Oceanography, Climate and Palaeoenvironment

Observation, analysis and modelling of the biology, chemistry and physics of the climate system integrates with study of the past from sediments and elsewhere (e.g. cave deposits) to assess the operation of, and connections between, Earth’s surficial environments in varied modes, and at a range of timescales. The Department’s physical oceanography research is also a core component of Oxford’s membership of an Academic Partnership with the UK Met Office, a mechanism for the Met Office to incorporate new academic research into its climate forecasting, models, services and policies, and to indicate (and fund) research to address specific scientific challenges.

Faculty working in this area include:

Heather Bouman (biological oceanography)
Gideon Henderson (paleoclimate and ocean chemistry)
Bob Hilton (carbon cycling and geochemistry)
Hugh Jenkyns (stratigraphy and past environments)
Helen Johnson (physical oceanography)
Samar Khatiwala (ocean biogeochemistry)
Tamsin Mather (environmental mercury chemistry)
Don Porcelli (environmental geochemistry, ocean chemistry)
David Pyle (climate and volcanism)
Ros Rickaby (biogeochemistry and past climates)
Stuart Robinson (stratigraphy and past environments)
Laura Stevens (modern cryosphere)

Groups associated with this theme include:

Isotopes and Climate (Henderson)
Ocean Biogeochemistry (Rickaby)
Ocean Biogeochemical Modelling (Khatiwala)
Oxford Biological Oceanography (Bouman)
Physical Oceanography (Johnson)
ROC-CO2 – organic C weathering (Hilton)
Stratigraphy and sedimentology (Robinson)
Volcanology (Mather and Pyle)

Links to research programmes with department involvement:

The 21st Century Ocean Institute (James Martin School)
GEOTRACES ocean chemistry programme
GGREW: Greenhouse Gas Removal by Enhanced Weathering
IKIMP Mercury Knowledge Exchange