The Eighth Xiamen Symposium on Marine Environmental Sciences (XMAS 2027) will be held from 12-15 January 2027, in Xiamen, China. You are cordially invited to join the following SOLAS co-sponsored sessions. Abstract submission is still open, and now extended until 21 July 2026 (23:59 China Standard Time, GMT+8).
Session 56 – SOLAS-IGAC: Multidisciplinary perspectives on air-sea interactions and their impacts on coastal sustainability (Conveners: Yee Jun Tham, Huan Liu, Chao Zhang, Tianle Zhang)
Atmosphere-ocean coupling processes constitute a highly dynamic interactive system that is an integral part of the Earth system, playing a pivotal role in driving global atmospheric chemistry and regulating global climate. Coastal regions are complex system that typically affected by intense anthropogenic emissions and significantly influenced by the air-sea interactions. Critical transitions in coastal systems can significantly alter the intensity and mechanism of air-sea interactions, while the feedback of air-sea interactions can in turn regulate the evolution of coastal systems and trigger biogeochemical and ecosystem regime shifts in the region. To advance the frontier of interdisciplinary research on complex coastal systems and marine-atmospheric interactions, this session closely integrates the core objectives of the SOLAS (Surface Ocean-Lower Atmosphere Study) and IGAC (International Global Atmospheric Chemistry) projects. The session invites new understandings and findings on: (1) Air-sea exchange processes and cycling of reactive gases in marine-coastal regions: Key knowledge and methodological advances, environmental impacts, and future predictions; (2) Aerosols source-to-sink dynamics: Coupling of land-based and oceanic emissions and their impacts on coastal urban and marine environments; (3) Maritime shipping activities: From emissions to environmental impacts; (4) Coastal microplastics pollution: The role of air-sea interactions in the deposition and emission of microplastics. By integrating fundamental and applied research, we aim to promote interdisciplinary collaborations and studies on the physical and biogeochemical interactions and feedback between ocean and atmosphere in the coastal regions. Field observations, laboratory studies, and modelling simulations are all welcome. The session also encourages presentations arising from international, regional and national collaboration research programmes.
Session 68 – Nitrous oxide biogeochemistry in a changing ocean: from microbial turnover to climate impact (Conveners: Damian Leonardo Arévalo-Martínez, Daniele Bianchi, Liyang Zhan, Xianhui S. Wan)
The role of nitrous oxide (N₂O) as a climate-relevant trace gas is well known, and its steady atmospheric increase since the industrial revolution calls for the necessity of understanding the dynamics of its sources and sinks in the Earth system. The global Ocean is a net source of atmospheric N₂O, thereby contributing to offsetting marine CO₂ uptake. Research over the last decades has provided tremendous improvements in measurement techniques and model approaches, expanding our understanding of the complex microbial pathways responsible for the distribution and fluxes of N₂O, as well as its spatial and temporal variability across the coast-open ocean continuum. The increased attention fostered by international initiatives such as SOLAS and the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) Working Group 143 helped establish N₂O as an essential ocean variable (EOV) from the Global Observing System, and a key parameter of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Global Atmosphere Watch Programme.
Nevertheless, significant knowledge gaps remain with regard to the magnitude and direction of N₂O fluxes across multiple boundaries including sediment-water, ice-air and sea-air interfaces, as well as mechanistic understanding of the variability and controls of N₂O production/consumption pathways in the marine environment. This limits our ability to robustly project future N₂O emissions and their long-term variability. Beyond natural variability, these uncertainties are exacerbated by incomplete knowledge of the impacts of anthropogenic pressures such as warming, deoxygenation and eutrophication, as well as extreme weather events, on N₂O cycling and emissions.
This session provides a hub for interdisciplinary discussions amongst N₂O researchers using a broad spectrum of approaches including but not limited to: field measurements and experiments, laboratory studies, and numerical models. We welcome new research on N₂O fluxes across various marine systems; biotic and abiotic N₂O formation/consumption pathways and the underlying microbial dynamics; observed changes in N₂O cycling and emissions in response to natural and anthropogenic perturbations; quantification of the relative contribution of N₂O emissions to the overall ocean radiative balance; and biogeochemistry-climate feedbacks in the context of climate projections.
Submit your abstract here.