SCIENTIFIC SESSIONS

Weather and climate monitoring have become vitally important in the modern world to keep citizens safe and informed, and to help us understand how our climate is changing. Environmental observing networks are designed and operated to meet national and international data and service requirements; however, the methods used to monitor weather and climate can have both positive and negative environmental impacts. The detrimental environmental impacts of collecting critical weather and climate observations, while acknowledged, are often superseded by financial and operational feasibility considerations. Globally, we are seeing major organizations moving toward “greener” operational models. In line with this trend, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has launched an initiative to enhance the environmental sustainability of observing systems and methods, with the Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC) serving as the international focal point. This initiative will advance recommendations to reduce the environmental impact of observing technologies and practices, guiding WMO Member states to adopt cleaner, sustainable approaches in all areas of their work. The WMO initiative covers meteorological, marine, hydrological, and atmospheric chemistry observational domains, and will inform the future vision for the WMO Integrated Global Observing System (WIGOS), which fuels global environmental prediction. This session will share information on the WMO initiative on Environmental Sustainability of Observations and its progress to date. It will provide a venue to discuss greener and more sustainable observing technologies and approaches, and to explore linkages with other greening initiatives. The session will also consider opportunities and implementation challenges from both operational and policy perspectives, with the goal of inspiring a paradigm shift toward more environmentally sustainable approaches to weather and climate monitoring.

Many of Canada’s most costly natural disasters are caused by severe convective storms. Insured losses from these storms are increasingly reaching the billion dollar mark. Anthropogenic climate change may significantly alter the probability of such disasters occurring in the future. This session will focus on severe convective storms and their hazards (tornadoes, downbursts, hail, heavy rainfall), and in particular their detection, prediction, historical climatology and possible future climatology. This includes a wide range of possible topics, from event case studies and verification statistics to climatological trend analyses and modelling future changes to storms and/or hazards. The session aims to highlight new insights that improve our physical understanding of, and our detection and prediction capabilities for, such events. A 30-min invited presentation is likely to lead off the session.

On September 23rd, 2022, severe post-tropical cyclone Fiona underwent rapid extratropical transition from a category-3 major hurricane as it tracked just north of Bermuda and made landfall in Nova Scotia early on September 24th. This very large and powerful storm brought extreme winds, 2m+ storm surge and devastating ocean waves to many parts of Atlantic Canada. The storm set a new national record for lowest sea level pressure of a marine cyclone making landfall in Canada. Near ¾ of a billion dollars in insured damage was inflicted on the region and almost all residents described the storm as the worst in their memory. Fiona was the costliest natural disaster in Atlantic Canada’s history. In this session, we invite topic submissions related to the forecasting of all aspects of this event, including the factors that made it so severe in terms of wind, storm surge and ocean waves. We also welcome submissions that focus on the impact the storm had on the ocean and in particular the Gulf of St Lawrence and the severe dynamic-fetch waves that impacted southwestern Newfoundland. Any studies or reports related to the social science aspects of this severe storm such as forecast communication, preparedness and impacts are sought as well.

This session will focus on activities related to using and improving Nowcasting systems. There is particular interest in operational Nowcasting and in associated research topics that offer promising support for Nowcasting in operational weather forecasting. Topics of interest include but are not limited to:

Better use of existing and new sources of observation data

Nowcasting techniques

Point nowcasting versus nowcasting on a grid

Blending techniques for nowcasting with numerical weather prediction data

Deterministic versus probabilistic nowcasts

New methods like machine learning and artificial intelligence of interest to nowcasting

Verification techniques applied to current weather, high impact weather, societal impacts

Nowcasting systems to support urban centers in high impact weather Conditions

Extending nowcasting systems to new types of products like UV Index nowcasts, renewable energy nowcasts

With the growth of big data and advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), the field of meteorology is poised for significant advancements that will help us better understand and predict weather patterns.

This panel session will bring together top experts in the field of meteorology and AI to discuss the future of this critical area of research. The first guest, from Environment and Climate change Canada (ECCC), will address the current state of AI in weather forecasting in Canada. The second guest, from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), will discuss their roadmap for the next 10 years in machine learning. Finally, a representative from DeepMind will present their work on "GraphCast: Learning skillful medium-range global weather forecasting".

The panelists will provide a view of the future of meteorology and AI, exploring both the potential benefits and challenges that lie ahead. This session will be dynamic, with an interactive format that includes a discussion period. Participants will have the opportunity to engage directly with the panelists, ask questions, and share their own perspectives.

With its diverse lineup of panelists, engaging format, and critical discussion of the future of meteorology and AI, this session promises to be an enlightening and thought-provoking experience for all participants. The session will be held in hybrid mode, with the possibility of attending in person or virtually. Make sure to mark your calendar!

This MSC session aims to provide an overview of the myriad of numerical modelling tools and services offered by the development division at CMC, and to look at how new innovations are helping bridge the gap between raw modelling output and the production of weather forecasts for Canadians. Modelling data is provided to support many client requirements, and the community must be actively modernizing to adapt to changing demands. Presentations will cover the specifics of the systems and products now in use, discuss how updates will unfold in the years ahead (including the process for continuous development), examine different means by which the application of post processing algorithms can add value to the numerical data, and show examples of how these systems can aid in the forecasting process. The goal of these presentations is to outline what is happening within the modelling community, and to stimulate discussion about how to meet future needs.

This session will cover the latest research on precipitation measurement and modeling techniques for improved hydrometeorological analysis. Presentations will cover topics such as regional climate modeling, accuracy assessments of precipitation measurement tools, the impact of solid precipitation assimilation on analysis systems, the effects of model resolution on simulated precipitation types and snowfall projections. The discussions will focus on identifying the challenges and solutions to improving accuracy and reliability of hydrometeorologic data, as well as their implications.

Air quality monitoring and prediction is one of the main operational goals of ECCC, underpinning the continued safety of Canadians from many forms of air pollution, e.g., urban, wildfire smoke, industrial, and rural wood-burning.  The advent of low-cost air quality gas and aerosol sensors is changing the landscape of high-density monitoring, but requires careful consideration of what is lost in comparison to high-cost "federal reference method" instrumentation.  At the same time, advances in air quality forecasting, which make the issuing of the Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) possible, are challenged by the high volumes of real-time but heterogeneous surface and satellite-based data regarding aerosol and gas concentrations, as well as wildfire smoke events.  This session welcomes all contributions related to AQ monitoring and prediction.

Climate action needs to be based on accurate knowledge of the emissions, distribution, and sinks of greenhouse gases. The objective of Canada and other nations to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emission requires the monitoring of atmospheric greenhouse gases concentrations at unprecedented levels, to understand their variations, identify optimal emission control strategies and verify achievement of reduction goals based on inventories. We welcome abstracts aiming to address this grand challenge and to improve the science and technology of greenhouse gas monitoring, including but not limited to the following aspects:

Science and technology developments to measure greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, methane, and other potent radiative gases, in the atmosphere and from emissions sources at varying scales ranging from global to national, regional and city levels.

Field as well as theoretical and modeling studies, especially those deploying a top-down measurement-based approach, to understand greenhouse gas distribution in space and time and to identify and quantify emission sources.

We encourage submissions using a wide range of measurement methods including mobile surveys, eddy flux measurements, isotopic analyses for source apportionment, remote sensing from the ground and from space, vertical profiling, and studies that compare direct measurements with inventory-based emission estimates.

Changes in climate have the potential to create significant disruption and uncertainty in marine ecosystems and sector activities. This includes changes in sea surface temperature and the pH of ocean water, which can alter marine ecosystems and food security through the supply of seafood products. Rising sea level contributes to coastal flooding that can turn dry land into wetland or open water, and affect coastal infrastructure. Moreover, the intensification of extreme events, such as storm intensity and frequency, and the change in the extent of sea ice are expected to affect all maritime transport and port activities. This session seeks contributions to explore the state of climate projections for the marine sector and facilitates an understanding of how such projections inform sectoral planning, policy, and decision-making. Contributions are invited across the full range of climate projections for the marine sector, including sea-level change, change in sea ice extent, future losses to coastal zones, changes in storm intensity and frequency, changes in sea surface temperature, changes in the pH of ocean water and changes in other sea variables used to track the health of the oceans. The conveners seek to improve the understanding of climate projections by identifying their limitations and improved methodologies to reduce and quantify uncertainties, with the goal of supporting adaptation to climate change in the Canadian marine sector.

This session invites contributions that deal with climate variability and predictions on subseasonal, seasonal, interannual and decadal-interdecadal time scales. Contributions are solicited on topics including studies of the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) and tropical waves, El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO), atmospheric circulation patterns, tropical-extratropical interaction and teleconnections, and impacts of these processes on predictability and predictions. Equally welcome are contributions on extended- and long-range weather forecasts, and predictions of climate variability on various time scales, including ensemble and initialization techniques, model development, forecast skill assessment, downscaling and calibration, and end-user value and applications. Results from diagnostic, modelling, model inter-comparison, and theoretical approaches are all welcome.

Earth’s climate is strongly impacted by its radiative budget, yet climate models are unable to accurately reproduce various aspects pertaining to Earth’s radiation budget compared to observations. Our planet’s projected climate change is also highly uncertain in large part due to the contribution of radiative feedbacks in the climate system. These feedbacks are induced by various changes in the climate system such as clouds, water vapour, temperature, aerosols and surface albedo, including sea ice in the polar regions, in response to a perturbation to Earth’s climate system. Climate radiative feedbacks play an important role in Earth’s projected climate change by amplifying or damping Earth’s surface temperature response to a radiative forcing such as an increase in anthropogenic-induced greenhouse gas emissions. This session invites submissions on advances in the study of radiative forcing and feedbacks in Earth’s climate system. Applications and analyses of small and large-scale models, comparisons against observations and theory are welcome.

The 2022 release of Resourceful, Resilient, Ready: Canada’s Strategy for Satellite Earth Observation will build on 25 years of Canadian EO expertise and position Canada to more effectively leverage satellite earth observation (SEO) to address key priorities, including climate change mitigation and adaptation.

This strategy will help to inform Canada’s plans for SEO for the next 15 years and ensure Canada will maximize the benefits of SEO in pursuit of these objectives:

Harness Earth observation to tackle climate change and other important issues;

Ensure that Earth observation data is free, open and accessible, to the maximum extent possible, to advance cutting-edge science;

Strengthen the delivery of critical services to keep Canadians healthy, safe and informed;

Inspire the next generation of Canadians to pursue studies and careers that use Earth observation skills.

This session will encourage contributions from across the full SEO value chain, upstream, midstream and downstream, to illustrate the activities currently underway in Canada, involving industry, academia and government.

This session combines submissions that document studies of the dynamics of the atmosphere, oceans and/or climate system. The scope of the session is deliberately broad in order to include research that spans a broad range of spatial and temporal scales. Studies of the dynamics of mesoscale processes that act on hourly timescales are as welcome in this session as those that document the evolution of planetary-scale structures in a changing climate. Such investigations may include diagnoses and theoretical studies of forecast, climate, and process models, or studies based on reanalysis and other observational datasets; however, any topic that is relevant to atmosphere, ocean, or climate dynamics will fit well into this session. Please note we have run this session at CMOS Congresses since around 2009.

This interdisciplinary session will present emerging scientific results on the rapidly changing Arctic and northern environment. The physical environment of the Arctic has changed dramatically over the past decades with the underlying causes of these changes, in terms of the cryosphere, oceanography, hydrology and meteorology, being addressed through various scientific approaches. The application of the scientific results in relation to policy issues associated with federal government and Indigenous-led management efforts will be considered. The importance of Arctic research and its consequences in looking ahead is very timely and pertinent to informing northern communities, the public and contributing to a range of policy issues in this strategically important part of Canada. Papers are sought from research, science and policy activities that are nearing completion, currently being undertaken, or those planned and just getting underway.

Earth System Models (ESMs) are the principal tools used to understand and attribute past climate changes, to make projections of future climate, and to carry out near-term environmental predictions. The Canadian research community pursues collaborative research with ESMs across many domains, from the perspective of atmosphere/ocean science, cryospheric science, carbon-cycle science, and research related to land surface and hydrological processes. This collaborative research occurs within Canada and internationally, within government and academic settings, and within academic-government partnerships. Whatever the setting, the complexity and technical challenges associated with ESMs pose barriers to their development, application, and analysis without formal collaborative structures and advanced technical tools to facilitate their use. New technologies, including machine-learning and novel data-science approaches, advanced version control systems, reproducible runtime environments (containers), community analysis packages, and common computing resources are affording new collaborative opportunities from development to analysis to application. This session invites submissions on Earth System Models and modelling applications taking place in Canada, ranging from model descriptions through to applications and analysis procedures, across many earth system science domains that are unified by their use of ESMs and could be enhanced by stronger collaborative partnerships. Areas of interest include atmospheric/ocean model process and parameterization development (including sea-ice modelling), short-lived climate forcers and geoengineering/climate intervention, carbon cycle modelling (including climate change mitigation approaches such as atmospheric carbon dioxide removal), land-surface model development and application, and sea-ice/land-ice modelling. We invite submissions covering the modelling environment within Canada (including CanESM, the UVic ESM, GEM-NEMO, CanRCM, CRCM, etc.) and internationally (including CESM, WRF, CliMA, etc.)). We seek to continue the discussion concerning challenges and opportunities for collaboration between universities, government laboratories, and the private sector; and the scientific results emerging from such collaborations.

This session invites contributions on data modelling and reproducible science that yield insight into processes of an atmospheric, oceanic, or hydrologic nature. All sources of data (theoretical, numerical, observational, and combined products) and processes covering any range of scales are of interest. Methods that employ any modelling language are welcome, as are general reviews and perspectives on data modelling in related scientific fields. We especially prompt submissions on:

Reproducible workflows, open repositories, and collaborative efforts

Discovery of patterns in big data and their connection to processes

Machine learning of parameterizations intended as embedded process models

Methods of verification, including proposals that address simplified or complex models

Metrological challenges of traceability in weather/climate data

Calibration and validation using familiar geophysical datasets as a reference

Climate change is impacting the Subarctic region of Labrador, and the ocean ecology of the Labrador Sea. Nunatsiavut is an Inuit self-governing territory located in northern Labrador which has been experiencing rapid climate change, increasingly affecting the livelihoods and well-being of Labrador Inuit living in coastal communities. Temperatures are rising and sea ice extents have declined by as much as 75% since 1968, affecting safe travel over the land (including the water and ice). The historical institutional lack of scientific data collection in this region, particularly ocean physical and biophysical data, is being addressed today by an expanding network of ocean science projects co-led by academic-indigenous research partnerships, and through the expanding ocean and environmental stewardship efforts of the Nunatsiavut Government. There is also an increasing appreciation amongst academia and government researchers of the depth of Inuit knowledge of the ocean, sea ice, weather and climate in the region. Efforts are thus underway with the aim to bring together Inuit and western scientific knowledge to develop climate change and environmental management plans which emphasize Labrador Inuit accessing their lands and resources safely and sustainably. This session will feature results from projects undertaken, past and present, in this region across the realm of marine system science that will be used to inform Nunatsiavut community members and other stakeholders of projected future changes in the marine environment and contribute to marine stewardship.

Satellite Earth observation provides a unique global perspective on our planet’s atmosphere and surface, including the oceans, land, vegetation, ice, and snow. Current and planned satellite missions from Canada and international agencies have provided and will provide a wealth of new information about the Earth system and that can be used to investigate a wide range of environmental and scientific questions. This session encourages contributions from across the full Earth observation value chain, upstream, midstream and downstream. This includes new measurement technologies and techniques, both passive and active; mission development; retrieval algorithms; demonstration and calibration of instruments; validation of satellite products; assimilation of data into numerical models; scientific results and discoveries; operational utilization and development of services.

Environmental information is increasingly important to access, use, and understand to support planning and decision making in communities. There are increasing calls for collaborative research with and for communities, with research being operationalized through myriad initiatives that are locally adapted and culturally relevant, such as community-based monitoring and observing programs. While many researchers are interested in working with communities, it can be overwhelming at times to know how to respectfully approach and engage in this type of research. This can be particularly challenging given the broad spectrum of community-engagement that can take place in environmental research and the lack of an overarching approach that can be applied in diverse settings. Yet, there are novel approaches to conducting research with communities being implemented across Canada. While research with communities presents many opportunities, there are also inherent tensions that must be considered. Reflecting on challenges and opportunities offers valuable insights for researchers wanting to engage with this type of research. This session encourages presenters from diverse research programs that can share lessons learned in working with Indigenous and other local experts (i.e., fishers, and farmers) from communities across Canada.

Professor Keith Thompson of Dalhousie University passed away on July 11, 2022. Professor Thompson held a Tier I Canada Research Chair in “Marine Prediction and Environmental Statistics: and participated in many international committees including “Coastal Ocean Observations Panel of the Global Ocean Observing System”. Professor Thompson made exceptional contributions in ocean science research and high-quality training. He made significant contributions in developing a storm surge prediction model that is now being used operationally. This session will have an overview of Dr. Thompson’s research work and his major contributions. We invite abstracts from everyone particularly from his former students and his collaborators on any research topics including modelling and prediction of coastal and shelf waters, environmental statistics, process studies of dynamics in atmospheres and oceans, and data assimilation.

Acoustic techniques provide means for underwater communication and remote sensing for humans and animals alike. The focus of this session is to highlight the roles of acoustic methods, measurements, and monitoring in all aspects of oceanography and marine sciences. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to: sonar, bio-acoustics, passive acoustic monitoring, fisheries acoustics, geophysical applications, acoustic communication, defence applications, ambient and ocean noise, anthropogenic noise, acoustic ecology, long-range propagation, tomography, high-frequency scattering, imaging, and quantitative inversion.

This session will focus on all aspects of monitoring and modelling physical and biogeochemical processes in coastal domains, shelf seas, estuaries and inland waters. Topics include but are not limited to coastal physical oceanography, storm surges, tsunamis, estuarine dynamics, hydrology and hydrodynamics of large lakes, mixing and dispersion of materials. Contributions related to both observational and modelling aspects of biogeochemistry in coastal and inland waters are welcome. Papers can be on improving our knowledge of physical and biogeochemical conditions in the past and present climate and/or on predictions of changes and extremes in marine conditions in response to climate change.

The session aims to cover a variety of oceanographic and meteorological application to defence research for coastal, continental and open ocean environments. Submissions related to any defence activity that enhances situational awareness in the ocean are acceptable for this session, including but not limited to the following: Environmental impact assessment of defence activities, Short- and long-term ocean modelling, Forecasting of water column or seabed properties, Seabed imaging, Acoustic propagation, Ambient noise measurement, Underwater acoustic communication Authors will give a 20-minute presentation including time for questions and discussions.

Ocean circulation and biogeochemical models are widely used for both research and operational forecasting. However, there are challenges for small research groups to handle the increasing complexity of the model codes, evaluation with various observational datasets, and analysis of the increasing amount of model output data. This session aims to stimulate discussions on potential coordination and collaboration between Canadian government laboratories and universities in the development, evaluation and analysis of ocean circulation and biogeochemical models for hindcast and forecast at various time scales. Specific topics may include:

1 progress of model research and applications in various regions with different spatial resolutions;

2 new evaluation and analysis results that demonstrate the strength and weakness of the models;

3 improvements in model numerics and parameterization of sub-grid processes;

4 new analysis methods;

5 new forcing and evaluation datasets;

6 model inter-comparison; and

7 data presentation and visualization tools.

Canada has a vast holding of ocean data from observations and numerical models (hindcast, forecast and future climate projections). Marine scientists from various disciplines have a long history of utilizing these data for quantifying, understanding and predicting the oceanic changes, developing applications in protecting the ocean environment, ecosystems and fishery resources, and for safe marine transportation and supporting offshore economy activities, etc. These activities well fit the recent international initiatives toward development of Digital Twins of the Ocean (DTO) under the framework of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. In fact, various projects toward developing DTOs in Canada have been supported in government, academia, NGOs, and the private sector. Besides the demands for data collection and management, and software technology, etc., data analysis and development of applications remain key components for DTO development. This work can greatly benefit from improving knowledge exchange and collaborations among different groups with different expertise. Through a combination of contributed and invited presentations, this session aims to bring together national and international researchers 1) to review the status of available and future development of ocean observation and modelling data; 2) to introduce classical and novel methodologies of ocean data analysis; 3) to present achievements in developing applications for ocean data including the effective presentation of ocean data to end users, and 4) to discuss the collaboration opportunities both nationally and internationally. We welcome both oral and poster presentations.

The session will explore the rapid strides that are made in the application of environmental DNA (eDNA) detection in marine systems. eDNA is DNA that is found in the environment and in the ocean, it is composed of both microbial and phytoplankton DNA as well as invertebrate larva, and fish eggs. In addition, eDNA is recovered from cells shed via skin, mucus and feces. The eDNA is recovered by filtration of a water sample onto a membrane and a variety of downstream analyses of the DNA provide a rich resource to assess biodiversity in the marine ecosystem. The application of eDNA currently ranges from biomonitoring of marine protected areas and coastal seas to applications in aquaculture, deep sea oceanography, detection of harmful algal blooms, invasive species and endangered species. This session on eDNA will cover the detection of microbes, phytoplankton, invertebrates, fish and mammals, focusing on the strengths and limitations of the current approaches and applications of eDNA in marine systems. In the context of the blue economy, a non-exhaustive list of recommended topics for presentations will include:

1 Assessment of specific gene markers for target groups of organisms (whales, fish, invertebrates, microbes);

2 Advancements in bioinformatic pipelines for the analysis of barcoding data from amplicon sequences or metagenomics and their integration with other types of oceanographic data;

3 Case studies featuring the eDNA approach in various marine environments and their applications to specific problems;

4 The development of new technologies using eDNA for the rapid and reliable detection of ecosystems perturbations.

The Tracer Release Experiment (TReX) in the Gulf of St. Lawrence was designed to develop and demonstrate Canadian capacity for the forecasting of contaminant dispersal and biogeochemical transformation in coastal marine environments. It resulted in two field observational programs : a surface experiment in the lower St. Lawrence Estuary, involving the release of a fluorescent dye and Lagrangian drifters at the ocean’s surface, and a deep experiment in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, involving the release of an inert chemical tracer and Lagrangian drifters in deep waters, below the seasonal pycnocline, near Cabot Strait. These observational programs were complemented by numerical predictions of drift and dispersion in the Estuary and Gulf of St-Lawrence and by ancillary sampling of several biogeochemical properties. In this session we welcome theoretical, numerical, and experimental studies related to TReX, or more generally to drift and dispersion processes in coastal marine environments.

The transition to open data must accelerate if we are to overcome the challenges of the Ocean Decade, in particular the creation of a digital ocean representation for free and open access to ocean information. Historically, access to ocean data and information has been restricted largely to either those who collected that data directly or their close contacts. Whether intentional or incidental, these restrictions have been reduced as open data is becoming accepted in the community and frameworks are being built to support this vision. As the community moves forward, it is essential that we are mindful to be equitable and inclusive of those domains and knowledge systems (e.g., environmental, social, and economic data, Indigenous and local knowledge) that have been marginalized in the past. Together, and by following best practices in data management (e.g., FAIR, TRUST, CARE), we can lower the bar for end users. Concurrently, we need to increase capacity in the ocean community by leveraging past successes. With effective implementation these actions will improve access to marine data so that policy-makers may make informed place-based decisions for better ocean management. In this session, we will feature initiatives that are advancing accessibility goals and explore remaining gaps and challenges.

Lagrangian tools can be used to provide a detailed description of transport pathways, timescales, and offer tools to understand the mechanisms driving these pathways. Understanding the transport of freshwater, salt, heat, pollutants, and other tracers via these pathways is important when considering the time and space variability of export into Canada’s inland and coastal waters, as well as on ocean-basin scales. High resolution models and large ensemble simulations can be used to calculate trajectories and infer transport pathways and are increasingly important in tracking the dispersal of tracers. Lagrangian measurements via freely-floating instrumentation also form a key component of many observational frameworks. This session will focus on Lagrangian studies in Canada’s inland and shelf seas with a scope ranging from basin-scale circulation experiments to smaller-scale exchange, mixing, and pollutant dispersal studies. We encourage abstracts from numerical and observational studies.

The exploding promotion of and emerging industries associated with marine-based carbon dioxide capture and storage requires the immediate attention of the marine science community. Recent assessments of the joint needs for significant global carbon dioxide emission reductions and negative emission (capture and storage) technologies has put new focus on the existing roles the ocean plays, and possible means for enhancing carbon storage in the marine environment. This session plans to present important issues related to all aspects of marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) and stimulate discussion and assessment by both industry and the science community. Key elements for discussion include the various possible mCDR solutions under consideration, site selection, scalability, storage duration and durability, impact assessment, and the needs for both baseline carbon-cycle knowledge and monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) programs during any field trials. In addition to several overview summaries, we welcome papers that highlight initiatives and activities either underway or planned that relate to the capture and storage of carbon in the diverse Canadian marine environments.

In the last decade, operational ocean forecasting in Canada has seen a number of advances which have been supported by government-academic partnerships, international collaborations, and inter-governmental programs such as the Canadian Operational Network for Coupled Environmental PredicTion Systems (CONCEPTS) and the Oceans Protection Plan (OPP). Ocean forecasts in Canada are currently used in an increasing number of applications, such as marine search and rescue, response to oil spill and drift, modelling, ocean acoustics, and marine ecosystem monitoring. These applications require reliable service delivery mechanisms and strong engagement with end-users. To that end, this session invites abstracts that present applications using ocean forecasting systems with an emphasis on the tools and systems that support those applications to enable and support various operations.

As countries around the world look to include natural carbon pools and fluxes in their carbon stocktaking efforts to address climate change, quantification of the marine carbon sink, and indeed marine carbon cycling in general, remain poorly quantified. The ocean acts as a major sink for human carbon dioxide emissions, and is the largest quickly-exchanging reservoir of carbon on earth. Processes driving ocean carbon air-sea exchange, biological uptake, and physical circulation and temperature changes are rapidly shifting under climate change. Progress is being made to better understand these controls and their associated variability across the open ocean to nearshore continuum, as well as on seasonal, interannual, decadal, and long-term timescales using observations and models. This session will showcase the latest progress in our understanding of the marine carbon cycle from local to global scales. We welcome contributions that quantify the rates and processes of fluxes and storage of carbon, the modification of the carbon cycle due to physical, chemical, and biological processes, and studies of carbon dioxide removal approaches to increase ocean carbon uptake. Timescales from seasonal to millennial are of interest. Contributions from studies that address open ocean and coastal regions; the surface or the interior; and that apply observations, models, or a combination of both, are welcome.

The Oceans regulate the world’s climate, absorbing heat and carbon dioxide. The impacts of this climate regulation manifest as warming, deoxygenation and acidification, with consequences on marine ecosystems. In the current context of high carbon dioxide emissions and climate change, it is therefore crucial to understand the biogeochemistry of the oceans. Canadian waters have recently experienced marked changes in their biogeochemistry. Both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts have experienced deoxygenation marked by hypoxic events over recent years. Deoxygenation is accompanied by carbonate chemistry extremes that are linked to ocean acidification, which has also been affecting Arctic waters. Heat waves are becoming more frequent and more extreme, while an overall increase in water temperature is affecting biological processes such as nutrient cycling and organic matter remineralization. These biogeochemical extremes often co-occur, increasing the severity of the effects on ecosystems. This session invites contributions on all aspects of biogeochemistry in Canadian waters, including, but not restricted to, deoxygenation, ocean acidification, carbon cycling, nutrient cycling, physical-biogeochemical interactions, and effects on ecosystems or marine organisms. With this session, we hope to bridge the gap between the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic research communities. While the focus is on Canadian waters, studies discussing adjacent basins are also welcome.

Much of the Canadian economy and communities are in or next to the marine environment and as the climate warms and the sea level rise, these communities and issues become more exposed and at risk. This session will bring together the expertise and wisdom on these issues of the interactions of the marine environment with the communities and what would be effective approaches to becoming more resilient in the marine environment. The session will include presentations across the disciplines and the weather-climate-governance-societal-health issues that will most effectively motivate actions and lead to action by all levels of governance and by individuals to become resilient and reduce the impacts of climate-related extremes.

The weather and climate services landscape is evolving at a rapid pace, as public and private service providers seek to meet growing demand for increasingly diverse guidance. The result is an ever-expanding volume of products, communicated through a variety of new and traditional channels (e.g., broadcast television/radio, websites, social media), to diverse audiences with increasingly sophisticated and specific needs. This effort is also motivating greater interactions between service providers and end-users, answering calls for greater co-production of weather and climate information to ensure that products (both new and old) effectively inform and advise users on their weather and climate risks. These developments present exciting prospects for science and risk communication; however, fully capitalizing on opportunities afforded by new technology, data sources, and stakeholder interests requires an interdisciplinary approach. This session invites researchers to discuss these opportunities, related challenges, and novel solutions.