I am interested in the response of terrestrial ecosystems to agricultural activities and the capacity of these landscapes to serve as mitigation tool against climate change. My research focuses on how management practices and their associated greenhouse gas emissions can influence the capacity for managed pastures to store carbon over long periods of time. My research incorporates micrometeorological techniques such as eddy covariance, as well as field scale soil sampling campaigns and process based biogeochemical models.
I am predominately working on the eddy covariance flux data from the DAFM funded National Agricultural Soil Carbon Observatory (NASCO), a network of 28 eddy covariance flux towers on mineral, oragno-mineral and peat soils. The NASCO platform quantifies fluxes of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane over different land-uses (grassland, cropland, peatland etc.) and agricultural systems (dairy, beef, sheep and arable). The principal aim of my work is to utilize the NASCO flux data to help refine the national greenhouse gas inventory for carbon emissions from agricultural soils. Other projects I am currently involved in include:
CALMS – Carbon sequestration from Agricultural soils from different Land-uses, Managements and Soil types (Project Coordinator)
MAPSER-C (NZ-IRE) – Modelling and measuring agricultural management on peat soils to enhance removals and sequestration of carbon
Carbosol – Quantification of the impact of agricultural management on the carbon balance from organic and organo-mineral soils.
GRADIENT – Assessing the role of multi species Grassland Swards on Climate Mitigation, water quality and productivity in Ireland.
Dr. Murphy’s publications on Google Scholar
Murphy, R., Lanigan, G., Martin, D. & Cowan, N. 2023. Carbon monoxide fluxes measured using the eddy covariance method from an intensively managed grassland in Ireland. Environmental Science: Atmospheres, 3, 1834-1846.
Murphy, R. M., Saunders, M., Richards, K. G., Krol, D. J., Gebremichael, A. W., Rambaud, J., Cowan, N. & Lanigan, G. J. 2022b. Nitrous oxide emission factors from an intensively grazed temperate grassland: A comparison of cumulative emissions determined by eddy covariance and static chamber methods. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 324, 107725.
Murphy, R. M., Richards, K. G., Krol, D. J., Gebremichael, A. W., Lopez-Sangil, L., Rambaud, J., Cowan, N., Lanigan, G. J. & Saunders, M. 2022a. Assessing nitrous oxide emissions in time and space with minimal uncertainty using static chambers and eddy covariance from a temperate grassland. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 313, 108743.
Cowan, N., Maire, J., Krol, D., Cloy, J. M., Hargreaves, P., Murphy, R., Carswell, A., Jones, S. K., Hinton, N. & Anderson, M. 2021. Agricultural soils: A sink or source of methane across the British Isles? European Journal of Soil Science, 72, 1842-1862
Conference proceedings
Bondi, G. Murphy, R. Lanigan, G.L. Richards, K. (2024) Carbon sequestration – a question of scale. In Counting Carbon Science and Practice Conference Proceedings (p 10-13)
Murphy, R. Lanigan, G. Richards, K. Rambaud, J. O’Dwyer, T. Gleasure, G. Bondi, G. (2024). Counting carbon on mineral soils. In Counting Carbon Science and Practice Conference Proceedings (p 14-17)
Saunders, M. Premrov, A. Renou-Wilson, F. Clancy, I. Murphy, R. Connolly, J. Gilet, L. Habib, W. Fenton, O. Tuohy, P. Wilson, D. (2024). Counting carbon on agricultural peat soils. In Counting Carbon Science and Practice Conference Proceedings (p. 18-21)
Murphy, R., Lanigan, G., Richards, K., Krol, D., Gebremichael, A., Maire, J., Cowan, N., Wall, A., Schipper, L. A. & Rambaud, J.( 2023) The carbon and net greenhouse gas balance of an intensively managed Irish temperate grassland at the field scale. AGU23.
Amanuel W. Gebremichael, Rachael Murphy, Matthew Saunders , Karl Richards , Gary Lanigan (2022) Assessment of mitigation options in agricultural grassland for carbon and nitrogen emissions using the DNDC model. In ICOS Book of Abstracts (p 143).
Rachael Murphy, Karl Richards , Dominika Krol , Amanuel Gebremichael , Luis Lopez-Sangil , James Rambaud , Gary Lanigan , Matthew Saunders (2022) Assessing nitrous oxide emissions in time and space with minimal uncertainty using static chambers and eddy covariance from a temperate grassland. In ICOS Book of Abstracts (p 140).
Murphy, R.M. Lanigan G.J. Richards, K.G. Krol, D. K. Gebremichael, A. W. Rambaud, J. Maire, J. Cowan, N. and Saunders, M. 2021, December. The net nitrogen, carbon and greenhouse gas budget of an intensively managed temperate grassland system at the field scale. In IFS Book of Abstracts (p. 19)
Murphy, R. M., Saunders, M., Richards, K. G., Krol, D. J., Gebremichael, A. W., Rambaud, J., Cowan, N. & Lanigan, G. J. 2021, December. Nitrous oxide emissions from a grazed grassland: using eddy covariance and static chambers in tandem. In IFS Book of Abstracts (p. 18)
Murphy, R. M., Richards, K. G., Krol, D. J., Gebremichael, A. W., Lopez-sangil, L., Rambaud, J., Cowan, N., Lanigan, G. J. & Saunders, M. 2021, April. Quantifying nitrous oxide emissions in space and time using static chambers and eddy covariance from a temperate grassland In EGU General Assembly Conference
Murphy, R. M., Richards, K. G., Krol, D. J., Gebremichael, A. W., Lopez-sangil, L., Rambaud, J., Cowan, N., Lanigan, G. J. & Saunders, M. 2020, November. Eddy covariance and static chamber nitrous oxide emissions from grassland silage production. In ISCRAES Book of Abstracts (p.36).
Murphy, R. M., Richards, K. G., Krol, D. J., Gebremichael, A. W., Lopez-sangil, L., Girken, N. Lanigan, G. J. & Saunders, M. 2019, March. Spatial and Temporal Integration of Nitrous Oxide Emissions from Fertilized Grassland Ecosystems In DASIM Tracing Denitrification.
