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SOLAS coordinates international field programmes; the exchange of data, analytical techniques, and ideas; utilisation of research platforms; and the development of the next generation of SOLAS researchers.

Biogeochemical Exchange Processes at Sea-Ice Interfaces (BEPSII)

BEPSII is an open network for international knowledge exchange related to Biogeochemcial Exchanges Processe at sea ice Interface.

BEPSII is aiming at identifying the feedbacks between biogeochemical and physical processes at the ocean-ice-snow-atmosphere interfaces and within the sea-ice matrix as well as quantifying the role of sea ice in polar ecosystem services – from biodiversity impacts to climate change – and communicate these globally-relevant issues.

Read more about BEPSII

BEPSII is co-chaired by Jacqueline Stefels (The Netherlands) and Nadja Steiner (Canada).

BEPSII is supported by SOLAS and the Climate and Cryosphere programme (CliC) as a long-lived activity, and received endorsement from the Scientific Committee of Antarctic Research (SCAR) in 2016.

BEPSII published its 5-year workplan for phase 2. You can download the BEPSII workplan here: https://sites.google.com/site/bepsiiwg140/outcomes

Read about the annual meetings of BEPSII in the SOLAS Event Reports: 2016 Meeting (Issue 3), 2019 Meeting (Issue 16), 2023 Meeting (Issue 32). The inaugural BEPSII Sea-Ice School 2022 was archived in the Report Issue 31.

Website: https://sites.google.com/site/bepsiiwg140/home

Cryosphere and Atmospheric Chemistry (CATCH)

The CATCH mission is to facilitate atmospheric chemistry research within the international community, with a focus on natural processes specific to cold regions of the Earth. Cold regions include areas which are seasonally or permanently covered by snow and ice, from the high mountains to the polar ice sheets and sea ice zones as well as regions where ice clouds that undergo chemistry are found.

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CATCH aims to engage and support scientists that focus on:

  • How physical, chemical, biological, and ecological changes in the polar oceans, sea ice, and snow impact atmospheric chemistry
  • How atmosphere-ocean interactions determine atmospheric chemistry
  • Understanding feedbacks between cryospheric climate change and atmospheric chemistry
  • How aerosols are formed and processed in cold regions
  • Aerosols and their role in cloud formation
  • Using ice core records to understanding past atmospheric composition

These objectives are archieved by designing joint projects in the field, lab, and via modeling studies as well as collaborating across disciplines.

CATCH is jointly sponsored by SOLAS and the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC) Project. It is co-chaired by Thorsten Bartels-Rausch (Switzerland) and Markus Frey (UK).

Read about the CATCH annual meeting and CATCH Open Science Workshop in the SOLAS Event Reports. Issue 4 reports on the 2016 meeting, while issue 17 reports CATCH Open Science Workshop in 2019.

Latest publication: Thomas, JL, et al. 2019. Fostering multidisciplinary research on interactions between chemistry, biology, and physics within the coupled cryosphere-atmosphere system. Elementa Science of the Anthropocene, 7: 58. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.396

CATCH Website: https://www.catchscience.org/

Integrated Ocean Carbon Research (IOC-R) Working Group

SOLAS, in cooperation with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the International Ocean Carbon Coordination Project (IOCCP), the Integrated Marine Biosphere Research (IMBeR) project, the project on Climate and Ocean Variability, Predictability and Change (CLIVAR), and the Global Carbon Project (GCP) work on new and integrated directions in ocean carbon research.

Read more about IOC-R

Parvadha Suntharalingam and Rik Wanninkhof have been appointed as SOLAS representatives to the steering committee of the working group.

On 28-30 October 2019, the first meeting to identify ocean carbon research priorities took place at IOC-UNESCO in Paris, France.

In April 2021, the IOC-R working group published the report on "Integrated Ocean Carbon Research: A Summary of Ocean Carbon Knowledge and a Vision for Coordinated Ocean Carbon Research and Observations for the Next Decade."

Download the report here: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000376708

SOLAS/IMBER Carbon (SIC) and SOLAS/IMBeR Ocean Acidification (SIOA) Working Groups

In 2006, SOLAS and the Integrated Marine Biosphere Research (IMBeR) programme launched a joint working group on Ocean Carbon.

The SOLAS/IMBER Carbon (SIC) working group was divided into three subgroups: Surface Ocean System, Interior Ocean Carbon, and Ocean Acidification. The International Ocean Carbon Coordination Project (IOCCP) also joined as a co-sponsor. The first two subgroups, on surface and interior oceans, are currently re-organising with support of additional organisations to form a new Carbon Think Tank (IOC-R). More information is available above.

The third subgroup is SOLAS/IMBeR Ocean Acidification (SIOA).

Read more about SIOA

The tasks of this subgroup are the coordination of international research efforts and synthesis activities in ocean acidification. At its first meeting (1-3 Dec 2009 at IOC-UNESCO, Paris), the SIOA identified topics for immediate attention:

  • Integration of the ocean acidification observing network with the ocean carbon network
  • Promotion of international experiments
  • Sharing experimental platforms
  • Regular updates of the Guide for best practices on OA reserarch & data reporting
  • Guiding principles on data sharing
  • Training students and early career scientists
  • Intercomparison exercises
  • Promote international exchange of students and postdocs
  • Promote collaboration between the natural and social sciences

Read about the Ocean Acidification practical training and networking meeting which took place in Dakar, Senegal, in 2017, in the SOLAS Event Report Issue 2.

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