
Professor Kate Hendry
MSci, DPhil
Expertise
Biogeochemistry and chemical oceanography; nutrient cycling in the modern ocean, and the link between past climatic change, ocean circulation, nutrient supply and biological productivity.
Current positions
Honorary Associate Professor
School of Earth Sciences
Contact
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Biography
I am a biogeochemist and chemical oceanographer, interested in understanding nutrient cycling in the modern ocean, and the link between past climatic change, ocean circulation, nutrient supply and biological productivity.
I did my PhD at Oxford University, working on trace metal cycling in coastal Antarctic waters and was then awarded a Doherty Scholarship to work at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Throughout the last few years, I have worked on the stable isotopes of silicon in seawater, sediments and biogenic opal, a substance produced by some kinds of algae (diatoms), some protists (radiolarians, for example) and deep-sea sponges.
I currently have a number of projects working on silicon isotope biogeochemistry, including a European Research Council starting grant, ICY-LAB, and grants from the Royal Society. I am also part of the NERC funded Changing Arctic Ocean program.
I have been on many field expeditions, migrating further north every time, with trips (in order) to the Southern Ocean, the Equatorial Atlantic, and the Labrador Sea.
Research interests
My main research interests lie in the investigation of modern biogeochemical cycling and past ocean processes, focusing on biogenic opal and silicon cycling in seawater.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
The Arts, the Sciences, and the Seafloor
Principal Investigator
Role
Principal Investigator
Description
The aim of this Brigstow Ideas Exchange Workshop is to bring together scientists with arts scholars and practitioners in order to think about human relations with the seafloor, a site…Managing organisational unit
Department of EnglishDates
01/06/2020 to 30/06/2020
Biogeochemical cycling in subarctic fjords
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Earth SciencesDates
01/10/2018 to 30/09/2021
Thesis supervisions
Feeding the Ocean? A biological mediation of estuarine silicon
Supervisors
Climate impact on diatom size and distribution
Supervisors
Stylasterid coral geochemistry
Supervisors
Muddying the Waters
Supervisors
Hollow Earth
Supervisors
Unpacking The Drivers Of Bottom Trawling - A UK Case Study
Supervisors
Silicon Cycling in Subglacial Environments
Supervisors
Silicon Cycling in the High-latitude Glacier-Fjord-Coast System
Supervisors
The Influence of Glacial Cover on Riverine Geochemistry in Chilean Patagonia
Supervisors
Subpolar North Atlantic paleoceanography over the last millennium and Holocene using cold-water coral geochemistry
Supervisors
Publications
Selected publications
23/01/2014Silicon isotopes indicate enhanced carbon export efficiency in the North Atlantic during deglaciation
Nature Communications
Abrupt changes in high-latitude nutrient supply to the Atlantic during the last glacial cycle
Geology
Deep ocean nutrients during the Last Glacial Maximum deduced from sponge silicon isotopic compositions
Earth and Planetary Science Letters
Recent publications
01/03/2025High‐Resolution Sensors Reveal Nitrate and Dissolved Silica Dynamics in an Arctic Fjord
Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences
A diatom extension to the cGEnIE Earth system model – EcoGEnIE 1.1
Geoscientific Model Development
Collapse of a giant iceberg in a dynamic Southern Ocean marine ecosystem
Progress in Oceanography
Detrital Input Sustains Diatom Production off a Glaciated Arctic Coast
Geophysical Research Letters
Silicon isotopes reveal the impact of fjordic processes on the transport of reactive silicon from glaciers to coastal regions
Chemical Geology
Teaching
I teach a second year field course on aqueous geochemistry in South Wales, and a third year unit on Oceans and Climates. I also supervise final year MSci and MSc research projects.