Interdisciplinary study of the Northeast Atlantic region offers an extraordinary opportunity to advance understanding of interactions and co-dependencies between the solid Earth, ocean, atmosphere, cryosphere and climate. Understanding these issues are of critical importance to Europe and Scandinavia, and they are of global relevance. The unprecedented surge in exploration of the Northeast Atlantic Realm that has unfolded in recent years has delivered major leaps forward in understanding its geological structure, dynamics and development, economic resources and volcanism. Examples include the complexity of the conjugate volcanic rifted margins, contact metamorphism of carbon-rich shales by sill intrusions, producing thermogenic methane, the discovery of widespread continental crust in the ocean, the critical role of the Greenland-Iceland-Faroe bathymetric ridge in influencing ocean circulation between the Arctic and the Atlantic south of Iceland, mapping of gas hydrates and the study of crustal structure beneath the Greenland icecap. Throughout the Cenozoic these factors have influenced ocean and atmosphere composition and circulation, climate change, and the growth, wastage and transport of ice. Detailed understanding of the interdependencies of these phenomena in the past and through time is arguably of critical importance to understanding the current, rapid changes in the natural environment. The goal of this special session is to bring together diverse contributions drawing on all the above disciplines in order to identify potentially fertile areas for broad, cross-disciplinary study of the Northeast Atlantic Realm moving forward.