International scientists to gather for major air-water gas exchange summit

9 May 2022

The profound implications of gas and particle exchange between the ocean and atmosphere - including the ocean’s vital role in absorbing carbon dioxide - will be in focus next week (17^th-20^th) at the 8th International Symposium on Gas Transfer at Water Surfaces, hosted by Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML).

Designed to bring together the scientific community investigating theory and applications of Gas Transfer at Water Surfaces, the five-day hybrid Symposium will focus on the physical, chemical and biological processes that govern atmosphere-water exchange, and will feature more than fifty talks by leading international experts.

This topic is globally-important - the most widely-known example of air-water gas transfer is the ocean’s uptake of ~30% of the atmospheric carbon dioxide that has resulted from fossil fuel burning. The ocean’s absorption of carbon dioxide has slowed the impact of anthropogenic climate change, but is also causing ocean acidification and negatively impacting the marine ecosystem.

PML’s Professor Tom Bell, who specialises in the role the ocean plays in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and the natural emissions of other climate-relevant gases in the marine environment said:

“This is an excellent opportunity to bring together leading minds on the vital issues surrounding our understanding of air-sea gas exchange, and to consider the implications for our collective future. It is crucial to understand how future changes in human behaviour and emissions will manifest in the environment and how we can mitigate their impacts. The scope of the conference covers all domains where air and water meet - including freshwater, estuarine, coastal, open ocean and polar regions. Having had to delay since 2020 due to Covid, we are delighted to finally be hosting it in Plymouth. We are looking forward to welcoming scientists in-person and online for what promises to be a highly insightful and inspiring event.”  

Please note that registration for the event is still open for remote attendance (in-person ticket sale has now ended). See the eventbrite ticket website for more details.

Speakers include:

Lucy Carpenter (University of York)  - The role of chemistry in air-sea fluxes
Christa Marandino (GEOMAR, Kiel) - Open ocean eddy covariance measurements of dimethylsulfide and carbon dioxide: What have they taught us?
Sally McIntyre (University of California)  - Near-surface Turbulence in Arctic, Temperate, and Tropical Inland Waters: Implications for Gas Fluxes
David Woolf (Heriot Watt University)  - The peculiar characteristics of air-water gas transfer across a broken surface
Luc Deike (Princeton University, USA) - Understanding and modeling bubble mediated gas transfer by breaking waves
Leonnie Esters (Uppsale University, Sweden) - The effect of non-local processes on eddy covariance air-lake gas fluxes
Prof Peter Liss FRS (University of East Anglia) - Claw - Dead or Alive? 

Visit the event webpage to find out more.