Session list
Session 1. Marine Heatwaves: Impacts on High Latitude Ecosystems from Physics to Biology and Human Communities
Session 2.Tracking Borealization: Environmental Change, Biological Responses, Community Impacts
Session 3. Gadids under Borealization: Ecology, Fisheries, and Management
Session 4. Connections across the Subarctic Atlantic: Physics to Biology, Fjords to Gyres, Surface to Seafloor
Session 5. The effects of multiple drivers on Arctic and Sub-arctic coastal/fjord environments: bridging marine chemistry and biology
Session 1. Marine Heatwaves: Impacts on High Latitude Ecosystems from Physics to Biology and Human Communities
Co-chairs: Bia Dias, Ben Fitzhugh, Angel Ruiz Angulo
This session invites contributions examining the impacts of marine heatwaves (MHW) on high-latitude systems. We welcome papers that (1) situate marine heatwaves within the broader climate–oceanographic context, including physical mechanisms, cross-system comparisons, food-web restructuring, and ecosystem functioning under sustained heat stress; (2) present species-specific case studies that document ecological, economic, and social impacts of MHWs on important fish or shellfish, their fisheries, and dependent communities in high-latitude systems; and (3) explore adaptations by affected communities and management systems to warming events throughout human history, including strategies that integrate ecological and socioeconomic information to build resilience in rapidly changing oceans.
Session 2. Tracking Borealization: Environmental Change, Biological Responses, Community Impacts
Co-chairs: Franz Mueter, Pavel Emelin, Jacob Kasper
This session will document and quantify observed changes in Subarctic and Arctic marine ecosystems that illuminate the extent of borealization—including evidence that both supports and challenges it. We welcome studies on the direction and pace of change in key oceanographic and biogeochemical properties; shifts in species distributions and community composition from plankton to fishes, seabirds, and marine mammals; and changes in human communities (e.g. harvest patterns, population trends). Contributions that develop integrated indicators and spatially explicit metrics to map the footprint of borealization and identify hot spots are especially encouraged.
Session 3. Gadids under Borealization: Ecology, Fisheries, and Management
Co-chairs: Ben Laurel, David Coté, Caroline Bouchard
Rapid borealization is reshaping SubArctic and Arctic marine ecosystems, with gadid fishes (e.g., cod, pollock, and haddock) playing a central ecological and socio-economic role. This session explores how warming, changing ice regimes, and altered food webs are influencing gadid distribution, life history, trophic interactions, and productivity. We will highlight emerging patterns in recruitment, growth, and predator–prey dynamics, and examine consequences for Indigenous, subsistence, and commercial fisheries. Integrating observations, modeling, and management perspectives, the session aims to identify knowledge gaps and discuss adaptive strategies to sustainably manage gadid populations in rapidly changing northern seas.
Session 4. Connections across the Subarctic Atlantic: Physics to Biology, Fjords to Gyres, Surface to Seafloor
Co-chairs: Warsha Singh, Guðbjörg Ásta Ólafsdóttir, Kumiko Azetsu-Scott
This session explores the interconnected physical and biological processes that structure Subarctic Atlantic ecosystems across spatial and temporal scales. We invite contributions examining how ocean physics, topographic features, and climate variability influence biological communities from fjord systems to the open ocean, and from surface waters to the deep seafloor. Studies integrating observations, modelling, and interdisciplinary perspectives are particularly encouraged. By linking processes across habitats and trophic levels, this session aims to improve understanding of ecosystem connectivity, resilience, and change in a rapidly warming and increasingly variable Subarctic Atlantic.
Session 5: The effects of multiple drivers on Arctic and Sub-arctic costal/fjord environments; bridging marine chemistry and biology
Co-chairs: Sam Rastrick, Melissa Chierici, Agneta Fransson, Naomi Harada, Kumiko Azetsu-Scott
Arctic and Subarctic coastal and fjord ecosystems are highly productive and central to carbon cycling, food security, and local communities, yet they face rapid climate change, increase in natural disaster, and growing industrial pressures. This session invites studies that quantify how climate change (warming, acidification, deoxygenation, freshening, eutrophication), and marine industry e.g. aquaculture, tourism, mineral extraction and sources of other marine contaminants) alter biogeochemistry and biology across environmental gradients. We especially welcome work that integrates laboratory experiments with field observations and bridges marine chemistry with ecology. Contributions that place industry–environment interactions in the context of accelerating climate change are encouraged.
We look forward to seeing you in Reykjavík.
ESSAS Scientific Steering Committee
Local Organizing Committee
