGU 2008, Vienna
Poster presentation: E.J. Petrie, M.A. King, P. Moore ‘Sea Level Change using Vertical Land Motion from GNSS: Higher-Order Ionospheric Effects’ which received
a Young Scientist Outstanding Poster Paper (YSOPP) Award in the Ocean Science(OS) division (see here for pdf copy of poster and here for description of the award).
Qualifications
- PhD in Satellite Geodesy - Newcastle University, 2006-2010. Thesis title:
"Modelling higher-order ionospheric effects on global GPS solutions" - MSc in Hydrographic Surveying (Distinction) - UCL, 2004-2005. Dissertation:
"Vertical Offshore Datums - Investigating the creation of a mean sea surface".
- BA, MSci Natural Sciences (specialising in geology) 2:1 - University of Cambridge, 1996-2000.
MSci dissertation: "Climate change in the North Atlantic during the last Interglaciation".
See also research interests for more information.
Teaching
As well as the main goal of trying to do original research, I have helped demonstrate on various undergraduate modules at Newcastle, including:
- SVY1007 Quantitative methods for geomatics
- SVY1008 Surveying
- SVY2012 Engineering detailing
- SVY2007 Map projections and Geodetic Datums
- SVY3014 Geohazards and Deformation of the Earth
As ever, I find trying to explain concepts to people makes you keep improving your own understanding of them..
Affiliations
- American Geophysical Union (AGU) member
- Associate of the Higher Education Academy
Employment Experience
A couple of the other things I've been involved in:
- Hydrographic surveying - particularly using multibeam swath equipment. Worked several temporary contracts during 2005-06 including 2 months with the British Antarctic Survey.
- Cementing oil & gas wells - land and offshore. Worked for Schlumberger (oilfield services company) 2000-2003 in various countries.