Call for Session Abstracts
The Arctic Ocean: Physical Processes and their Effects on Climate and the Ecosystem
Xiamen Symposium on Marine Environmental Sciences
Abstract submission deadline: 31 August 2018
For more information and to submit an abstract, go to:
http://mel.xmu.edu.cn/conference/4xmas/index.asp
Organizers invite session abstracts for the Fourth Xiamen Symposium on Marine Environmental Sciences. This conference will convene 6-9 January 2019 in Xiamen, China.
Conveners of the following session invite abstract submissions:
SESSION M3: The Arctic Ocean: Physical Processes and their Effects on Climate and the Ecosystem
Conveners: Peigen Lin, Robert S. Pickart, and G.W.K. Moore
The 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 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; climate responses to the declining sea ice, including atmospheric feedbacks and impacts on the North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation; and role of physical processes in regulating the Arctic ecosystem.
Abstract submission deadline: 31 August 2018
For more information and to submit an abstract, go to:
http://mel.xmu.edu.cn/conference/4xmas/index.asp