Prof James Rae

Director of Impact

Professor

Researcher profile

Phone

+44 (0)1334 46 3910

Email

jwbr@st-andrews.ac.uk

 

Research areas

My research focuses on reconstructing past climate change and its causes.  I'm particularly interested in the cause of recent glacial-interglacial cycles, and climate changes over the Cenozoic.  To study these questions I use geochemical measurements on fossils, sediments, water and ice, with a special focus on the boron isotope proxy for pH.  I interpret these data with the help of a variety of numerical models.  I'm also fascinated by biomineralisation processes in corals and foraminifera, and the insights that geochemistry offers into calcification and ocean acidification. You can find out more about my work at my website: www.jameswbrae.com

PhD supervision

• Alyssa Kovalski
• Aoife N? Bhuachalla
• Lucinda Palmer
• Megan Pelly
• Alexander Rain
• Mauricio Santos-Andrade
• Zhekai Tang

Selected publications

• Brachiopods as archives of intrannual, annual, and interannual environmental variations

  Crippa, G., Jurikova, H., Leng, M. J., Zanchi, M., Harper, E. M., Rae, J. W. B., Savickaite, K., Viaretti, M. & Angiolini, L., Jun 2025, In: Limnology and Oceanography Letters. 10, 3, p. 390-402 13 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Letter › peer-review

• Open access

  Ice core evidence for the Los Chocoyos supereruption disputes millennial-scale climate impact

  Innes, H., Hutchison, W., Sigl, M., Crick, L., Abbott, P. M., Bigler, M., Chellman, N. J., Davies, S. M., Kutterolf, S., McConnell, J. R., Severi, M., Sparks, R. S. J., Svensson, A., Wolff, E. W., Rae, J. W. B. & Burke, A., 22 Feb 2025, In: Communications Earth & Environment. 6, 11 p., 137.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

• Open access

  Limited decrease of Southern Ocean sulfur productivity across the penultimate termination

  Fischer, H., Burke, A., Rae, J. W. B., Sugden, P. J., Erhardt, T., Twarloh, B., Hörhold, M., Freitag, J., Markle, B., Severi, M., Hansson, M., Savarino, J., Pryer, H., Doyle, E. & Wolff, E., 3 Jan 2025, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Nature Geoscience. Online, 10 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

• Open access

  Planktonic foraminifera regulate calcification according to ocean density

  Zarkogiannis, S. D., Rae, J. W. B., Shipley, B. R. & Mortyn, P. G., 31 Jul 2025, In: Communications Earth & Environment. 6, p. 1-12 12 p., 605.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

• Open access

  Pulses of ocean acidification at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary

  Trudgill, M., Rae, J. W. B., Whiteford, R., Adloff, M., Crumpton-Banks, J., Van Mourik, M., Burke, A., Cuperus, M., Corsetti, F., Doherty, D., Gray, W., Greenop, R., Hong, W.-L., Lepland, A., McIntyre, A., Neiroukh, N., Rose, C. V., Ruhl, M., Saunders, D. & Siri, M. M. F. R. & 5 others, Steele, R. C. J., Stüeken, E. E., West, A. J., Ziegler, M. & Greene, S. E., 14 Jul 2025, In: Nature Communications. 16, 11 p., 6471.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

• Open access

  Rapid rise in atmospheric CO₂ marked the end of the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age

  Jurikova, H., Garbelli, C., Whiteford, R., Reeves, T., Laker, G., Liebetrau, V., Gutjahr, M., Eisenhauer, A., Savickaite, K., Leng, M. J., Iurino, D. A., Viaretti, M., Tomašových, A., Zhang, Y., Wang, W.-Q., Shi, G. R., Shen, S.-Z., Rae, J. W. B. & Angiolini, L., 6 Jan 2025, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Nature Geoscience. Latest articles, 8 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

• Open access

  Southern Ocean CO₂ outgassing and nutrient load reduced by a well-ventilated glacial North Pacific

  Shankle, M. G., MacGilchrist, G. A., Gray, W. R., de Lavergne, C., Menviel, L. C., Burke, A. & Rae, J. W. B., 17 Sept 2025, In: Nature Communications. 16, 13 p., 8279.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

• Open access

  Timing of calcification and environmental variability determine pH proxy fidelity in coastal calcifying macroalgae

  MacDonald, E., Byrne, M., Deaker, D. J., Foster, G. L., Gabarda, S. T., MacDonald, J., Rae, J. W. B., Slaymark, C. & Kamenos, N. A., 12 Jul 2025, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Limnology and Oceanography. Early View, 12 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

• Open access

  A rapid, simple, and low-blank pumped ion-exchange column chromatography technique for boron purification from carbonate and seawater matrices

  Xu, C., Jurikova, H., Nuber, S., Steele, R. C. J., Trudgill, M. D., Barker, S., Lear, C. H., Burke, A. & Rae, J. W. B., 29 Jan 2024, In: Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems. 25, 2, 13 p., e2023GC011228.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

• Open access

  A sequential leaching protocol for δ¹¹B and trace element analyses of multi-phase carbonate rocks

  Hong, W.-L., Lepland, A., Crémière, A., Kirsimäe, K., Stüeken, E. E., Dumont, M., Block, H. E. & Rae, J. W. B., 22 Oct 2024, In: Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology. 39, 10, 22 p., e2023PA004658.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

 

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