Profile

Dr Andrea Burke
Senior Lecturer
My research is motivated by a desire to understand the interactions between ocean circulation, chemistry, and climate on a variety of timescales. To do this, I use isotope geochemistry and numerical modeling. Current interests include:
Southern Ocean circulation and CO2
Overturning circulation in the Southern Ocean plays a key role in CO2 regulation and heat transport. Changes in Southern Ocean circulation are thought to control glacial-interglacial CO2 cycles in the past, and may have an important influence on anthropogenic CO2 uptake in the future. To understand these processes I use radiocarbon as a tracer of ocean-atmosphere CO2 exchange and ocean circulation. Much of my work has focused on deep sea corals, which provide an excellent archive for radiocarbon and other geochemical tracers, and can be precisely dated using uranium and thorium isotope ratios (Burke and Robinson, 2012, Chen et al., 2015). This geochemical work is coupled with circulation modelling, including the application of inverse methods to explore protactinium/thorium changes in the deep Atlantic (Burke et al., 2011), and new approaches to dynamical modelling of Southern Ocean circulation (Ferrari et al., 2014; Burke, Stewart et al., 2015).
Sulfur biogeochemistry and climate forcing
The sulfur cycle exerts an important control on earth's surface redox state, is intertwined with a variety of biogeochemical reactions, and may act as a major climate forcer. To gain insights into these processes I make measurements of sulfur isotope ratios, using a new multi-collector inductively-coupled-plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICPMS) technique (Paris et al., 2013). The key advantage of this method is that it allows us to make measurements on extremely small samples, opening up a variety of exciting new research possibilities. Current work includes constraining riverine fluxes of sulfur to the ocean, and reconstructions of climate forcing from volcanic sulfate aerosols.
Funding
Marie Curie Career Integration Grant (REINFORCE: Reconstructing and Interpreting the Forcing of Climate using Sulfur and Carbon Isotopes).
NERC Standard Grant: REIMAGINATION: REconstructing and understanding the IMplications of surface radiocarbon AGe changes In the North Atlantic for overturning circulatTION)
Research Overview:
My research focuses on the forcings and mechanisms of natural climate and carbon cycle change through geochemical records of past climatic events. My group makes geochemical measurements on samples from ice cores, corals, and marine sediment cores to understand the forcings and responses of our climate system on timescales ranging from recent history to millions of years ago.
You can read more about my research at my website: https://www.drandreaburke.com/
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Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 2021 vol. 294 pp. 43-69
Radiocarbon 2020 vol. 62 pp. 779-820
Science Advances 2020 vol. 6
Science Advances 2020 vol. 6
Earth and Planetary Science Letters 2020 vol. 545
Earth and Planetary Science Letters 2020 vol. 544
Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology 2020 vol. 35
Geophysical Research Letters 2020 vol. 47
Earth and Planetary Science Letters 2019 vol. 521 pp. 113-119
Nature 2018 vol. 562 pp. 569-573
Geophysical Research Letters 2018 vol. 45 pp. 5681-5689
Nature Geoscience 2018 vol. 11 pp. 340–344
Quaternary Science Reviews 2018 vol. 191 pp. 256-274
Earth and Planetary Science Letters 2018 vol. 496 pp. 168-177
Geophysical Research Letters 2017 vol. 44 pp. 383-392
Chemical Geology 2017 vol. 453 pp. 146-168
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2017 vol. 114 pp. 10035-10040
Geoscientific Model Development 2016 vol. 9 pp. 2563-2587
Earth and Planetary Science Letters 2015 vol. 432 pp. 187-198
Science 2015 vol. 349 pp. 1537-1541
Paleoceanography 2015 vol. Early view
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2014 vol. 111 pp. 8753-8758
Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography 2014 vol. 99 pp. 237-248
Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms 2013 vol. 294 pp. 328-334
Paleoceanography 2013 vol. 28
Limnology and Oceanography: Methods 2012 vol. 10 pp. 464-474
Science 2012 vol. 335 pp. 557-561
Paleoceanography 2011 vol. 26
Paleoceanography 2011 vol. 26
Journal of Glaciology 2011 vol. 57 pp. 929-941
Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers 2010 vol. 57 pp. 1510-1520
Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 2009 vol. 20 pp. 295-308
Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 2008 vol. 9
Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography 2007 vol. 54 pp. 558-580
Contact Details:
Dr Andrea BurkeIrvine Building
University of St Andrews
North Street
St Andrews
KY16 9AL
Fife
UK
tel: 01334 464015
fax:
room: 416
email: ab276@st-andrews.ac.uk
Related:
research@st-andrewsScottish Oceans Institute
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
STAIG
STAIG Principle Investigators
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The Secretary
Scottish Oceans Institute
Institiud Chuantan na h-Alba
Gatty Marine Laboratory
East Sands St Andrews
KY16 8LB
Scotland
UK
tel: +44 (0) 1334 463472
fax: +44 (0) 1334 463443
email: soi@st-andrews.ac.uk
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