Dr David McKee

Reader

Physics

Contact

Personal statement

The oceans play a hugely important role in the global carbon cycle and in energy transport mechanisms that influence world climate. Monitoring the oceans is difficult due to the vast areas involved, the harsh environmental conditions and the rapid temporal variability of marine biogeochemical systems. The aim of my work is to use and improve optical measurements and modelling to better understand marine systems.

My work covers size scales from single particles using flow cytometry and microscopy imaging, through bulk optical properties measured using in situ sensors, to basin scale observations using satellite sensors. I combine making measurements at sea and in the lab with radiative transfer modelling to develop new ways to extract useful information about biogeochemical processes happening in the ocean. I am particularly interested in optically complex waters where standard algorithms and approaches struggle, but which are often the places where the need for quality information is greatest.

The vast majority of my work involves collaborations with others and is inherently multi-disciplinary. I have developed a network of partners across the UK and internationally, and across a number of academic disciplines. My aim is to provide information that others can understand and successfully use to achieve better outcomes across a wide range of areas in academia, industry and society.

Back to staff profile

Publications

Determination of zooplankton absorption spectra and their potential contribution to ocean color
McCarry Cait L, Basedow Sünnje L, Davies Emlyn J, Last Kim S, McKee David
Optics Express Vol 32, pp. 41314-41334 (2024)
https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.537062
Calibration verification of an underwater hyperspectral imaging push broom instrument to measure light in absolute units and field demonstration
Schartmüller Bernhard, McKee David, Berge Jørgen, Johnsen Geir
Applied Optics Vol 63, pp. 7200-7211 (2024)
https://doi.org/10.1364/ao.532003
Monopile-induced turbulence and sediment redistribution form visible wakes in offshore wind farms
Bailey Lewis P, Dorrell Robert M, Kostakis Ina, Mckee David, Parsons Dan, Rees Jon, Strong James, Simmons Stephen, Forster Rodney
Frontiers in Earth Science Vol 12 (2024)
https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2024.1383726
High uptake of sympagic organic matter by benthos on an Arctic outflow shelf
Cautain Ivan J, Last Kim S, Bluhm Bodil A, Renaud Paul E, McKee David, Narayanaswamy Bhavani E
PLOS One Vol 19 (2024)
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0308562
Optical constituent concentrations and uncertainties obtained for Case 1 and 2 waters from a spectral deconvolution model applied to in situ IOPs and radiometry
Lo Prejato M, McKee D
Earth and Space Science Vol 10 (2023)
https://doi.org/10.1029/2022ea002815
Spectral and RGB analysis of the light climate and its ecological impacts using an all-sky camera system in the Arctic
Grant Stephen, Johnsen Geir, McKee David, Zolich Artur, Cohen Jonathan H
Applied Optics Vol 62, pp. 5139-5150 (2023)
https://doi.org/10.1364/ao.480454

More publications

Back to staff profile

Research Interests

 

Current research areas include:

  • Developing ocean colour algorithms for optically complex waters.
  • Quantifying zooplankton abundance from space.
  • Measuring and modelling light fields in the Arctic.
  • Measuring the impact of artificial light at night (ALAN) in the marine environment.
  • Developing advanced underwater sensing capabilities.

Professional Activities

Light in dark places: the impact of ship lights on animal behaviour during polar night
Speaker
6/10/2024
GlobalHAB/EuroMarine Workshop on Modelling and Prediction of Harmful Algal Blooms
Organiser
1/9/2019
Invited Talk
Contributor
1/2016
NEODAAS (External organisation)
Member
6/2015
NERC Field Spectroscopy Facility (External organisation)
Member
5/2015
Invited Talk
Contributor
3/2015

More professional activities

Projects

The impact of artificial light on arctic marine organisms and ecosystems during the polar night (Deep Impact) | Wallace, Ruairidh
McKee, David (Principal Investigator) Patton, Brian (Co-investigator) Wallace, Ruairidh (Research Co-investigator)
01-Jan-2024 - 01-Jan-2027
Optimisation of the Kongsfjorden Rijpfjorden Observatory Program
McKee, David (Principal Investigator)
01-Jan-2024 - 31-Dec-2026
Coccolithophore controls on ocean alkalinity (CHALKY)
McKee, David (Principal Investigator)
01-Nov-2023 - 31-Oct-2026
Assessing potential to remotely observe micro-jellyfish swarms through measurement of absorption characteristics
McKee, David (Principal Investigator)
01-Oct-2023 - 31-Dec-2023
SAfe Passage through Shifting Sands
Macdonald, Malcolm (Principal Investigator) Clemente, Carmine (Co-investigator) McKee, David (Co-investigator) Tachtatzis, Christos (Co-investigator) Clark, Ruaridh (Research Co-investigator) Werkmeister, Astrid (Researcher)
01-Jan-2023 - 31-Jul-2024
A roadmap for implementing the SDGs using space data
White, Chris (Principal Investigator) Morse, Tracy (Co-investigator) Sindico, Francesco (Co-investigator) Vasile, Massimiliano (Co-investigator) McKee, David (Co-investigator)
Space data offers high-resolution, real-time, global scale earth observation and monitoring of our planet. Over half of the Essential Climate Variables (ECV) can only be measured from space, spanning the oceanic, atmospheric and terrestrial elements of the earth climate system. As well as supporting long term climate monitoring and modelling of impacts and change, space data offers a unique opportunity to support global efforts in reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These include observing global changes over different time scales such as rising sea levels, the quantification of our global carbon footprint, and the accounting of natural capital. Climate change is also increasing the frequency and severity of natural disasters which impact our most vulnerable populations, economies and environments. Space-based assets can support impact-based early-warning forecasts and real-time monitoring solutions to prepare for and respond to natural disasters such as floods, wildfires, and cyclones, as well as contributing to event attribution analyses that can enable relating causes to impacts.
Achieving the SDGs, and harnessing the potential of space data in a changing climate is beyond the reach of any single individual or institution. At Strathclyde, while we are well placed to service the Scottish government's needs on sustainable development, we do not fully understand where our cross-disciplinary expertise lies with regards to both sustainable development and the use of space data. The ambitions of the SDGs call for coordination and collective efforts from across disciplines and institutions. It is therefore critical that Strathclyde’s researchers and thinkers are able to come together in a common SDG vision through a detailed ‘roadmap’ to guide (and collaborate with) the Space Cluster and other external partners in how space data can be used to support sustainable development and the implementation of the SDGs.
The objectives of this project are to:
1.Review the SDGs and global space ECV data, including availability, accessibility, uncertainties and usability, based on existing publications and resources
2.Explore Strathclyde’s cross-disciplinary sustainability and space expertise, supported by the Space Cluster, the CfSD and SCELG, and map Strathclyde’s sustainability and space expertise to the SDGs
3.Review earth observation and space-related sustainable development expertise across the UK
4. Create a ‘roadmap’ for Strathclyde’s Space Cluster, identifying challenges, knowledge gaps and opportunities for external partnerships towards the implementation of the SDGs using space data

TIC Zone Ideas Fund (Strathclyde) (£11,653)
01-Jan-2021 - 31-Dec-2022

More projects

Back to staff profile

Contact

Dr David McKee
Reader
Physics

Email: david.mckee@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 548 3068