"Ice core records show that atmospheric carbon dioxide (pCO2), an important greenhouse gas that drives and amplifies climate change, varies naturally over a range of timescales. Biological productivity in the oceans is a major contributor to carbon drawdown, and an important factor controlling atmospheric pCO2. The Southern Ocean is linked with these climatic events, in part due to upwelling and subduction of deep waters during which carbon and heat are exchanged with the atmosphere, and partly because it exerts a primary control on the distribution of nutrients to a large portion of the modern ocean, which in turn regulates algal population structure and carbon uptake.The aim here is to further the understanding of oceanic carbon storage over a range of timescales in the region of the West Antarctica Peninsula, the region experiencing the most rapid atmospheric and oceanic warming in recent decades. Here, I propose to utilize components of the biogeochemical cycle of barium (Ba) to understand and investigate different aspects of organic and inorganic carbon storage. Ba cycling has been a focus of chemical oceanography and palaeoclimate studies for over twenty years, and can provide uniquely an insight into both organic and inorganic carbon storage. The analyses carried out during the reintegration period will provide data suitable for testing hypotheses linking Southern Ocean circulation to global climate over a range of timescales, and linking the response in biogeochemical cycles to future climatic change.The work will be interdisciplinary, linking in other aspects of the long term monitoring programs along the WAP, such as physical oceanography, meteorology and ecology, and investigating modern and past climatic processes. If successful, the Marie Curie grant will fund a PhD student, who will be supervised by the Career Integration Grant fellow, providing opportunities for teaching experience and student training."