Edward A. Boyle

Edward A. Boyle Professor of Ocean Geochemistry, Director of the MIT/WHOI Joint Program eaboyle@mit.edu 617 253 3388 E25-619
Education
Ph.D., Oceanography, Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1976 , B.A., Chemistry (Highest Honors), University of California, San Diego, 1971
Bio and Interests
Ed Boyle is a marine geochemist involved in the study of the oceanic dispersal of anthropogenic emissions and the evolution of the Earth’s climate. He is interested in the areas of paleoceanography, paleoclimatology, and the chemistry of environmental waters. His research includes climatological studies of past ocean circulation patterns based on the fossil chemistry of oceanic sediments, control of late Pleistocene carbon dioxide pressure by ocean circulation and chemistry, and trace element variability in polar ice cores. He is also investigating the trace element chemistry of rivers and estuaries, and the chemical composition of seawater. In particular, he studies the variability of oceanic trace metals related to atmospheric transport of anthropogenic emissions and natural mineral dust into the ocean and mineral dust, and the transport and fate of pollutant lead and biologically essential iron in the ocean.
Publications
Hayes, C.T., D. McGee, S. Mukhopadhyay, E.A. Boyle, A.C. Maloof (2017) Helium and thorium isotope constraints on African dust transport to the Bahamas over recent millennia, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 457: 385-394, doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2016.10.031



Jong-Mi Lee, Selene F. Eltgroth, Edward A. Boyle, Jess F. Adkins (2017) The transfer of bomb radiocarbon and anthropogenic lead to the deep North Atlantic Ocean observed from a deep sea coral, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 458: 223-232, doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2016.10.049



C.T. Hayes, David McGee, Jeffrey Rosen, Edward A. Boyle (2017) Thorium distributions in high and low dust regions and the significance for iron supply, Global Biogeochemical Cycles 31: 328–347, doi: 10.1002/2016GB005511



Chen, Mengli, Adam D Switzer, Edward A Boyle, Christos Gouramanis (2016) A century long sedimentary record of anthropogenic lead (Pb), Pb isotopes and other trace metals in Singapore, Env. Poll. 213: 446–459, doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2016.02.040



Chen, M., N. F. Goodkin, E. A. Boyle, A. D. Switzer, and A. Bolton (2016), Lead in the western South China Sea: Evidence of atmospheric deposition and upwelling, Geophys. Res. Lett., 43, 4490–4499, doi: 10.1002/2016GL068697



Chen, Mengli, Edward A. Boyle, Jong-Mi Lee, Intan Nurhati, Cheryl Zurbrick, Adam D. Switzer, Gonzalo Carrasco (2016) Lead Isotope exchange between dissolved and fluvial particulate matter: a laboratory study from the Johor River estuary, Proc. Royal Society London A 374: 20160054, doi: 10.1098/rsta.2016.0054



Mengli Chen, Nathalie F Goodkin, Edward A Boyle, Adam D Switzer, Annette Bolton (2016), Lead in the western South China Sea: Evidence of atmospheric deposition and upwelling, Geophysical Research Letters online May 14, doi: 10.1002/2016GL068697



Mengli Chen, Edward A. Boyle, Adam D. Switzer, Chris Gouramanis (2016), A century long sedimentary record of anthropogenic lead (Pb), Pb isotopes and other trace metals in Singapore, (Invited paper), Environmental Pollution, Volume 213, June 2016, Pages 446–459, doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2016.02.040



Boyle, E. A. and Anderson, R. F. and Cutter, G. A. and Fine, R. and Jenkins, W. J. and Saito, M. (2015) Introduction to the US GEOTRACES North Atlantic Transect (GA-03): USGT10 and USGT11 cruises Deep-Sea Research Part Ii-Topical Studies in Oceanography, vol. 116, pp. 1-5, doi: 10.1016/j.dsr2.2015.02.031



Chen, M. L. and Lee, J. M. and Nurhati, I. S. and Switzer, A. D. and Boyle, E. A. (2015) Isotopic record of lead in Singapore Straits during the last 50 years: Spatial and temporal variations Marine Chemistry, vol. 168, pp. 49-59, doi: 10.1016/j.marchem.2014.10.007



Fitzsimmons, J. N. and Bundy, R. M. and Al-Subiai, S. N. and Barbeau, K. A. and Boyle, E. A. (2015) The composition of dissolved iron in the dusty surface ocean: An exploration using size-fractionated iron-binding ligands Marine Chemistry, vol. 173, pp. 125-135, doi: 10.1016/j.marchem.2014.09.002



Fitzsimmons, J. N. and Carrasco, G. G. and Wu, J. F. and Roshan, S. and Hatta, M. and Measures, C. I. and Conway, T. M. and John, S. G. and Boyle, E. A. (2015) Partitioning of dissolved iron and iron isotopes into soluble and colloidal phases along the GA03 GEOTRACES North Atlantic Transect Deep-Sea Research Part Ii-Topical Studies in Oceanography, vol. 116, pp. 130-151, doi: 10.1016/j.dsr2.2014.11.014



Fitzsimmons, J. N. and Hayes, C. T. and Al-Subiai, S. N. and Zhang, R. F. and Morton, P. L. and Weisend, R. E. and Ascani, F. and Boyle, E. A. (2015) Daily to decadal variability of size-fractionated iron and iron-binding ligands at the Hawaii Ocean Time-series Station ALOHA, Geochimica Et Cosmochimica Acta, vol. 171, pp. 303-324, doi: 10.1016/j.gca.2015.08.012



Hayes, C. T. and Fitzsimmons, J. N. and Boyle, E. A. and McGee, D. and Anderson, R. F. and Weisend, R. and Morton, P. L. (2015) Thorium isotopes tracing the iron cycle at the Hawaii Ocean Time-series Station ALOHA Geochimica Et Cosmochimica Acta, vol. 169, pp. 1-16, doi: 10.1016/j.gca.2015.07.019



Awards
Urey Medal, European Association of Geosciences (2014) | Member, National Academy of Sciences (2008) | Honorary Fellow, European Union of Geosciences (2003) | Patterson Medal, Geochemical Society (2000) | Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (1999) | Geochemistry Fellow, Geochemical Society and European Association for Geochemistry (1998) | | Huntsman Award, Bedford Institution of Oceanography (1994) | Fellow, American Geophysical Union (1994) | | Guggenheim Fellow (1991-1992) | NATO Postdoctoral Fellow (1976-1977) | National Science Foundation | Graduate Fellow (1971-1975) | | Huntsman Award, Bedford Institution of Oceanography (1994) | Fellow, American Geophysical Union (1994) | | Guggenheim Fellow (1991-1992) | NATO Postdoctoral Fellow (1976-1977) | National Science Foundation | Graduate Fellow (1971-1975)