Dr. Raymond Desjardins

Image Raymond Desjardins
Research Scientist

Atmospheric scientist (Air quality)

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Ottawa Research and Development Centre

Current research and/or projects

C-PI  Sustainability metric projects: 1) Quantifying water use efficiency of crops 2) Regional methane emission estimates 3) Radiative forcing due to land use change 4) Mesoscale and turbulent transfer.

Research and/or project statements

As an expert in micrometeorology he developed techniques to quantify mass and energy exchange using tower and aircraft-based systems as well as techniques to quantify greenhouse gas emissions from point sources. He works with national and international teams in quantifying the role of the major terrestrial ecosystems on climate as well as the role of climate change on these ecosystems. He used aircraft-based flux measuring techniques to verify agriculture greenhouse gas inventory of methane and nitrous oxide at a regional scale. Some of my recent research is focused on improving estimates of the carbon footprint of agricultural products and helping Canadian farmers compete on the international markets. He co-edited and co-authored two books: “Health of our Air” and “Better Farming Better Air” which shed light on how efficient farming can improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Professional activities / interests

  • Program Leader of Greenhouse Gas Initiative Central Region (1991-97)
  • Principal investigator on a government funded project on climate change to develop techniques to better understand biosphere atmosphere interactions (1992-1996)
  • Principal investigator in the First ISLSCP Field Experiment (FIFE) sponsored by NASA (1987-89)
  • Principal investigator of trace gas exchange as part of the Northern Wetlands Study near James Bay (1990-91)
  • Co-investigator of the California Ozone Deposition Experiment (CODE) in the San Joaquin Air Quality Study (1991-92)
  • Principal investigator in the Southern Great Plain (SGP) Experiment in Oklahoma (1997-98)
  • Co-investigator in the Canadian GEWEX project in the MacKenzie basin (1998-2000)
  • Team leader of AAFC project on Reducing GHG Emissions (2000-2007)
  • Team Leader of the agriculture component of the government PERD Climate Change program on the Enhancement of GHG Sinks in Canada (1997- 2007)
  • Team leader of AAFC’s project on Quantifying and reducing GHG emissions, ammonia and particulate matter from agroecosystems (2007-2011)
  • Team leader of the Air Quality Indicator and LCA projects in AAFC (2009-2013)
  • Co-PI on a SAGES project in AAFC on developing improved process-based models and tools to better estimate GHG emissions at the provincial and national scales (2009-2013)

Education and awards

  • B.Sc. (Hons.) Physics, University of Ottawa, 1963

  • MSc. Meteorology, University of Toronto, 1965

  • Ph.D. Micrometeorology, Cornell University, 1972.

  • 1995 “Agriculture Excellence Award” for his leadership role in First ISLSCP Field Experiment (FIFE)

  • 1999 Fellow of Canadian Society of Agricultural Meteorology

  • 1999 Fellow of American Society of Agronomy

  • 2000 Fellow of Agricultural Institute of Canada

  • 2001 “Science Award to the Leaders of Sustainable Development” 

  • 2002 Co-recipient of “Norbert Gerbier - MUMM International Award” WMO

  • 2007 Co-recipient of “Nobel Peace Prize Laureate” for his contribution to IPCC.

  • 2008 “Award of Excellence” from Public Service of Canada

  • 2009 “Gold Harvest Award” from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

  • 2010 Award for“Outstanding Achievement in Biometeorology” from American Meteorological Society

  • 2010 Award for Exceptional Service to the Commission of Agricultural Meteorology of the World Meteorological Organization

  • 2012 Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada

  • 2013 Special session at the Americam Meteorological Society, Atmospheric Biogeoscience Conference

  • 2012 Received Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for his national and   international contribution to the science of climate change

  • 2018 Award for Exceptional Service to CAgM of the World Meteorological Organization.

  • 2018 Appointed Member of the Order of Canda

International experience and/or work

  • Involved in many multidisciplinary international field experiments (FIFE, BOREAS, SGP.SMACEX, CODE, NOWES, MAGS, etc.) on a variety of subjects including water and nitrogen use efficiency of crops, biomass production, nutrient cycling of plants, and carbon sequestration.
  • Principal resource officer for a CIDA project in Brazil 1983-87.
  • Sabbatical leave at INRA, Grignon, France 1984-85.
  • Leader of the Expert Team on the Contribution of Agriculture to Climate of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) (2002-2006).
  • Canadian Delegate to the CAgM of the WMO (1990, 1995, 2014, 2018), Head of Delegation (1999, 2002, 2006).
  • Member of the Management Group of CAgM, WMO 2014-2018.

Key publications

  1. Congreves, K.A., Dutta, B., Grant, B.B., Smith, W.N., Desjardins, R.L., Wagner-Riddle, C. (2016). How does climate variability influence nitrogen loss in temperate agroecosystems under contrasting management systems?. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, [online] 227 33-41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2016.04.025

    2016 - View publication details

  2. Desjardins, R.L., Worth, D.E., Mauder, M., Pattey, E., Metzger, S. and MacPherson, I. 2016. New perspectives for eddy covariance flux measurements using aircraft-based technology. 32nd Conference on Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Utah 2016/06/20 - 2016/06/24.

    2016 - View publication details

  3. Drury, C.F. Reynolds, W.D., Yang, X.M., Yang, J. De Jong, R., Reid, K., Bittman, S. and R. Desjardins. 2016. The unintended consequences of N management practices on reactive N species: A Canadian perspective. The nitrogen cascade and policy – towards integrated solutions. Joint Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)/United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) task force on reactive nitrogen (TFRN). Paris, France.

    2016 - View publication details

  4. Pattey, E., Desjardins, R.L., Murphy, J., MacDonald, D., Mesbah, M., 2016. N fluxes from the agricultural sector.WMO- GLOBAL ATMOSPHERE WATCH INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON NITROGEN CYCLE York 13-14 Apr 2016. Invited Talk

    2016 - View publication details

  5. Congreves, K.A., Grant, B.B., Dutta, B., Smith, W.N., Chantigny, M.H., Rochette, P., Desjardins, R.L. (2016). Predicting ammonia volatilization after field application of swine slurry: DNDC model development. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, [online] 219 179-189. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2015.10.028

    2016 - View publication details

  6. Vergé, X., Maxime, D., Desjardins, R.L., Vanderzaag, A.C. (2016). Allocation factors and issues in agricultural carbon footprint: A case study of the Canadian pork industry. Journal of Cleaner Production, [online] 113 587-595. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.11.046

    2016 - View publication details

  7. Desjardins, R.L., Worth, D.E., Mauder, M.R., Metzger, S., and Srinivasan, R. (2015). "Measurements of mass and energy exchange using aircraft-based sensors.", 15th EMS Annual Meeting, Sofia, Bulgaria, September 7-11, 2015.

    2015 - View publication details

  8. Desjardins, R.L., Worth, D.E., Vergé, X.P.C., and Dyer, J.A. (2015). "GHG emission estimates from the agriculture sector.", International Workshop on Atmospheric Chemistry and Agricultural Meteorology. Invited Presentation, Pune, India, November 2-4, 2015. (Presentation)

    2015 - View publication details

  9. VanderZaag, A.C., Desjardins, R.L., Burtt, S.D., Anderson, D., Balde, H., Worth, D.E., and Singh, J. (2015). "Farm-Scale Research on Air Quality.", Doors Open Ottawa Central Experimental Farm / Portes Ouevertes Ferme Expérimentale Centrale, June 6-7, 2015. (Poster)

    2015 - View publication details

  10. Dyer, J.A., Vergé, X.P.C., Desjardins, R.L., and Worth, D.E. (2015). "An Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Co-Grazing Sheep and Beef in Western Canadian Rangeland.", in Lac, S., Kulshreshtha, S. and McHenry, M. (eds.) - Agricultural management for climate change, Nova Science Publishers Inc.

    2015 - View publication details

  11. Betts, A.K., Desjardins, R.L., Worth, D.E., Cerkowniak, D.D., Wang, S., Li, J.H., Beckage, B., Beljaars, A.C.M., and Tawfik, A. (2015). "Land-cloud-climate coupling on the Canadian Prairies.", Alpine Summer School, Course XXIII, Land-Atmosphere Interactions, Valsavarenche, Valle d’Aosta, Italy, June 22-July 1, 2015. (Presentation)

    2015 - View publication details

  12. Pattey, E., Jégo, G., Liu, J., Smith, W.N., VanderZaag, A.C., Desjardins, R.L., Tremblay, N., Geng, X.Y., Qiu, B., Shang, J., McNairn, H., and Jarvis, I.E. (2015). "Field-scale research to quantify the impact of climate variations on crop production and to enhance the environmental performance.", Invited Presentation at ECORC/ACGEO Agri-Environmental Science Day, Ottawa, ON, Canada, February 10, 2015. (Presentation)

    2015 - View publication details

  13. Desjardins, R.L., Worth, D.E., Pattey, E., VanderZaag, A.C., Smith, W.N., Metzger, S., and Srinivasan, R. (2015). "Progress in measuring and estimating CO2 and H2O fluxes over agricultural and forested areas. Agrometeorology in the 21st Century: The challenge of sustainable use of Brazilian Biomes.", XIX Congress of Brazilian Agrometeorology, Lavras, Brazil, August 23-28, 2015.

    2015 - View publication details

  14. Desjardins, R.L., Betts, A.K., and Worth, D.E. (2015). "The impact of clouds, snow cover and land use on the climate in the Canadian prairies.", 15th EMS Annual Meeting, Sofia, Bulgaria, September 7-11, 2015, Presentation.

    2015 - View publication details

  15. Smith, W.N., Grant, B.B., VanderZaag, A.C., Desjardins, R.L., Dutta, B., Congreves, K.A., Worth, D.E., Li, C., and Wagner-Riddle, C. (2015). "Using models to identify and quantify BMP’s for reducing GHG emissions and to improve nutrient cycling under dairy production.", AGGP Science Coordination and Implementation Workshop, Invited Presentation, Ottawa, ON, Canada, April 16-17, 2015. (Presentation)

    2015 - View publication details

  16. Dutta, B., Grant, B.B., Congreves, K.A., Smith, W.N., Wagner-Riddle, C., VanderZaag, A.C., and Desjardins, R.L. (2015). "Model development and testing of soil temperature in DNDC for the effects of snow, biomass and residue cover and soil texture.", Canadian Soil Science Society (IUSS-CSSS-AQSSS) Conference, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada, July 5-10, 2015, Presentation.

    2015 - View publication details

  17. Baldé, H., VanderZaag, A.C., Burtt, S.D., Evans, L., Wagner-Riddle, C., Desjardins, R.L., and Macdonald, D.J. (2015). "Farm-scale Measurement of Methane Emissions from Liquid Manure Storages over Two Years.", Dairy Environmental Systems & Climate Adaption Conference, Ithaca, NY, USA, July 29-31, 2015. (Poster)

    2015 - View publication details

  18. VanderZaag, A.C., Pattey, E., Smith, W.N., and Desjardins, R.L. (2015). "Farm-scale research to improve Canada’s Greenhouse Gas and Ammonia Inventory, Agricultural models, and Sustainability.", ECORC/ACGEO Agri-Environmental Science Day. Invited Presentation, Ottawa, ON, Canada, February 10, 2015. (Presentation)

    2015 - View publication details

  19. Congreves, K.A., Grant, B.B., Campbell, C., Smith, W.N., Worth, D.E., Vandenberg, A., Kröbel, R., Lemke, R.L., and Desjardins, R.L. (2015). "Measuring and modelling the long-term impact of crop management on soil C sequestration in the semi-arid Canadian prairies.", Canadian Soil Science Society (IUSS-CSSS-AQSSS) Conference, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada, July 5-10, 2015. (Poster)

    2015 - View publication details

  20. Goglio, P., Smith, W.N., Grant, B.B., Desjardins, R.L., Gao, X., Hanis, K., Tenuta, M., Campbell, C.A., McConkey, B.G., and Nemecek, T. (2015). "Methods to quantify GHG emissions to assess sustainability of cropping systems: a LCA perspective.", Global Cleaner Production & Sustainable Consumption Conference, Sitges, Barcelona, Spain, November 1-4, 2015.

    2015 - View publication details

Contact

Research facility

Ottawa Research and Development Centre
960 Carling Avenue
Ottawa, ON K1A 0C6
Canada

Expertise

Agriculture›Agro-micrometeorology
Energy›Advanced / Alternative Fuels
Environment›Climate›Climate change adaptation

Affiliations

  • Member of Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society since 1975
  • Member of the American Meteorological Society since 1975
  • Member of the American Geophysical Union since 1997
  • Member of the Agricultural Institute of Canada since 1990
  • Member of the American Society of Agronomy since 1975
  • Member of the Royal Society of Canada since 2012
  • Member of the board of Agricultural Meteorology 1993-2010
  • Adjunct Professor Laval and McGill Univ. 1985-98
  • Principal resource officer for CIDA project in Agroclimatic Research for the State of Parana in Brazil, (1982-86).
  • Scientific advisor in agrometeorological research for the province of Quebec (1980-1990)
  • Member of the editorial board of the J. Agronomie (1990-93)
  • Team leader on expert team on the contribution of agriculture to the state of climate for CAgM of WMO 2002-2006.
  • Member of the management group of CAgM ,WMO 2014-2018.
  • Member of the scientific advisory committee of FluxNet Canada (2002- 2007)
  • Member of the editorial board of the journal Advances in Meteorology (2009- 2013)
  • Chair of the scientific committee for the GHG Mitigation Programme (2001-2006)
  • Member of the Order of Canada since 2018

Language

English
French