About me

Tom is Associate Professor in Environmental Geography at the LSE. He teaches on a number of environmental courses, focussing on innovative technology-enhanced experiential learning and field-based education in geography.

He joined the Department in 2018, having previously been a Lecturer at King’s College London. He holds a PhD in Physical Geography from King’s College London and has held Visiting Fellow posts at the National University of Singapore, Monash University Malaysia, University of Wollongong (Australia), and Universiti Brunei Darussalam.

Tom is a geographer and environmental scientist, specialising in interdisciplinary approaches to understanding the role of biomass burning in the Earth system. Tom enjoys highly collaborative research focusing on greenhouse gas and reactive emissions from wildland fires in savannas and tropical peatlands. He is particularly interested in complex interactions between agricultural practices, land degradation, fire emissions characteristics and their associated impacts. Expertise include infrared and VNIR spectroscopy, tropical environmental change, wildfire spread modelling, knowledge exchange, and land management decision support.

Tom enjoys photography; some of his photos are exhibited on his personal website.

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View Dr Thomas Smith’s CV

Thomas was Highly Commended for Research Guidance & Support at the LSESU Student-led Teaching Excellence Awards 2019.

Expertise Details

infrared and VNIR spectroscopy; tropical environmental change; wildfire spread modelling; knowledge exchange

Guérette, E.-A., Paton-Walsh, C., Desservettaz, M., Smith, T. E. L., Volkova, L., Weston, C. J., and Meyer, C. P.: Emissions of trace gases from Australian temperate forest fires: emission factors and dependence on modified combustion efficiency, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 3717-3735, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-3717-2018, 2018.

Smith, T.E.L., Evers, S., Yule, C.M., Gan, J.Y. (2018) In situ tropical peatland fire emission factors and their variability, as determined by field measurements in Peninsula Malaysia. Global Biogeochemical Cycles doi:10.1002/2017gb005709.

Veeraswamy, A., Galea, E.R., Filippidis, L., Lawrence, P.J., Haasanen, S., Gazzard, R.J., Smith, T.E.L. (2018) The simulation of urban-scale evacuation scenarios with application to the Swinley Forest Fire. Safety Science 102: 178–193

Simpson, J.E., Smith, T.E.L., Wooster, M.J. (2017) Assessment of errors caused by forest vegetation structure in airborne LiDAR-derived DTMs. Remote Sensing 9(1), 1101; doi:10.3390/rs9111101

Wijedasa, L.S., Jauhiainen, J., Könönen, M., Lampela, M., Vasander, H., LeBlanc, M.C., Evers, S., Smith, T.E.L., Yule, C.M., Varkkey, H. and Lupascu, M. et al. (2017) Denial of long‐term issues with agriculture on tropical peatlands will have devastating consequences. Global Change Biology 23(3): 977–982.

Simpson, J.E., Wooster, M.J., Smith, T.E.L., Trivedi, M., Vernimmen, R.R.E., Dedi, R., Shakti, M., Dinata, Y. (2016) Tropical peatland burn depth and combustion heterogeneity assessed using UAV Photogrammetry and airborne LiDAR. Remote Sensing 8(12): 1000; doi:10.3390/rs812000

Wooster, M.J., Smith, T.E.L., Drake, N.A. (2016) Remote Sensing and Satellite Earth Observation. In Clifford et al., Key Methods in Geography,Sage, London.

Wilson, D., Dixon, S.D., Artz., R.R.E., Smith, T.E.L., et al. (2015) Derivation of greenhouse gas emission factors for peatlands managed for extraction in the Republic of Ireland and the UK. Biogeosciences12: 5291–5308.

Smith, T.E.L., Paton-Walsh, C., et al. (2014) New emission factors for Australian vegetation fires measured using open-path Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Part 2: Australian tropical savannas. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 14, 5, 6311–6360

Paton-Walsh, C., Smith, T.E.L., et al. (2014) New emission factors for Australian vegetation fires measured using open-path Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Part 1: Methods and Australian temperate forests. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 14, 4, 4327–4381

Kotthaus, S., Smith, T.E.L., Wooster, M.J., and Grimmond, C.S.B. (2014) Application of field spectroscopy to characterise short- and long-wave radiative response of impervious urban materials. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing doi: 10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2014.05.005

Hecker, C., Smith, T.E.L., Ribeiro da Luz, B., Wooster, M.J. TIR Spectroscopy in the laboratory and field in support of land surface remote sensing. In: Kuenzer, C. (Ed.) Thermal Infrared Remote Sensing. Springer, New York.