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Theme: The Changing Ocean Environment: From a Multidisciplinary Perspective |
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Keynote |
Keynote Speeches |
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Tutorial: Biogeochemical time-series analysis |
Time-series analysis of ocean biogeochemical and ecological data |
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Session Description: |
Background
Global biogeochemical cycles of major elements such as carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and phosphorus, and related ecosystem processes in both the open ocean and coastal areas are being altered significantly by both natural and anthropogenic activities. Understanding and predicting the response of our earth system to these perturbations, such as ocean acidification, deoxygenation, impact of large-scale climate patterns (for example, Pacific Decadal Oscillation, El Niño/Southern Oscillation, Northern Atlantic Oscillation, and Atlantic Multidecadal Variation) requires long-term time-series observations. Various timeseries data have been collected, whereas data interpretation is obstructed due to a lack of comprehensive knowledge of data processing and analysis. In particular, how to apply the appropriate analysis technique to interpret the time-series data and to provide useful inference on how the earth system will change in the future is challenging. In this session, we propose to invite four experts to review the studies covering a diverse range of topics: time-series data analysis and theory and application of data analysis methods to understanding ocean biogeochemical and ecological responses to climate change with temporal scales ranging from months to millennia.
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P1-Physics of estuaries and coastal seas |
Physics of estuaries and coastal seas |
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Session Description: |
Understanding hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics is crucial for developing the ability of assessing the environmental changes and protecting the aquatic ecosystems in estuaries and coastal seas, as the transport and delivery of waterborne materials are mainly governed by physical processes. In this session we invite abstracts that can help refine the description and understand the dynamics of coastal flows, turbulence, and sediment transport. Topics of particular interest include but are not limited to: 1) estuarine and coastal circulations, 2) coastal submesoscale processes, 3) coastal turbulence, 4) sediment transport, 5) coastal morphodynamics, and 6) extreme coastal events. The objectives of this session are: 1) promote exchange of information on recent developments in physics of estuaries and coastal seas, 2) stimulate interaction between coastal oceanographers and coastal engineers, and 3) provide a forum for junior scientists and engineers where they feel comfortable presenting and testing their ideas. The emphasis is on the results of field and laboratory measurements, and theoretical and numerical analysis, with the aim of better understanding the underlying physical processes. |
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P2-Ocean-atmosphere interactions and climate |
Ocean-atmosphere interactions and multi-scale climate variability in a changing climate |
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Session Description: |
Climate change affects the oceans and their interactions with the atmosphere. This session invites studies aimed at understanding ocean-atmosphere interactions associated with climate variability modes on intraseasonal to centennial scales and their response to global change. Examples of such modes include, but are not limited to, the PDO and ENSO in the Pacific Ocean, the AMO and AMM in the Atlantic Ocean, and the IOD and IOB modes in the Indian Ocean. Inter-basin interactions and their interference with global change are another focus of the session. Also encouraged are studies of atmospheric processes, such as those associated with the AO, NAO, NPO, PNA, and monsoons, and their roles in global change. We welcome both observational and modeling studies of climate variability, especially those which are interdisciplinary. |
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P3-Turbulence and scaling processes |
Turbulence and scaling processes in the ocean |
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Session Description: |
Turbulence or turbulence-like phenomena are ubiquitous in nature. In general, it can be defined as a system with a large number of freedoms where all possible statuses are excited due to the interaction among those freedoms, resulting in a hierarchical cascade, with energy injection and dissipation under various conditions. The milestone work by Kolmogorov (1941) states that in three-dimensional locally isotropic and homogeneous turbulence, kinetic energy is injected into the system via large-scale structures and transferred to small-scale structures until fluid viscosity converts the kinetic energy into heat, which leads to an energy conservation with a power-law scaling of energy in Fourier space, i.e., E(k)~k-5/3. Such scaling behavior also emerges under very different situations, e.g., two-dimensional turbulence theory by Kraichnan in 1967, geostrophic turbulence theory by Charney in 1971. This session invites studies focusing on a better understanding of turbulence and related scaling processes in the ocean. Observations, models, and theories of wave-turbulence interaction, small-scale turbulence, and geostrophic turbulence, are welcomed.
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P4-Eddies, fronts, air-sea exchange |
Ocean eddies, fronts, and air-sea exchanges: Observations and high resolution simulations |
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Session Description: |
Satellite observations and numerical simulations have revealed the richness of the fine-scale variability of ocean dynamics. During the past decade, several studies have started to explore the impact of this "oceanic weather" on oceanic circulation and on air-sea exchanges of heat, freshwater, and momentum. These studies have, for example, revealed (1) ocean submesoscale structures and fronts that are responsible for a large fraction of the vertical velocity variability and vertical property transports in the upper ocean, (2) correlation between sea surface temperature and surface winds on oceanic mesoscales, (3) air-sea surface heat flux variability at monthly and longer time scales driven by oceanic weather, and (4) the consequences of these coupled ocean-atmosphere processes for weather forecasts and climate projections. In this session, we invite presentations on regional to global studies that use observations or numerical models to study ocean mesoscale and submesoscale variability, and its impacts on upper-ocean dynamics and air-sea exchanges. |
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P5-Ocean & Atmosphere in Maritime Continent |
The Ocean and Atmosphere in the Maritime Continent and Their Impacts |
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Session Description: |
The Maritime Continent, the largest archipelago on Earth, plays a pivotal role in the global weather-climate system. It hosts the strongest equatorial convective center that drives the global tropical circulation. The ascending branch of the Walker circulation over the Maritime Continent is a key factor affecting the Asian monsoon and interacting with El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The Maritime Continent connects the Indian and Pacific Oceans through the Indonesian Throughflow and Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO). It connects the tropics and higher latitudes through convectively generated teleconnections. The atmosphere and ocean are tightly coupled with the warm ocean waters inducing convection and the monsoonal winds impacting the ocean currents and driving upwelling. Many other factors come into play, including ENSO, the IOD, MJO, and Kelvin waves propagating along the Indonesian archipelago. The complex topography of the islands and peninsulas that make up the Maritime Continent cause the dynamics of the region to be extremely complex. It is also a region of intense research in preparation for the Years of the Maritime Continent (2018-2019). We welcome abstracts on all aspects of oceanographic and atmospheric research in the Maritime Continent region, from modelling to observations. |
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C1-Organic matter: river-estuary-ocean |
Biogeochemistry of organic matter and associated elements along the river-estuary-ocean continuum |
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Session Description: |
Natural organic matter is ubiquitous in aquatic systems and plays an essential role in regulating environmental quality, ecological function, biogeochemical cycling of bioactive elements, and the fate and transport of contaminants along the river-estuary-ocean continuum. Organic matter exists in dissolved, colloidal, and particulate forms with dynamic changes in molecular size, composition, and lability across the land-ocean interface. Despite decades of efforts, we still have a limited understanding of organic geochemical processes in these regions and their corresponding interfaces, especially at the molecular level and different time scales. In this session, we invite presentations that focus on, but are not limited to, dynamics of dissolved and particulate organic matter in rivers, estuaries and coastal ocean and at the river-sea, sediment-water and biota-water interfaces. We encourage interdisciplinary topics, including elemental, molecular and isotopic characterization of organic matter using advanced analytical techniques, interactions of organic matter with microbes especially those using forefront “omics” approaches, particle dynamics such as aggregation/disaggregation and degradation/export, and sediment-water interaction and processes. The goals of this session are to bring together scientists who have a common interest in organic matter dynamics but with different areas of expertise, and to identify key knowledge gaps that can move the field forward. |
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C2-Biogeochemistry in land-ocean interfaces |
Biogeochemical processes in land-ocean interfaces, surface estuaries, subterranean estuaries and sediment-water interface |
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Session Description: |
The margins of continents and islands contain unique interfaces, where diverse processes lead to enrichment or sequestration of a variety of important chemical species, including nutrients, dissolved organic and inorganic carbon, trace metals and their isotopes, and radionuclides. The interfaces may be quite apparent as river mouths and their estuaries, mangrove forests, salt marshes, beaches, and rocky shorelines. Other interfaces are hidden, such as subterranean estuaries, cold seeps, and sediment pore waters. These interfaces are responding to anthropogenic forcing, such as global temperature change, dams, shoreline development and land reclamation, sea level rise, aquifer pumping, ocean acidification, fishing and aquiculture, and thawing of Arctic Ocean continental shelves. Seasonal and episodic forcing such as storms, floods, droughts, algae blooms and hypoxic events also influence this interface. Biogeochemical processes in this interface operate on scales ranging from crab burrows and small creeks in salt marshes to entire continental shelves. Variations in temporal and spatial forcing complicate short-term studies. With developments of new tools, new technology, big data, and realistic models, better understanding has been achieved in marine elemental cycling across this interface and in the roles this boundary plays in marine elemental budgets. This session welcomes topics related to sources, sinks and cycles of elements in river mouths, surface and subterranean estuaries, pore water exchange, beach flushing, and elemental removal and generation in sediments. We are especially interested in papers that seek to differentiate natural from anthropogenic processes in these environments. Contributions that address technical development, innovative experiments and modeling in studying processes across this interface are also welcome. |
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C3-Bio-GEOTRACES: Trace metals & microbes |
The role of trace metals in controlling structure and function of microbial communities in contemporary oceans |
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Session Description: |
Trace metals are essential for life, catalyzing key cellular reactions that influence ocean productivity, biodiversity, and biogeochemical cycling of the major elements including carbon and nitrogen. Essential trace metals, such as iron and zinc, are usually present at very low dissolved concentrations in seawater and are mostly found as stable organic complexes. Indeed, in large oceanic regions trace metals control the physiology and ecological functioning of microbial communities. There is a need to understand how microbial communities including nano and pico-phytoplankton acquire essential metals and how biological activity is affected by metal availability and resulting consequences for cycling of essential elements such as carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus. To understand many of these questions, large international research programs such as GEOTRACES have been initiated incorporating trans-disciplinary approaches to understand mechanistic links between geochemical and biological variability. In this session, we welcome contributions from researchers, including early career scientists, investigating the role of trace metals on the structure and functioning of microbial communities including marine phytoplankton across ecosystems. In particular, we welcome submissions in areas which address the link between trace metals and isotopes with a focus on microbial communities mediating the cycling of major nutrients in contemporary oceans, metal uptake and competition between microbes for metal resources and the role of trace metals in shaping cellular function and evolution. |
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C4-SOLAS |
Surface Ocean and Lower Atmosphere Study—Air-Sea interactions and their climatic and environmental impacts |
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Session Description: |
The coupled domain of the surface ocean and lower atmosphere is a complex and dynamic component of the Earth system. Air-sea exchanges of radiatively active materials and energy exert a major impact on global biogeochemistry and climate. This session will provide opportunities for the scientific community to exchange new ideas and discuss the latest achievements in our understanding of the key biogeochemical-physical interactions and feedbacks between the ocean and the atmosphere, and how this coupled system affects and is affected by climate and environmental change. This session invites submissions that discuss: (1) greenhouse gases and the oceans; (2) air-sea interface and fluxes of gases, particles, microorganisms, and energy; (3) interactions between anthropogenic pollution and marine emissions; (4) atmospheric deposition and ocean biogeochemistry; (5) characteristics of particles and their abilities to form clouds (CCN and IN); (6) interconnections between aerosols, clouds, and marine ecosystems; (7) ocean biogeochemical control on atmospheric chemistry and atmospheric transformations of gases and particles. Studies in the open ocean and coastal waters are all appropriate for this session. Studies focusing on air-sea interaction including marine emissions, atmospheric deposition, chemical transformations of gases and particles, the role of aerosol particles in cloud formation, interactions between anthropogenic pollution with marine emissions, feedbacks from ocean ecosystems, and impacts to environments and climate are of particular interest. |
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B1-Harmful algal blooms |
Harmful algal blooms: mechanisms, monitoring, and prevention in a rapidly changing world |
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Session Description: |
Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) occur due to the proliferation of selected harmful taxa of microalgae in aquatic ecosystems, resulting in deleterious effects to coastal communities. This includes the contamination of commercially important shellfish, massive mortality of farmed or wild finfish, and damage to the value of marine ecosystems. Socioeconomic and public health impacts of HABs have expanded regionally and globally in recent decades as a result of the emergence of new toxins and new toxic species, as well as enhanced bloom activity and more impacted resources. Moreover, sustainable development of rapidly growing aquaculture industries has been hindered by HAB-related fish kills and shellfish toxicity events. In this proposed session, we will focus on several aspects of HABs: 1) the dynamics of HABs, from molecular to ecological levels; 2) physiological and molecular response of HAB species to biotic and abiotic stresses;3) monitoring and forecasting of HABs using novel in-situ instrumentation and modeling; 4) development and application of techniques to prevent HABs. Trends of HAB events (species, occurrence, frequency) under the changing climate will also be a topic of interest in this session. A short presentation on the IOC-SCOR GlobalHAB Program will be shared and a general discussion will be held during the session in an effort to strengthen regional and international collaborations in addressing expanding HABs issues in the region.
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B2-Optical sensing of planktons |
Optical sensing of plankton communities and dynamics |
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Session Description: |
High temporal and spatial resolution observations of plankton are essential for the understanding of virtually all marine environments. Remote and in-situ sensor based observations are increasingly employed to meet this challenge. This session invites contributions detailing the optimal collection and interpretation of optical sensor records (e.g. chlorophyll fluorescence and particle backscatter, transmissometer beam attenuation, spectral radiometers, laser-based particle size distributions, etc.) as obtained from ships and autonomous platforms (satellites, moorings, gliders, floats, etc.). Comparison between bulk optical sensors (e.g. FLNTUS, Hydroscat-6, etc.) and imaging sensor records (e.g. FlowCam, UVP, etc.) are very welcome, as are comparison between in-situ and satellite based estimates of community structure and dynamics, and forward or inverse models of optical properties. Contributions examining the use of sensor records to quantify physical-biological coupling are also welcomed, e.g. studies of seasonal dynamics, vertical community structure variations, and comparison to size-based or plankton function type based models and theories of ecosystem function. Studies comparing optical and other approaches, such as acoustics, are also welcome. The goals of the session include sharing ideas and experience with the use of platforms and sensors, discussing and developing optimal interpretation of sensor records, and advancing perspectives on the measurement and understanding of the changing nature of plankton community structure and dynamics. |
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B3-Marine ecological modeling |
Pushing the frontiers of marine ecological modeling: where are we now and how can we move forward? |
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Session Description: |
Marine ecological modeling has undergone an exciting renaissance over the last two decades. Rapid development of ocean observing systems, revolutions in molecular and genomic techniques, and enhanced high-performance computing capabilities have opened new avenues for constraining next-generation marine ecological models. Interpreting and synthesizing a variety of information from genes to ecosystems now becomes the next great challenge for ocean modeling communities. This session will discuss a range of challenges in bridging new observations with model simulations, showcase breakthroughs that tackle these challenges through model innovations and data assimilation, and seek strategies of building a new generation of marine ecological models for better understanding and predicting the ocean’s response to environmental perturbations in the face of climate change. We invite contributions from any discipline that reconcile or confront marine ecological models with observations. |
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G1-River-sea sediment dispersal system |
Sediment Dynamics and Morphodynamics of River-Sea Sediment Dispersal Systems through Space and Time: A Source-to-Sink Perspective |
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Session Description: |
Most sediment in the ocean is supplied from river-sea dispersal systems, large and small, and serves as an important archive for understanding the Earth’s history. Two major factors affecting the basin wide sediment signals of these systems are human influence and global climate change, which determine the sediment load at land-sea interfaces. Long-term sediment dispersal is manifested in the type of depositional systems on the continental shelf, such as subaqueous deltas, mud belts, or clinoforms, and in changes in coastal landforms, such as the evolution between deltaic and estuarine systems. Understanding modern-day processes of sediment dynamics and morphodynamics of these systems will help us better understand the impact of human activity and global climate change on these systems. Such understanding serves as a key to unveiling the past, while these depositional systems also form archives for paleoenvironmental changes, postglacial evolution, and anthropogenic impact. In this session we encourage cross-disciplinary exchange of theoretical, observational, and experimental findings in sediment dispersal systems in the coastal ocean through space and time from a source-to-sink perspective. |
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G2-Ocean, atmosphere & climate: modern and past |
Modern and past processes of ocean-atmosphere-climate interactions in the low-latitude western Pacific and Indian Ocean |
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Session Description: |
The low-latitude western equatorial Pacific and Indian Ocean are affected by numerous globally significant ocean-atmosphere phenomena. Those comprise the Walker and Hadley circulations, the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, the Indian Ocean Dipole Mode, and the monsoon systems. In addition, the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF), which exchanges water masses between the tropical Pacific and the Indian Ocean, is influenced by and modulates climate in the Indo-Pacific region. It also conveys heat and salt to the Indian Ocean Gateway, which, via the Agulhas Leakage, influences overturning circulation strength in the North Atlantic and hence global climate. Modern observations and the examination of climate and oceanographic variability in this region and comparison with other regional records will help to comprehend the role of Indo-Pacific-driven low-latitude processes on global environmental change on a range of timescales throughout the Cenozoic. It is the intention of this session to bring together studies on modern and past oceanographic and climatic dynamics of the tropical western Pacific and Indian Ocean as deduced from modern observations, speleothem and coral archives covering the last centuries and millennia, and marine sedimentary archives spanning the Cenozoic. |
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G3-Corals |
The geochemical and biological study of corals |
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Session Description: |
Corals are amazing marine invertebrates that are the foci of numerous studies over several decades. They build up reefs that support shallow water ecosystem. They are sensitive to environmental stress (e.g. sea-surface temperature and seawater pH) and their skeletons faithfully record ample environmental and biological information in modern and paleo oceans. In this session, we welcome submissions on but not limited to 1) applying geochemical proxies documented in coral skeletons to understanding modern and paleo-climates over the world; 2) advancing our understanding of the origin of the ‘vital effects’ (or biological effect) in coral skeletons; 3) describing and characterizing the physiology and biology of corals, as well as bio-mineralization processes; 4) the response of corals to extreme climate stress.
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M1-Circulation & biogeochemistry in ocean margins |
Circulation, biogeochemistry and carbon cycling in ocean margins |
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Session Description: |
The marginal seas are dynamically coupled to neighboring oceans with complex feedbacks that modulate physical and biogeochemical processes in coastal and open-ocean regions. Energy and materials transport through marginal seas impact global climate, circulation, and the carbon cycle, and, in turn, complicate regional dynamics. These processes have drawn the increasing attention of the community in recent decades, but a mechanistic understanding remains limited. This session is jointly proposed by two multi-disciplinary projects, the CHOICE-C II (Carbon Cycle in the South China Sea: Budget, Controls and Global Implications) and MARCO (Marine Carbon Sequestration: Multiscale Regulation and Response to the Global Change). These projects aim to promulgate critical insights into the physical and biogeochemical mechanisms that regulate carbon dynamics in the South China Sea (SCS), the largest marginal sea in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. This session seeks to contrast the physical and biogeochemical processes in the SCS with other marginal seas, including, for example, the Mediterranean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Sea of Japan, and the East Siberian Arctic Shelf seas (Laptev, East Siberian and Chukchi seas). We welcome all related work in ocean margins, and comparative studies and regional and global syntheses are particularly encouraged. The themes include, but are not limited to, the following aspects: cross-scale interactive physical processes in ocean margins; (2) biogeochemical behavior of carbon, nutrients, and other biogenic elements; (3) transport and transformation of terrestrial organic carbon in the land-shelf-atmosphere system; (4) plankton community structure and the biological carbon pump; (5) molecular mechanisms regulating carbon fixation efficiency as revealed by studies of marine genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics. |
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M2-Biogeochemistry in oligotrophic ocean gyres |
Biogeochemistry in oligotrophic ocean gyres |
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Session Description: |
Oligotrophic gyres in subtropical oceans, traditionally considered as “ocean deserts”, play important roles in the Earth’s climate system. Although these ecosystems are characterized by persistently low plankton biomass, subtropical ocean gyres cover vast regions of the planet, making them dominant contributors to global ocean productivity and significant components of the global carbon cycle. Plankton productivity in these ecosystems appears influenced by complex interactions controlled by the ocean-climate system, including climate forcing of supply bioelements. This session welcomes submissions based on laboratory experiments, field explorations, and/or numerical models to explore patterns and processes in biogeochemistry and ecology of the subtropical gyres, including studies on climate-driven interactions as controls on material cycling in oligotrophic ocean ecosystems.
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M3-The Arctic Ocean: Physics, climate & ecosystem |
The Arctic Ocean: Physical Processes and their Effects on Climate and the Ecosystem
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Session Description: |
http://www.atmosp.physics.utoronto.ca/people/moore/moore.htmlThe Arctic Ocean is undergoing dramatic change. Sea ice extent and thickness have been declining steadily, air temperatures have been rapidly warming, and the hydrological cycle has been accelerating. As a result of the enhanced ice loss, the Arctic Ocean is now more susceptible to dynamic and thermodynamic forcings. For example, the central Arctic has become more energetic due to the increased momentum transfer from the atmosphere to the ocean. At the same time, solar absorption has increased through areas of open water, while more heat is being fluxed from sub-polar latitudes into the Arctic via the ocean and atmosphere. Extreme conditions are becoming more frequent, including increased freshwater content in the Arctic, more common wind-driven upwelling and polynya formation, and larger levels of primary productivity and occurrences of under-ice phytoplankton blooms. The spatial and temporal variability of the Arctic Ocean strongly influences global climate via atmosphere-ocean interaction and Arctic-Subarctic freshwater and heat fluxes. The loss of sea ice has had both local and remote effects on atmospheric circulation, including intensified storms and more frequent extreme weather conditions. Enhanced freshwater export from the Arctic into the Nordic Seas and Labrador Sea, in conjunction with the retreating ice edge, is thought to impact the meridional overturning circulation. In addition to effects on climate, new organisms may start to flourish in the warmer and fresher Arctic. For example, harmful algal blooms are now threatening regional ecosystems in the Pacific sector of the Arctic Ocean. This session aims to understand the: (1) variations and dynamics of the physical processes in the Arctic Ocean and their interaction with the subarctic regions in both the Pacific and Atlantic sectors; (2) climate responses to the declining sea ice, including atmospheric feedbacks and impacts on the North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation; (3) role of physical processes in regulating the Arctic ecosystem. |
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M4-DOM and microbial diversities |
Bridging microbial diversity and chemodiversity of dissolved organic matter to better constrain processes in biogeochemical cycles |
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Session Description: |
Microbes in the world’s oceans are extremely diverse, and so is dissolved organic matter (DOM). With the advancements of molecular technologies and analytical tools, we are now able to explore microbial diversity and chemodiversity of DOM in the aquatic environment in unprecedented detail. It is now possible to explore the relationship between certain microbes and the utilization and transformation of specific DOM signatures. This session explores the current knowledge of the dynamic microbe-DOM relationship and how it relates to the taxonomic and functional diversity of microbial communities, genomics and metagenomics, and the detailed chemical analyses of DOM species. |
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M5-Nitrogen cycling |
Nitrogen cycling in the ocean: From genes to ecosystems and from the past to the future |
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Session Description: |
Nitrogen is a key element for all life on Earth. The status of biologically available nitrogen in the ocean limits primary productivity in many oceanic regions and exerts a strong control on the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. A better understanding of the nitrogen cycle in the modern ocean is thus critical for predicting future changes in the ocean ecosystem and climate, especially given the fact that human activities have dramatically altered the global nitrogen cycle through fertilizer use and fossil fuel combustion. Furthermore, studies of the past can provide an effective way for improving our understanding of the marine nitrogen cycle as well as its connections to other elemental cycles and climate. Recent studies have significantly advanced our understanding of the marine nitrogen cycle across multiple spatial and temporal scales— from genes to ecosystems and from the geological past to the future. This session aims to highlight these advances and welcomes submissions describing new observations, experimental results, modeling studies as well as analytical methods focused on the marine N cycle. |
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OB-Ocean observations |
Ocean Observation: From Microfluidics to Global Scale |
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Session Description: |
Our knowledge of ocean processes is constrained by observational limitations. As policy-makers and the general public become increasingly aware of the importance of marine observations for system-modeling and societal management, efficient and comprehensive monitoring of the dynamic marine environment becomes more and more essential. Traditional shipboard sampling cannot provide data at the scales requisite to accurate modeling of the ocean's complex physical and biogeochemical characteristics. Capabilities to make highly-resolved autonomous measurements on broad spatial and temporal scales in both open-ocean and coastal regions requires the use of autonomous measurements (e.g. shipboard and in situ analyzers/sensors) and platforms (e.g. Argo profiling floats, gliders, and cable-based observing systems). This session will focus on both the technical developments and their applications in ocean observations at regional and global scales. |
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E1-Marine environment and ecosystem |
Marine pollution, ecotoxicology and sustainability |
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Session Description: |
Because of increasing anthropogenic activities, environmental pollutants enter the marine environments mainly through riverine inputs, atmospheric deposition, and direct discharge, subsequently affecting the molecular, physiological, developmental, reproductive and survival of marine organisms, and jeopardizing the bio-diversity, composition, function, and services of existing marine ecosystems. This session aims to facilitate interdisciplinary discussion among environmental scientists, chemists, biologists, and oceanographers in order to integrate current knowledge on the fate and transport of pollutants in marine environments, bioaccumulation and bioavailability, underlying toxic mechanisms, and their ecological effects. All studies in the areas of marine pollution and ecotoxicology are welcome to this session. |
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E2-Marine policies and strategies |
Policies and Strategies for Ocean and Marine Governance: North-South participation for Economic and Social development of Coastal Regions |
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Session Description: |
Oxygen levels in the ocean and coastal waters are decreasing. This is a driver for change in coastal and marine ecosystems in all parts of the globe. This session on marine pollution and deoxygenation aims to (1) create a regional network in different parts of the globe consisting of interdisciplinary stakeholders working on issues related to deoxygenation and its impacts on coastal, ocean and marine ecology and economy. (2) undertake a series of activities including the preparation of a status paper, research papers and manuals, regional workshops, and training courses on different issues related to ocean governance and policy analysis for ocean deoxygenation and its impacts on coastal, ocean and marine resources, marine and coastal policies, integrated coastal and marine resources management. The Session also focuses on impacts of urbanization on ocean deoxygenation, role of different stakeholders and the institutional framework in ocean governance, ocean pollution and climate change, and case studies on ocean and coastal governance influencing the ocean deoxygenation. This session will also seek larger cooperations - regional, national, and international level on ocean governance, to build the capacity for participation in the Decade of Ocean Science, SCOR and SOLAS, WMO, UN-Ocean and other institutional activities. The aim of the session is to highlight the importance of marine pollution and ocean deoxygenation and its interrelatedness with urbanization, climate change, ecological changes, coastal human interactions, policies and governance required for monitoring ocean oxygen changes.
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ED-Education and Scientific Communication |
Communicate Your Science: Outreach in the 21st Century |
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Session Description: |
Over the last decade or so, there has been a visible shift in how scientists communicate their research, both to their peers and to the larger, non-science community. It is no longer enough for scientists to sit in their labs and churn out paper after paper as publication day is no longer the endpoint but the beginning. In today’s world it is also necessary to justify the impact of one’s research on the larger community. As such, more researchers are investing time and resources in the promotion of their research within the scientific community and beyond, making use of new communications channels such as social media, flash talks and video. The focus of this session is to discuss and highlight some of the techniques used by top outreach specialists and science communicators today, from a variety of fields, to engage both scientists and non-scientists alike. Both “traditional” and “new” methods used in outreach and communications will be discussed and participants will be encouraged to share their own experiences as well. |
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General Session |
General Marine Environmental Science |
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Session Description: |
Marine environmental science is multidisciplinary by nature and thus requires cooperative interactions of researchers from different disciplines. For contemporary research areas in marine environmental science, e.g., global change related issues, it is particularly challenging in need of concentrated and inspiring multidisciplinary efforts. This session aims to bring together researchers and engineers from different disciplines (physicists, biogeochemists, geologists, environmentalists, biologists, modelers, etc.) to provide a platform for communicating on new understanding of the ocean environment in the context of global change. This session covers topics of marine environmental science not addressed by special sessions of XMAS-IV and is an ideal avenue to present multidisciplinary and cross-disciplinary research activities. |
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SPS1-Marine monitoring methods and instruments |
Development of monitoring methods and instruments for marine environmental parameters |
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In order to provide technical support for marine monitoring, the research team of marine environmental monitoring instruments focuses on the development of various analytical methods and instruments. The target analytes include trace nutrients, metals and total alkalinity in seawater.
In trace nutrients and metals analyses, various advanced methodologies, including flow analysis, loop analysis, solid phase extraction, catalytic spectrophotometry, fluorescence spectrophotometry, long optical pathlength flow cell methodology, are used to improve analytical sensitivity and selectivity. The detection limits of phosphates, nitrate, nitrite, ammonium, iron (II)/(III), manganese and aluminum are as low as nmol/L. In the determination of total alkalinity, based on automatic single titration and spectrophotometric pH measurement technique, system precision can reach 2 µmol/kg with high spatial and temporal resolution.
The methods and instruments have the advantages of high sensitivity, precision, stability, reliability, fast analysis speed, and have been applied in field, both shipboard and underway, to obtain environmental data for marine research. |
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SPS2-PACECS-MEMCS |
PACECS: Processes and Approaches of Coastal Ecosystem Carbon Sequestration/ MEMCS: Mechanisms and Environmental Effects of Microbes on Carbon Sequestration
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This poster session will bring together scientists to present and discuss new research in the projects PACECS (National Key R&D Program of China “Climate Change Program”, PI: Yao Zhang) and MEMCS (NSFC Major Research Program “Hydrosphere Microorganism Program”, PI: Nianzhi Jiao).
The ocean is the largest carbon pool on earth, serving as a buffer of global climate change, absorbing about 1/3 of CO2 produced by human activities. Carbon captured by the marine ecosystem is called the "Blue Carbon Sink", which is one of the most important mechanisms for the sea to store carbon. The initial form of blue carbon is visible plant carbon sequestration in the coastal zone. As a matter of fact, the invisible microorganisms (phytoplankton, bacteria, archaea, and protozoa), which have always been ignored, account for 90% of the marine biomass and constitutes the main component of blue carbon. The marginal sea covers one third of the total territory of China, and the immense potential of these carbon sinks must be explored. The project PACECS looks at the key processes and mechanisms of carbon sequestration in coastal ecosystems and ways to increase the ocean carbon sink.
The "microbial carbon pump" (MCP) is the major mechanism of the marine carbon sink. The increasing eutrophication of coastal waters in China is often accompanied by environmental problems such as algal blooms, hypoxia, and acidification, which may affect the carbon storage efficiency of the MCP. The project MEMCS looks at the processes and mechanisms of the MCP under hypoxic and acidic situations by combining field investigations, laboratory research, and mesocosm experiments.
We welcome scientists who are interested in microbial ecology, microbially driven carbon, nitrogen, and sulphur biogeochemical cycles to exchange new findings and ideas. |
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SPS3-CHOICE-C II |
Carbon Cycle in the South China Sea: Budget, Controls and Global Implications |
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The open ocean, coastal ocean and terrestrial ecosystem are three major components modulating atmospheric CO2 and thereby the earth climate system. The complexity of carbon cycling in the coastal ocean under the impact of both land inputs and dynamic exchanges with the open ocean make it a huge challenge to be included in any realistic prognostic climate simulations. CHOICE-C II is a five-year (January 2015 to August 2019) interdisciplinary research project involving 19 PIs/CoIs from 4 institutes in Mainland China and Hong Kong, renewed by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China based on the CHOICE-C (Carbon Cycling in China Seas: Budget, Controls and Ocean Acidification) project. Through comparative studies of carbon cycling in River-dominated Ocean Margins (RiOMar, the northern South China Sea shelf being a case) and Ocean-dominated Margins (OceMar, the South China Sea basin being a case), CHOICE-C II focuses on the carbon cycle in the South China Sea in terms of its budget, controls and global implications. The key question we sought to answer is: “Why are some marginal seas a source of atmospheric CO2, while others are a sink?” So far, we have conducted extensive interdisciplinary mapping measurements and process studies and have developed a novel coupled physical-biogeochemical modelling system to diagnose factors controlling the CO2 source and sink in the South China Sea. This poster session presents our current achievements from four interlinked tasks in CHOICE-C II to determine (1) CO2 source and sink patterns and its major biogeochemical controls; (2) Carbon fixation of phytoplankton and its controls in the carbon cycle; (3) Recycling and export of organic carbon and coupling between C, N and Si; and (4) Physical controls, synthesis and future trends. |
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SPS4-OCEAN_HK |
Ocean Circulation, Ecosystem and Hypoxia around Hong Kong Waters |
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The coastal waters around Hong Kong are affected by persistent and increasing eutrophication. This deteriorating situation may increase the frequency of HABs, expand the area of hypoxic zones and lead to other ecosystem disruptions. OCEAN_HK is a five-year grand interdisciplinary research project funded by the Hong Kong Research Grant Council to develop diagnostic and prognostic capabilities for eutrophication and marine ecosystem dynamics, and to provide a scientifically-based strategy for future water treatment/protection schemes and for the overall sustainability of the marine environment in Hong Kong and adjacent waters. Specific goals of the project are to: 1) study the inherent coupled physical-biogeochemical-pollutant processes as functions of multiple nutrient sources for eutrophication and associated ecosystem consequences; 2) investigate the roles that pollutants play in HABs, their accumulation and transformation through the food web, and their eco-toxicological disruption of ecosystems; 3) characterize the spatial and temporal nature and quantify the future trends of marine eutrophication and associated hypoxia, HABs and ecosystem degradation around Hong Kong. The project involves 12 PIs/CoIs from institutes in Hong Kong and Mainland China. So far, we have conducted extensive interdisciplinary field measurements and, based on them, developed a novel coupled physical-biogeochemical-pollutant modelling system with advanced data assimilation to diagnose eutrophication, hypoxia, persistent toxic substances, HABs, and ocean acidification in the Pearl River-Estuary-Shelf (RES) waters off Hong Kong. This poster session presents our current achievements from four interlinked tasks in OCEAN_HK to determine (1) the sources and sinks of nutrients and biogeochemical controls, (2) ecosystem dynamics and biological controls, (3) pollutant and ecosystem impacts, and (4) physical controls, synthesis, and future trends in RES waters. |
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SPS5-MARCO |
Marine Carbon Sequestration (MARCO): Multiscale Regulation and Response to Global Change
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The ocean plays a critical role in regulating the global carbon cycle and affecting the climate system, because it is one of the largest reservoirs of carbon dioxide on Earth. The ocean absorbs and sequesters carbon dioxide mainly through two pathways: the biological pump and the microbial carbon pump. Studies have shown that global change has been exerting significant influence on marine organisms and modifying the ecosystem structure; the efficiencies of both the biological pump and the microbial carbon pump are expected to change accordingly, which is indicated by the results of studies conducted in open ocean environments. It demands more studies to provide insights into the mechanisms regulating carbon sequestration in the marginal seas because more than half of marine carbon is buried there. In this poster session, we welcome contributions from the MARCO team and other studies concerning all aspects of carbon sequestration in marine ecosystems including but not limited to (1) the biological pump and the microbial carbon pump processes; (2) pelagic ecosystem structure relating to varying carbon export efficiencies; (3) molecular mechanisms regulating carbon sequestration efficiency in the deep ocean revealed by genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics; (4) effects of ocean acidification on carbon and nitrogen fixation and sequestration; and (5) dynamics of ocean carbon reservoirs relating to global change. |
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SPS6-SCS-deep |
Evolution of Deep Sea Processes in the South China Sea |
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The South China Sea (SCS) is the largest marginal sea of the North Pacific Ocean. It serves as a natural laboratory for investigating tectonic interaction of marginal seas with the adjacent Eurasian, Indo-Australian, and Pacific plates. The SCS is also critically situated at the gateway between the Pacific and Indian Ocean, playing a vital role in moderating climate changes and carbon cycles at multi-time scales. Funded as a major research program by the NSFC and launched in 2011, “the Evolution of Deep Sea Processes in the South China Sea (SCS-Deep)” is so far the largest NSFC-sponsored marine research program in China with a total budget of 190 million RMB, aiming to reveal the deep sea processes characteristic of the evolution of the marginal seas. The last several years have witnessed major progress in investigating the SCS through multidisciplinary initiatives and enhanced international collaborations, including three scientific drilling expeditions (IODP Exp. 349 in 2014, IODP Exps. 367 and 368 in 2017), three deep submersible cruises, time-series mooring and seafloor observations, and near bottom magnetic anomaly measurements. We have achieved breakthroughs in understanding how the basin formed (from rifting, spreading, to subduction) and how the hydrological and carbon systems operated at multiple time scales. The SCS-Deep program is now in her final stage of synthesis and integration and this poster session presents the highlights of the latest and exciting multidisciplinary research aligned by three integrated research groups: (1) Tectonics and magmatic activities, (2) Sedimentary records and paleoceanography, and (3) Biogeochemistry. This session also provides opportunities of discussion for further international collaborations in SCS research. |
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