Anne Willem Omta is a postdoc in the ocean biogeochemistry group of Mick Follows. He investigates the factors determining how much carbon is stored in the ocean by means of numerical simulations and mathematical theory. Currently, there are large carbon emissions of which a part is taken up by the oceans. Numerical studies indicate that the portion of the carbon emissions being taken up by the oceans will decrease strongly, as emissions continue which could lead to an acceleration of the global warming. In a recent paper Dependence of the ocean-atmosphere partitioning of carbon on temperature and alkalinity Omta and co-authors explain this decrease in carbon uptake by means of a theory based on elementary carbonate chemistry which is also applied to study the effect of ocean temperature on carbon partitioning. In this interview he describes his work, the path that brought him to PAOC and what excites him about his research.