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Co-chairs: Daniela Faggiani Dias, Clarissa Anderson, and Connor Mack
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that, by 2050, societies may need to remove atmospheric CO2 on a gigaton scale to limit climate warming to 2°C. Marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) is gaining increased attention as a potential climate mitigation strategy, yet its large-scale deployment remains uncertain due to critical knowledge gaps. The Eastern Pacific Ocean, particularly the California Current System, has become a focal point for emerging mCDR startups, making it a key region for research and innovation. This session will explore the observational and modeling requirements necessary to assess the feasibility, effectiveness, and ecological impacts of mCDR in this dynamic system. Discussions will span physical oceanographic processes that influences carbon sequestration, biogeochemical feedbacks, and ecosystem responses—from microbial communities to fisheries. We invite contributions addressing field observations, remote sensing, numerical modeling, and integrated assessment frameworks that inform responsible mCDR implementation. By bridging disciplines from physics to biology, this session aims to advance a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and opportunities associated with mCDR in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
Co-chairs: Mikaela Provost, Jessica Bolin, Arina Favilla, and Rachel Holser
Marine ecosystems— from dynamic coastal habitats to the mesopelagic twilight zone—are critical to global biodiversity, biogeochemical cycling, and the provisioning of ecosystem services. These systems face mounting pressures from the effects of environmental variability and change, which are altering temperature regimes, oxygen availability, and nutrient cycling across multiple spatial and temporal scales. However, the ecological impacts of these stressors are not uniform: for example, spatial heterogeneity can create habitat refugia that buffer species from environmental extremes and promote persistence under environmental change. Additionally, species' responses to environmental variability and change will be diverse. Yet, for many species and ecosystems—particularly those less accessible, like the mesopelagic—we still lack a baseline understanding. Understanding these ecosystems, potential refugia, and species' responses, along with broader ecological processes, is vital for effective conservation and management. This session welcomes a range of presentations that explore ecological, biological, and biogeochemical processes shaping marine ecosystems from the nearshore coastal zone to the mesopelagic zone. Topics may include trophic interactions, physical or chemical drivers of community structure, diel vertical migration, and ecosystem connectivity. We also invite contributions focused on identifying habitat refugia, their influence on population dynamics, and their role in resilience and adaptation.
Bernabe Gomez
Nearshore processes play a fundamental role in shaping coastal evolution, influencing hazards that threaten coastal populations, ecosystems, and infrastructure. These dynamic processes impact sediment transport, wave transformation, storm-driven flooding, and shoreline stability, making them critical to coastal management and adaptation strategies. Recent advances in observational techniques and numerical modeling have significantly improved our ability to study the underlying physics governing nearshore dynamics. By using field data, remote sensing, and high-resolution simulations, we can enhance our understanding of nearshore variability, improve predictive capabilities, and develop more effective mitigation and adaptation solutions in the face of coastal hazards. This session invites contributions investigating nearshore hydrodynamics, sediment transport, storm impacts, and nature-based solutions for coastal resilience. We welcome studies leveraging in situ measurements and/or numerical models.
Co-chairs: Michael P. Montgomery and John Largier
Marine stations have been regional hubs for research, teaching, and outreach along the Pacific coast for over a century. In light of a growing need for place-based, but also highly integrative knowledge of the biological, physical, and social dimensions of climate change and other environmental stressors, the dozen or so extant marine stations of the Northeast Pacific remain uniquely well-positioned to leverage their historical datasets, refine and expand their ongoing data collection efforts, and work to make these data as inclusive and meaningful as possible for policymakers, tribal partners, and surrounding communities. This session aims to bring together scientists and educators from a number of marine stations to discuss the pitfalls and promises of implementing interdisciplinary, community-minded science programs at the appropriate scales-in effect, to brainstorm actionable ways to turn the "seaside laboratories" of the past into the ocean observatories of the future.
Albert J. Hermann
Machine Learning continues to gain traction as a powerful tool for oceanographic analysis. ML methods can facilitate both interpretation of field data (e.g. to identify plankton species) and the estimation of 3D biogeochemical fields (e.g. for reanalyses and prediction). One such application entails their use in developing compact (hence computationally rapid) emulators of dynamically downscaling models of the Northeast Pacific. While practically useful in management settings, the ultimate contribution of emulators to *scientific* understanding is less certain. This session invites contributions regarding the application and/or effectiveness of AI/ML techniques in identifying the physical and biological dynamics of the Eastern Pacific, as well as their potential impact on marine science and resource management.
Co-chairs: Mer Pozo Buil and Jessica Garwood
Presentations on any topic related to the oceanography and ecology of the Eastern Pacific Ocean or related settings.
Past EPOC programs are available in the EPOC Archive.