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Dr. Painter is a biological oceanographer who utilises multidisciplinary techniques to conduct research in the fields of biological oceanography and marine biogeochemistry. With a particular interest in the marine nitrogen cycle and the complex balance between nutrient supply and biological nutrient transformation he examines the impact that these factors have on phytoplankton communities, marine primary production and nutrient distributions. He is a regular sea-going scientist and typically works in subtropical and subpolar ocean domains.

Current and recent research topics

• Nitrogen cycling in Arctic seas
• Pelagic biogeochemistry of the East African Coastal Current
• The impact of storm induced mixing on upper ocean biogeochemistry and phytoplankton communities
• Nitrate uptake by picoeukaryotes in the oceanic nitracline
• Shelf sea stoichiometry and carbon export 
• Environmental influences on phytoplankton distributions in a shelf sea
• Terrestrial dissolved organic matter transfer to the coastal ocean
• The biological carbon pump and export fluxes
• Nitrogen fixation in the subtropical North Atlantic
• Turbulent diffusive iron and nutrient fluxes to the subpolar North Atlantic
• Seasonal and interannual variation in nitrate and urea uptake by phytoplankton within the subtropical ocean.
• Coccolithophore bloom distribution and behaviour on the Patagonian Shelf
• The influence of mesoscale eddies on the distribution of biogeochemical variables and subsequent impacts upon primary productivity trends
• Biophysical interactions and the balance between nutrient supply and phytoplankton productivity
• Seasonal and interannual climatic trends in Mediterranean surface waters.

orcid.org/0000-0001-7934-7346