Earth Sciences Division Staff: James Bishop

Biographical Summary

Jim Bishop received a B.Sc. (hon) in Physical and Inorganic Chemistry from the University of British Columbia and Sc.D. in Marine Chemistry from the MIT/WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography.  He held postdoctoral and research positions at Columbia University's Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory and at NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Just before arriving at Berkeley Lab, he was a professor of Ocean Sciences at the University of Victoria. He is a member of the faculty in the Department of Earth and Planetary Science at UC Berkeley where he teaches undergraduate courses on marine geochemistry and oceangraphy. To date, he has spent 79 weeks at sea during 29 oceanographic expeditions.

His research is centered on understanding ocean carbon system dynamics through a combination of novel in-situ sampling and remote sensing technologies.

Research Interests

Our main area of interest is the ocean's carbon cycle. As geochemists, we're interested in how carbon cycle processes influence the geochemical cycles of the 50 or so elements which exhibit nonconservative behavior in sea water (they don't follow variations of sodium). Most of these elements are transported vertically in the ocean associated with particles of biogenic and terrestrial origin.

As earth scientists, we're concerned with the consequences of rising levels of CO2 in the atmosphere. How will living systems respond to climate induced change in the ocean? How does the ocean naturally sequester carbon and how will this change in the future?

The research is multidisciplinary and requires knowledge of mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology, computer science, and engineering.

Education

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Professional Experience

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Courses Taught

Department of Earth and Planetary Science at University of  California, Berkeley

• EPS/IBC82: Introduction To The Oceans. (Fall 2003 Joint with Powell/IB; Fall 2004 Joint with Ingram/EPS)
  • This course is designed to provide a broad introduction to the oceans. If you are interested in learning the answers to questions like, "Is it really true that every marine plant gets eaten (on average) once a week?" or "Where did that fish that I just ate come from?" or "Why is the surfing best near points of land?" or "How does the ocean influence my day to day life?" or "What's in store for the future?", then this course is for you. The audience we teach spans a wide range of backgrounds from athletics to serious science majors. We aim to reach everyone in the class. You might imagine that thats a great challenge.
• EPS 103/203: Introduction to Marine Geochemistry. (New Fall 2000; Fall 2002)
  • The global water cycle; major processes governing the distribution of chemical species within the hydrosphere; mass balances, fluxes and reactions in the marine environment from global to sub-micron scales; relationships to physical, biological, and geological processes; geochemical tracers and tools.