Annabel Payne

Research area

I’m a geologist/geophysicist by training, but my research has focused on the global oceans, both past and present. I have previously used the radiogenic isotopes of Nd, Sr, Pb and Hf to trace sediment weathering and ocean transport during the Cretaceous and the Last Glacial Maximum. I currently use the novel transient tracers Iodine-129 and Uranium-236 in the Canadian Arctic Ocean, where I use them in Transit Time Distributions to investigate ocean circulation pathways and timescales. These tracers have also proved their value as proxies for anthropogenic carbon uptake in the Atlantic-sourced waters of the Arctic. I am currently compiling a time series of all available data on these radionuclides and the more commonly used gas tracers (CFCs and SF6) to investigate variability in anthropogenic carbon uptake in the Canada Basin over the last 30 years. I am also using the Iodine-129 with the more traditional lithogenic water mass tracers Hafnium and Neodymium isotopes to study changes to the freshwater inputs of the Beaufort Gyre since 2000 and understand the water mass composition and residence time.