Personal Summary

I am curious about the interactions between Earth's climate and biology over a range of scales.  My research seeks to gain insight into factors regulating Earth's climate in the past as well as factors limiting CO₂ uptake in the future.  Earth's climate and biogeochemical cycles are inextricably linked and I find this fascinating.

Education

Duke University                                 Climate/Ecology                     PhD     2006

University of Washington                   Environmental Science          MS       2001

University of California, Davis            Biology                                   BS       1997

Projects

I am currently interested in the following research topics:

1.)  Global Carbon Cycle:  I am curious about factors limiting the Earth's capacity to take up CO₂.  To inquire about the global carbon cycle I investigate patterns in atmospheric CO₂ and its isotopic composition in combination with global scale models.

2.) Amplification of Arctic Temperatures:  Arctic temperatures are currently warming twice as fast as global temperatures and we don't fully understand why this is.  We are currently working to understand what factors were involved in amplifying surface temperatures of the Arctic in the past, so that we can provide more credible climate preditions for this highly sensitive region.

3.)  I am also curious about many other topics, so let me know what you are interested in.

Selected Publications

Ballantyne, A.P., Alden*, C., Miller, J.B., Tans, P.P., and White, J.W.C.  Increase in observed net carbon dioxide uptake by land and oceans during the past 50 years.  Nature.  2012.

Ballantyne, A.P., Miller, J.B., Tans, P.P., and White, J.W.C.  Testing biosphere models with atmospheric observations: novel applications of isotopes in CO₂.  Biogeosciences.  2011.

Ballantyne, A.P., Baker, P.A., Fritz, S., and Poulter, B.  Climate mediated carbon and nitrogen dynamics in a tropical watershed.  Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences.  2011.

Ballantyne, A.P., Baker, P.A, Villalba, R, Chambers, J.Q., and Argollo, J.  Regional differences in South American monsoon precipitation inferred from the growth and isotopic composition of tropical trees.  Earth Interactions. doi:10.1175/2010EI277.1.  2011.

Ballantyne A.P., Brahney*, J., Fernandez, D, Lawrence*, C.L, Saros, J, and Neff, J.C.  Biogeochemical response of alpine lakes to recent changes in dust deposition.  Biogeosciences. 7, 8723-8761, doi:10.5194/bgd-7-8723-2010.  2011.

Csank* A.Z., Tripati, A., Patterson, W.P., Eagle, R.A., Rybczynski, N., Ballantyne, A.P., and Eiler, J.  Estimates of Arctic land surface temperatures during the early Pliocene from two novel proxies.  Earth and Planetary Science Letters.  2011.

Ballantyne, A.P., Miller, J.B., and Tans, P.P.  Apparent seasonal cycle in isotopic discrimination of carbon in the atmosphere and biosphere due to vapor pressure deficit.  Global Biogeochemical Cycles.  24, GB3018, doi:10.1029/2009GB003623.  2010.

Ballantyne, A.P., Greenwood, D.R, Sinninghe Damsté, J.S, Csank*, A.Z, Eberle, J.J., and Rybczynski, N.  Significantly warmer Arctic surface temperatures during the Pliocene indicated by multiple independent proxies.  Geology.  v. 38, p. 603-606, doi:10.1130/G30815.1.  2010.

Neff, J., Ballantyne, A.P., Lawrence*, C., Painter, T., Reynolds, R.  Increase in eolian dust deposition to mountain ecosystems of the Southwestern, US.  Nature Geosciences.  2008. 

*denotes student coauthor