Session programme

Tropical ecosystems are biomes of global significance due to their large biodiversity, carbon storage capacity, and their role in the hydrological cycle. Historic and recent human activities have, however, resulted in intensive transformation of the tropical ecosystems in the Amazon, Central America, Central Africa and in South East Asia impacting the cycling of nutrient, carbon, water, and energy. Understanding their current functioning at process up to biome level in its pristine and transformed state is elemental for predicting their response upon changing climate and land use, and the impact this will have on local up to global scale.
This session aims at bringing together scientists who investigate the functioning of the tropical ecosystems across spatial and temporal scales by means of remote and in-situ observational, modelling, and theoretical studies. Particularly welcome are presentations of novel, interdisciplinary approaches and techniques.

Land use and land cover change (LULCC), including land management, has the capacity to alter the climate by disrupting land-atmosphere fluxes of carbon, water and energy. Thus, there is a particular interest in understanding the role of LULCC as it relates to climate mitigation and adaptation strategies. Much attention has been devoted to the biogeochemical impacts of LULCC, yet there is an increasing awareness that the biogeophysical mechanisms (e.g. changes in surface properties such as albedo, roughness and evapotranspiration) should also be considered in climate change assessments of LULCC impacts on weather and climate. However, characterizing biogeophysical land-climate interactions remains challenging due to their complexity. If a cooling or a warming signal emerges depends on which of the biogeophysical processes dominates and on the size and pattern of the LULCC perturbation. Recent advances exploiting Earth system modelling and Earth observation tools are opening new possibilities to better describe LULCC and its effects at multiple temporal and spatial scales. This session invites studies that improve our general understanding of climate perturbations connected to LULCC from both biogeophysical and biogeochemical standpoints, and particularly those focusing on their intersection. This includes studies focusing on LULCC that can inform land-based climate mitigation and adaptation policies. Both observation-based and model-based analyses at local to global scales are welcome.

Phosphorus (P) is essential to life, and as a key limiting nutrient, regulates productivity in terrestrial and aquatic systems. Strong geochemical interactions between P and other elements control the mobility and bioavailability of P in the environment, necessitating a coupled understanding of element cycles influencing P. At the same time P provides perhaps the most topical example of a critical resource element whose use is currently inefficiently managed. Leakage of mined P into the environment through a variety of processes (e.g. excess chemical fertiliser usage, or effluent discharges) is responsible for eutrophication and the acceleration of natural P cycling in terrestrial and aquatic systems. This puts P at the forefront of environmental and societal concerns and demands that our biogeochemical knowledge of P cycling ought to be developed through interdisciplinary research. This session aims to explore biogeochemical P cycling in the context of benefitting ‘systems understanding’ spanning terrestrial and aquatic compartments.

Topics included will explore:
Links between P and wider element cycles, for example with other macro- and micro- nutrients and controls of P availability through geochemical parameters such as Fe;
P cycling studies that bring into focus the interplay of biotic and abiotic controls within, and between, environmental compartments;
Drivers of change (climate, management, societal) acting on the coupling of P with other element cycles.
Processes, modelling and management against a background of the key issues for: P release from soil to plants; P release from soil to water; long term P supplies and the global P cycle.
Sustainable use of P, recovering of P from natural and waste water, managing P fluxes in agricultural areas.

Extreme climate and weather events, associated disasters, geohazards and emergent risks interact with other stressors, especially growing anthropogenic pressures, and are so becoming increasingly critical in the context of global environmental change. They are a potential major threat to reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and one of the most pressing challenges for future human well-being and safety.
This session explores the linkages between extreme climate and weather events, geohazards, associated disasters, societal dynamics and resilience.
Emphasis is laid on 1) Which impacts are caused by extreme climate events (including risks emerging from compound events) and cascades of impacts on various aspects of ecosystems and societies? 2) Which feedbacks across ecosystems, infrastructures and societies exist? 3) What are key obstacles towards societal resilience and reaching the SDGs, while facing climate extremes? 4) What can we learn from past experiences? 5) What local to global governance arrangements best support equitable and sustainable risk reduction?
Nowadays, to answer this last question, the careful application of social media and crowdsourcing (SMCS) begins to make a contribution, notably in the field of geosciences. SMCS have been integrated into crisis and Disaster Risk Management (DRM) for improved information gathering and collaboration across communities, and for collaboratively coping with critical situations. Numerous governments and EU-funded projects have been exploring the implementation and use of SMCS by developing and adopting new technologies, procedures, and applications. The effectiveness of SMCS on European disaster resilience, however, remains unclear, due to the diversity among disaster risk perception and vulnerability. In general, this second part addresses ways to govern and understand the effectiveness of SMCS for Disaster Risk Management and the related Disaster Resilience is focused.
In this session we welcome empirical with practical applications, theoretical and modelling studies from local to global scale from the fields of natural sciences, social sciences, humanities and related disciplines since the creation of novel effective approaches necessitates a coordinated and coherent effort between them.

A grand challenge facing society in the coming decades is to feed the growing human population in a sustainable and healthy manner. This challenge is central to many of the United Nations Sustainable Development goals (SDGs), including the zero hunger goal but also those for human health, water, terrestrial biodiversity and sustainable production and consumption.
This problem is made more complex by an increasingly globalised food system and its interactions with a changing climate. Agri-food system actors - including policy makers, corporations, farmers, and consumers - must meet this challenge while considering potentially conflicting priorities, such as environmental sustainability (e.g., minimising disturbance to ecosystems via greenhouse gas emissions and the use of water, land, fertilisers and other inputs), economic viability (e.g., revenues for food producers and guaranteed access for consumers), nutritional balance and quality (e.g., addressing overconsumption and undernourishment), and resilience to climate change.
This growing complexity of agri-food systems, which can involve global supply chains and difficult environmental and societal tradeoffs, needs to be better understood.
The type of product (e.g. plant or meat based, fresh or processed), as well as the location and method of production, can play an important role in improving the nutritional quality and environmental sustainability of global food production, to enable healthy and sustainable diets. Quantifying and assessing these multiple outcomes while accounting for the linkages, interconnections, and scales of local and global supply chains will be essential for informing decisions aimed at developing sustainable and resilient agri-food systems.
This session welcomes submissions that quantify and assess a range of outcomes from agri-food systems across multiple spatial and temporal scales, and the trade-offs or synergies between them. The session will include studies providing improved methods for quantifying multiple environmental, economic or social dimensions, studies that incorporate the role of food trade into solution-development, and studies that seek to achieve multiple sustainability goals together.

The Earth’s subsurface hosts enormous methane volumes either trapped in the shallow sediments, gas hydrates and permafrost, or naturally escaping the sediment through methane seepage to enter the hydrosphere/atmosphere. Such environments are highly sensitive to climate change. Despite an increasing awareness about the positive feedback between global warming and methane seepage, the response of these complex and dynamic systems to climate change is still unclear due to complex geo/hydro/atmosphere interactions.
Fossil cold seeps, long-term observatory studies and modern examples form the foundations to understand the mutual dependences between climate and seepage, and to develop robust models to forecast future scenarios at the Earth-system scale. For this session, we welcome geologists, geophysicists, geochemists, biologists, model developers, and any others who have contributed to new case studies in modern and fossil hydrocarbon seeps in the marine and terrestrial environment, gas hydrate and permafrost settings, to describe both new methods/technologies and the scientific outcomes.

Using a wide range of sensors and platforms, remote sensing allows examining and gathering information about an object or a place from a distance. A key development in remote sensing has been the increased availability of data with very high-temporal, spatial and spectral resolution. In the last decades, several types of remote sensing data, including optical, radar, LiDAR from terrestrial, UAV, aerial and satellite platform, have been used to detect, classify, evaluate and measure the Earth surface, including different vegetation covers and forest structure. For the forest sector, such information allow efficient monitoring of changes over time and space, in support of sustainable forest management, forest and carbon inventory or for monitoring forest health and their disturbances. Remote Sensing data can provide both qualitatively and quantitatively information about forest ecosystems. In a qualitative analysis forest cover types and species composition can be classified, whereas the quantitative analysis can measure and estimate different forest structure parameters related to single trees (e.g. DBH, height, basal area, timber volume, etc.) and to the whole stand (e.g. number of trees per unite area, distribution, etc.). However, to meet the various information requirements, different data sources should be adopted according to the application, the level of detail required and the extension of the area under study. The integration of in-situ measurements with satellite/airborne/UAV imagery, Structure from Motion, LiDAR and geo-information systems offer new possibilities, especially for interpretation, mapping and measuring of forest parameters and will be a challenge for future research and application. This session explores the potentials and limitations of various remote sensing applications in forestry, with the focus on the identification and integration of different methodologies and techniques from different sensors and in-situ data for providing qualitative and quantities forest information.

Fire is an essential Earth system process that is rapidly changing in response to climate and human land use changes. Climate, vegetation and human activity regulate fire occurrence and spread, but fires also feedback to them in multiple ways. This session welcomes contributions on all aspects of linkages between fire, vegetation, climate, and humans to share recent advances and foster interdisciplinary discussions. We encourage all abstracts that explore the role of fire in the Earth system at any temporal and spatial scale using modeling, field and laboratory observations, and/or remote sensing, with an emphasis on studies that advance our understanding on interactions between fire and (1) weather, climate, and atmospheric chemistry, (2) biogeochemical cycles, land water and energy budgets, and vegetation composition and structure, and (3) human land management (e.g. impact of fire on air and water quality, deforestation, human health, and economy). We also welcome contributions focusing on fire characterization, including (4) fire behavior and emissions (e.g. fire duration, intensity, emission factors, emission height, smoke transport), (5) spatial and temporal changes of fires in the past, present, and future, (6) fire products and models, and their validation and error/bias assessment, and (7) analytical tools designed to enhance situational awareness among fire practitioners and early warning systems.

Terrestrial ecosystems are being exposed to warming and to more frequent and intense drought and rainfall events as a result of climate change. Such changes can have strong implications for biogeochemical cycling and the functioning of soils. Understanding the mechanisms that control the responses to environmental stress is critical for improving predictions on the resistance and resilience of terrestrial ecosystems on a changing world.

The aim of this session is to bridge the knowledge of different disciplines to elucidate the processes and feedbacks underpinning the biogeochemical response to climate change, with emphasis on warming, drought, and drying-rewetting events. This session will give a broad overview of empirical and modelling studies across different scales, considering how climate change affects terrestrial biogeochemistry and the interactions between soil microorganisms, plants and fauna. We will focus on the resilience and the associated recovery dynamics of soil biota to environmental disturbances, as well as on their resistance or adaptation mechanisms to climate change. We will bring together researchers from different environments and create a discussion platform to review the current state-of-the-art, identify knowledge gaps, share ideas, and tackle new challenges in the field.

Ecosystem responses to climate change depend on both long-term and dynamic feedbacks occurring between soils, plants and microbial communities. Soil resources and microbial nutrient mineralization mediate vegetation growth. In turn, plants control soil properties through the production of organic residues which are decomposed in the soil, the supply of photosynthates to the rhizosphere, as well as the association with belowground communities. The interactive effects of these responses in the context of changing environmental conditions have a key influence on soil biogeochemistry and the belowground storage of carbon. In this session we invite contributions from manipulative field experiments, observations in natural-climate gradients, and modelling studies that explore the impact of climate change on plant-growth dynamics, microbial diversity and metabolism, as well as soil biogeochemical cycling. Submissions that adopt novel approaches (e.g. molecular, isotopic) or synthesize large-scale outputs focusing on plant-soil-microbe feedbacks to warmer temperatures or water limitation are also highly welcome.

Vegetation, soils and water resources have interacted and co-evolved over Millions of years, shaping our current ecohydrological systems. Vegetation still responds rapidly to changing environmental conditions, including rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, climate change, soil degradation and hydrologic modifications. Prediction of these co-evolutionary and adaptive processes is a major scientific challenge, as it requires understanding of the general underlying principles and constraints governing plant-environment interactions.

This session aims to bring together collected knowledge about organising principles guiding co-evolutionary processes in biology, hydrology and physics, including theoretical, modelling, observational and experimental studies. We solicit contributions to all aspects of our quantitative understanding of principles such as natural selection, relevant thermodynamic principles (e.g. MaxEnt, maximum power, maximum entropy production) or biological optimality and the associated cost-benefit trade-offs.

Wide-spread permafrost thaw is expected to amplify the release of previously frozen material from terrestrial into aquatic systems: rivers, lakes, groundwater and oceans. Current projections include changes in precipitation patterns, active layer drainage and leaching, increased thermokarst lake formation, as well as increased coastal and river bank erosion that are further enhanced by rising water temperatures, river discharge and wave action. In addition, subsea permafrost that formed under terrestrial conditions but was later inundated might be rapidly thawing on Arctic Ocean shelves. These processes are expected to substantially alter the biogeochemical cycling of carbon but also of other elements in the permafrost area.

This session invites contributions on the mobilization of terrestrial matter to aquatic systems in the permafrost domain, as well as its transport, degradation and potential interaction with autochthonous, aquatic matter. We encourage submissions focusing on organic and inorganic carbon as well as on other elements such as nitrogen, phosphorus, silica, iron, mercury and others, from all parts of the global permafrost area including mountain, inland, coastal and subsea permafrost, on all spatial scales, in the contemporary system but also in the past and future, based on field, laboratory and modelling work.

Anthropogenic disturbance of the global nitrogen (N) cycle has more than doubled the amount of reactive N circulating in the terrestrial biosphere alone. Exchange of reactive/non-reactive nitrogen gases between land and atmosphere are strongly affecting Earth’s atmospheric composition, air quality, global warming, climate change and human health. This session seeks to improve our understanding of a) how intensification of reactive N use, land management and climate change affects the pools and fluxes of nitrogen in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, b) and how reactive N enrichment of land and water will affect the future carbon sink of natural ecosystems as well as atmospheric exchanges of reactive (NO, N2O, NH3, HONO, NO2 and non-reactive N (N2) gases with implications for global warming, climate change and air quality. We welcome contributions covering a wide range of experimental and modelling studies, which covers microbes-mediated and physico-chemical transformations and transport of nitrogen across the land-water-air continuum in natural ecosystems from local to regional and global scales. Furthermore, the interactions of nitrogen with other elemental cycles (e.g. phosphorus, carbon) and the impacts of these interactive feedbacks for soil health, biodiversity and water and air quality will be explored in this session. Latest developments in methodological innovations and observational and experimental approaches for unraveling the complexities of nitrogen transformations and transport will also be of interest.

The critical zone comprises the Earth's permeable near-surface layer from the top of the canopy to the bottom of the groundwater. It is the zone where hydrosphere, atmosphere, pedosphere and geosphere interact with the biosphere. This fragile skin of our planet, which supports the life and survival of humans maintaining food production and drinking water quality, is endangered by threats such as climate change and land use change.
New approaches and innovative modeling strategies are needed to understand these complex interactions between hydrological, biogeochemical cycles and human resilience processes that may govern critical zone system dynamics, including sources, dynamics and chemistry of water, models to quantify external influences like human activities or erosion, weathering rate, water transfer in the frame of global change and biolological feedback mechanisms.

This session focuses on the advancing proxies that may address pressing interdisciplinary scientific questions in coupling various disciplines like hydrology, soil science and biogeochemistry that cover single-site investigations, targeted experiments, remote sensing studies, large data compilations and modelling. This will be illustrated in this session through studies regarding the critical zone as a whole or within its different compartments, including the different environmental processes (geological, physical, chemical, and biological), their couplings and reactive transport modeling, and exploring the cities resilience.

The storage, cycling and availability of Nitrogen (N), Carbon (C) and Phosphorus (P) in soils are widely researched topics; however, less investigation has been carried out regarding the coupling and interaction of the C-N-P cycles. This is especially relevant as the quantity and quality of these three elements and their proportions and interactions control fundamental soil functions such as soil fertility and microbial activity, which have profound impacts on key ecosystem services such as primary productivity, carbon capture or biodiversity.
Beside this, there is an urgent need to implement sustainable methodologies, which help to preserve soil quality and mitigate soil degradation. Under these assumptions, traditional and novel soil organic matter amendments will help us to maintain both agricultural yields as well as soil preservation. Increase of organic matter level in soil is not only a question of soil fertility but also a necessity of soil health maintenance and fighting against desertification.
In this session, we call for submissions on a wide range of topics covering C, N, and P cycles in soils, with a special focus on studies assessing their interactions, as well as the current research and latest advances focused on maintaining soil organic matter quantity and quality and therefore preserving soil functionality.
Our aim is to cover also a wide range of spatial scales, from microbial stoichiometry to ecosystem functioning, as well as a range of methodologies, from the microscale process understanding at laboratory scale up to field-based and modelling approaches. Studies in all types of soil and ecosystems, from natural forest to agricultural or urban soils, are welcome.

Meet editors of internationally renowned journals in biogeosciences and soil system science and gain exclusive insights into the publishing process. After a short introduction into some basics, we will start exploring various facets of academic publishing with short talks given by the editors on - What are the duties and roles of editors, authors and reviewers? - How to choose a suitable journal for your manuscript and what is important for early career authors? - How can early career scientists get involved in successful peer-reviewing? - What is important for appropriate peer-reviewing? - What are ethical aspects and responsibilities of publishing? - Together with the audience and the editors, we will have an open discussion of all steps and factors shaping the publication process of a manuscript. This short course aims to provide early career scientists across several EGU divisions (e.g. BG, SSS, NH and GM) the opportunity of using first hand answers of experienced editors of international journals to successfully publish their manuscripts and get aware of the potentials and pitfalls in academic publishing.

The present context of accelerated changes in both climate and land use imposes an unprecedent pressure on a number of vulnerable ecosystems including wetlands, forests and rangelands, in which vegetation closely interacts and coevolves with soils and landforms. Complex interactions between climate, soils and biotic factors are involved in the development of landform-soil-vegetation feedbacks and play an important role in making ecosystems resilient to disturbances. In addition, large shifts in the distribution of vegetation and soils are associated with losses of ecosystem services (including carbon capture), frequently involving thresholds of ecosystem stability and nonlinear responses to both human and climatic pressures. This session will focus on ecogeomorphological and ecohydrological aspects of landscapes (including their connectivity), conservation of soil resources, and the restoration of ecosystem services and functions. We welcome theoretical, modelling, and empirical studies addressing the distribution of vegetation and coevolving soils and landforms, and particularly, contributions with a wide appreciation of the soil erosion-vegetation relationships that rule the formation of landscape-level spatial organization. We also welcome studies describing the implications of these spatial patterns of soils and vegetation for the resilience and stability of ecosystems under the pressure of climate change and/or human disturbances.

Viticulture is one of the most important agricultural sectors of Europe with an average annual production of 168 million hectoliters (54% of global consumption). The concept of “Terroir” links the quality and typicity of wine to the territory, and, in particular, to specific environmental characteristics that affect the plant response (e.g. climate, geology, pedology). The environmental factors that drive the terroir effect vary in space and time, as well as soil and crop management.
Understanding the spatial variability of some environmental factors (e.g. soil) is very important to manage and preserve terroirs and face the current and future issue of climate change. In this sense, it is important to stress that in the last decade, the study of terroir has shifted from a largely descriptive regional science to a more applied, technical research field, including: sensors for mapping and monitoring environmental variables, remote sensing and drones for crop monitoring, forecast models, use of microelements and isotopes for wine traceability, metagenome approach to study the biogeochemical cycles of nutrients.
Moreover, public awareness for ecosystem functioning has led to more quantitative approaches in evidencing the relations between management and the ecosystem services of vineyard agroecosystems. Agroecology approaches in vineyard, like the use of cover crops, straw mulching, and organic amendments, are developing to improve biodiversity, organic matter, soil water and nutrient retention, preservation from soil erosion.
On those bases, the session will address the several aspects of viticultural terroirs:
1) quantifying and spatial modelling of terroir components that influence plant growth, fruit composition and quality, mostly examining climate-soil-water relationships; 2) terroir concept resilience to climate change; 3) wine traceability and zoning based on microelements and isotopes; 4) interaction between vineyard management practices and effects on soil and water quality as well as biodiversity and related ecosystem services.

This session will focus on the emerging discipline of Conservation Paleobiology that uses the data from the fossil record and sedimentary archives to inform biodiversity conservation and ecosystem management. Even though humans have altered ecosystems for millennia, direct ecological observations rarely encompass more than the last few decades. At the same time, the accelerating pace of global climate change requires better understanding of the long-term resilience and adaptive capacities of ecosystems facing multiple stressors. The youngest fossil record can offer high-resolution insights into ecosystem change on timescales well beyond the limits of ecological monitoring, enabling the reconstruction of ecological baselines and natural range of variability. Additionally, the pre-Quaternary geologic record provides a series of natural experiments allowing assessment of biotic responses to major environmental perturbations, strengthening the theoretical foundations of conservation science.

We invite presentations offering both the near-time and deep-time perspective on ecological and evolutionary processes operating during times of rapid environmental changes, ranging from the Anthropocene biodiversity crisis to Phanerozoic mass extinction events. We also welcome contributions highlighting potential biases affecting the fossil record by linking stratigraphic, taphonomic and ecological patterns. We hope to stimulate discussion on novel opportunities and limitations of using different types of geohistorical data to address some of the most urgent questions in Conservation Biology.

Minerals are formed in great diversity under Earth surface conditions, as skeletons, microbialites, speleothems, or authigenic cements, and they preserve a wealth of geochemical, biological, mineralogical, and isotopic information, providing valuable archives of past environmental conditions. Interpreting these archives requires fundamental understanding of mineral formation processes, but also insights from the geological record.

In this session we welcome oral and poster presentations from a wide range of research of topics, including process-oriented studies in modern systems, the ancient rock record, experiments, computer simulations, and high-resolution microscopy and spectroscopy techniques. We intend to reach a wide community of researchers sharing the common goal of improving our understanding of the fundamental processes underlying mineral formation, which is essential to read our Earth’s geological archive.

Documenting the diversity of human responses and adaptations to climate, landscapes, ecosystems, natural disasters and the changing natural resources availability in different regions of our planet, cross-disciplinary studies in Geoarchaeology provide valuable opportunities to learn from the past. Furthermore, human activity became a major player of global climatic and environmental change in the course of the late Quaternary, during the Anthropocene. Consequently, we must better understand the archaeological records and landscapes in context of human culture and the hydroclimate-environment nexus at different spatial and temporal scales. This session seeks related interdisciplinary papers and specific geoarchaeological case-studies that deploy various approaches and tools to address the reconstruction of former human-environmental interactions from the Palaeolithic period through the modern. Topics related to records of the Anthropocene from Earth and archaeological science perspectives are welcome. Furthermore, contributions may include (but are not limited to) insights about how people have coped with environmental disasters or abrupt changes in the past; defining sustainability thresholds for farming or resource exploitation; distinguishing the baseline natural and human contributions to environmental changes. Ultimately, we would like to understand how strategies of human resilience and innovation can inform our modern strategies for addressing the challenges of the emerging Anthropocene, a time frame dominated by human modulation of surface geomorphological processes and hydroclimate.

One of the most challenging sustainable goals of the UN 2030 Agenda and other international agreements is that urban systems have to increase well-being and health. Indeed, these networked systems already host more than half of the world's population and are going to host most of its growth, while they have been mostly designed and managed with limited visions, in particular with respect to their geophysical environment.
This goal got an unforeseen acuity with the Covid-19 pandemic, starting with the confinement strategies that radically brought into question the functioning of these systems, e.g., drastically reducing mobility and breaking its ever increasing trend. Covid-19 was not without precursor (e.g., SARS, MERS) and will not be without successors.

Long term visions based on transdisciplinary scientific advances are therefore indispensable, particularly from the geoscience community. As a consequence, this session calls for contributions from data-driven and theory-driven approaches of urban health under global change. This includes:
- qualitative improvements of epidemic modelling, as trans-disciplinary and nonlinear as possible
- possible interplays between meteorological and/or climate drivers and epidemic/health issues
- novel monitoring capabilities (including contacts tracking), data access, assimilation and multidimensional analysis techniques
- managing field works, geophysical monitoring and planetary missions
- how to have the highest science output during corona pandemic
- a fundamental revision of our urban systems, their greening as well as their mobility offer
- a particular focus on urban biodiversity, in particular to better manage virus vectors
- urban resilience must include resilience to epidemics, and therefore requires revisions of urban governance.

Plastic contamination is a global concern. With increasing usage and disposal of plastics, waste management is often inefficient in processing the volumes of plastic discarded. A large proportion of plastic waste accumulates in the natural environment where clean-up is difficult, if not impossible. This results in the plastic contamination persisting in the environment for many years, having the potential to cause long-term ecological harm, ultimately affecting humans.

To mitigate plastic pollution and find solutions to reduce harmful effects, a better understanding of the sources and pathways of plastics in the environment is needed. This should inform social and industrial practices, as well as advise on regulatory changes to address plastic management. This will also promote developing a roadmap towards the development and safe usage of alternative materials, to reduce environmental and health implications. The approach aims at bringing together academics from a variety of research fields and citizen science initiatives along with stakeholders from civil society and industry, as well as regulators and policymakers. The task requires collaboration across disciplines, from environmental sciences, including biology and chemistry, geosciences, atmospheric sciences and oceanography, to materials science, social sciences and economics.

This session will address the linkages and cross-disciplinary collaborations required for effective progress in this field. We specifically invite presentations featuring successes and challenges in collaboration between academia, industry and regulators. Presentations on tracking plastics and on elucidating connecting mechanisms from human activities through to environmental abundance and impact are encouraged. Studies on biota-plastic interactions, plastic fluxes linked to human activities and environmental changes (from synoptic events to climate change) and studies linking plastic characteristics to toxicological impacts (chemistry, materials science and ecotoxicology) are welcomed.

This is a linked session co-organised and co-designed with a session at the annual meeting of SETAC Europe (Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry), by connected convenor teams, to ensure full integration and input across disciplines. Outputs from the linked sessions will be disseminated widely across SETAC and EGU members through online resources, with a view to effective knowledge sharing and building collaborations.

Nature-based Solutions (NBS) are reframing discussion and policy responses worldwide to environmental challenges. Thus, NBS is of growing implementation, supported namely by the EU political agenda (e.g., green deal), as a way to attain the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), and to reinforce the New Urban Agenda. The NBS concept recognise the importance of nature and outline requirements for a systemic and holistic approach to environmental change, based on an understanding of the structure and functioning of ecosystems, and the social and institutional context within which they are situated. Furthermore, there is a growing recognition that human activities exert pressure on natural resources affecting the ecosystem dynamics and therefore the nexus (synergies and trade-offs) between their different functions and services. However, quantification of existing NBS’ effectiveness, their operationalisation and replication in different environmental settings has not been presented in such a way that allows them to be both widely accepted and incorporated in policy development and in practical implementation to achieve the UN SDGs.
This session aims to discuss and advance knowledge of innovative NBS approaches to face environmental challenges, such as water supply and management, agricultural production and healthy ecosystems, and simultaneously provide better understanding of associated social-ecological interactions, contributing to enhance the scientific basis for sustainable development and resilience.
This session seeks to:
- Better understanding of advantages and disadvantages of NBS to address global environmental and societal challenges;
- Studies on adaptation and mitigation options for the effect of climate change on water provisioning and livelihoods;
- New methods and tools to investigate the role of NBS in the context of environmental change; in particular, the effectiveness of NBS for hydro-meteorological risk reduction at landscape/watershed scale;
- New insights, methodologies, tools and best practices enabling successful implementation and upscaling of NBS in multiple contexts;
- Identifying opportunities for and barriers to NBS within current regulatory frameworks and management practices;
- Presenting overviews and case studies of NBS projects that also involve the private sector and market-based mechanisms;
- NBS towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The study of deep-time (pre-Quatrenary) climate evolution is important not only for understanding Earth’s habitable history but also for providing insights to present and future changes of the Earth system. To investigate deep-time climate, several international modelling intercomparsion projects, for example DeepMIP, MioMIP, PlioMIP, have been initiated. All these MIPs pay attention to the Cenozoic climate. However, relatively fewer modelling studies simulate climate in deeper time before the Cenozoic. This session invites works on deep-time climate simulations and reconstructions over the tectonic time scales, including, but not limited to, idealized and comprehensive model simulations, geological, geochemical, and paleontological reconstructions. We wish this session could integrate our knowledge of deep-time climate and environment evolution in the spirit of an integrated Earth system.

At the 2015 Paris COP21 climate conference, 195 countries committed to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and make efforts to significantly limit man-made global warming to below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. France and Germany joined forces in this fight against global warming by creating the “Make Our Planet Great Again” research initiative covering research in Earth system science that aims to better understand climate change and its impacts on natural and socio-economic systems. In this interdisciplinary session, we welcome data- and model-based research undertaken within, but also outside this international initiative. We welcome contributions that provide new insights into the mechanisms of past, present and future climate changes and the associated impacts on the oceans, the cryosphere, coastal regions, and terrestrial systems. Innovative research contributions that can lead towards the ultimate goals of the Paris Agreement ranging from basic research to solution-oriented research are also encouraged.

In 2015, the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on climate recognised the deteriorating resilience of the Earth system, with planetary-scale human impacts constituting a new geological epoch: the Anthropocene. Earth system resilience critically depends on the nonlinear interplay of positive and negative feedbacks of biophysical and increasingly also socio-economic processes. These include dynamics in the carbon cycle, large-scale ecosystems, atmosphere, ocean, and cryosphere that can absorb geophysical shocks (e.g. volcanic eruptions), as well as the dynamics and perturbations associated with human activities.

Maintaining Earth in the Holocene-like interglacial state within which the world’s societies evolved over the past ~10,000 years will require industrialised societies to embark on rapid global-scale socio-economic transformations. In addition to incrementally increasing environmental hazards, there is a risk of crossing tipping points in the Earth system triggering partly irreversible and potentially cascading changes.

In this session we invite contributions on all topics relating to Earth resilience, such as assessing the biophysical and social determinants of the Earth’s long-term stability, negative feedback processes, modelling and data analysis and integration of nonlinearity, tipping points and abrupt shifts in the Earth system, and the potential for rapid social transformations to global sustainability.

Remaining carbon budgets specify the maximum amount of CO2 that may be emitted to stabilize warming at a particular level (such as the 1.5 °C target), and are thus of high interest to the public and policymakers. Yet, there are many sources of uncertainty which make it challenging to estimate the remaining carbon budget in real world conditions, especially for ambitious mitigation targets.

This session aims to further our understanding of the climate response under different emission scenarios, with particular interest in emission pathways towards net-zero targets, and to advance our knowledge of associated carbon budgets consistent with meeting various levels of warming. We invite contributions that use a variety of tools, including fully coupled Earth System Models, Integrated Assessment Models, or simple climate model emulators.

We welcome studies exploring different aspects of climate change in response to future emission scenarios, in addition to studies exploring carbon budgets and the TCRE framework, including: the governing mechanisms behind linearity of TCRE and its limitations, effects of different forcings and feedbacks (e.g. permafrost carbon feedback) and non-CO2 forcings (e.g. aerosols, and other non-CO2 greenhouse gases), estimates of the remaining carbon budget to reach a given temperature target (for example, the 1.5 °C warming level from the Paris Agreement), the role of pathway dependence and emission rate, the climate-carbon responses to different emission scenarios (e.g. SSP scenarios, idealized scenarios, or scenarios designed to reach net-zero emission level), and the behaviour of TCRE in response to artificial carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere (i.e. CDR or negative emissions). Contributions from the fields of climate policy and economics focused on applications of carbon budgets and benefits of early mitigation are also encouraged.

The session gathers geoscientific aspects such as dynamics, reactions, and environmental/health consequences of radioactive materials that are massively released accidentally (e.g., Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear power plant accidents, wide fires, etc.) and by other human activities (e.g., nuclear tests).

The radioactive materials are known as polluting materials that are hazardous for human society, but are also ideal markers in understanding dynamics and physical/chemical/biological reactions chains in the environment. Thus, the radioactive contamination problem is multi-disciplinary. In fact, this topic involves regional and global transport and local reactions of radioactive materials through atmosphere, soil and water system, ocean, and organic and ecosystem, and its relation with human and non-human biota. The topic also involves hazard prediction and nowcast technology.

By combining 35 years (> halftime of Cesium 137) monitoring data after the Chernobyl Accident in 1986, 10 years dense measurement data by the most advanced instrumentation after the Fukushima Accident in 2011, and other events, we can improve our knowledgebase on the environmental behavior of radioactive materials and its environmental/biological impact. This should lead to improved monitoring systems in the future including emergency response systems, acute sampling/measurement methodology, and remediation schemes for any future nuclear accidents.

The following specific topics have traditionally been discussed:
(a) Atmospheric Science (emissions, transport, deposition, pollution);
(b) Hydrology (transport in surface and ground water system, soil-water interactions);
(c) Oceanology (transport, bio-system interaction);
(d) Soil System (transport, chemical interaction, transfer to organic system);
(e) Forestry;
(f) Natural Hazards (warning systems, health risk assessments, geophysical variability);
(g) Measurement Techniques (instrumentation, multipoint data measurements);
(h) Ecosystems (migration/decay of radionuclides).

The session consists of updated observations, new theoretical developments including simulations, and improved methods or tools which could improve observation and prediction capabilities during eventual future nuclear emergencies. New evaluations of existing tools, past nuclear contamination events and other data sets also welcome.

This session is open to all contributions in biogeochemistry and ecology where stable isotope techniques are used as analytical tools, with a focus on stable isotopes of light elements (C, H, O, N, S, ...). We welcome studies from both terrestrial and aquatic (including marine) environments as well as methodological and experimental, theoretical and modeling studies that introduce new approaches or techniques (including natural abundance work, labeling studies, multi-isotope approaches, clumped and metal isotopes).

Stable isotopes and other novel tracers, such as carbonyl sulfide (COS) and clumped isotopes, help to identify and quantify biological, chemical and physical processes that drive Earth's biogeochemical cycling, atmospheric processes and biosphere-atmosphere exchange. Recent developments in analytical measurement techniques now offer the opportunity to investigate these tracers at unprecedented temporal and spatial resolution and precision.

This session includes contributions from field and laboratory experiments, latest instrument developments as well as theoretical and modelling activities that investigate and use the isotope composition of light elements (C, H, O, N) and their compounds as well as other novel tracers for biogeochemical and atmospheric research.

Topics addressed in this session include:
- Stable isotopes in carbon dioxide (CO2), water (H2O), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O)
- Novel tracers and biological analogues, such as COS
- Polyisotopocules ("clumped isotopes")
- Intramolecular stable isotope distributions ("isotopomer abundances")
- Analytical, method and modelling developments
- Flux measurements
- Quantification of isotope effects
- Non-mass dependent isotopic fractionation and related isotope anomalies

Stable isotopes are powerful tools for tracing fluxes of water and associated nutrients in the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. They are increasingly used by various disciplines to better understand the functioning of the soil-plant-atmosphere system. While new methods allow measurements at high spatial and temporal resolution, studies applying tracer methods are now tackling complex interactions between soil processes, plant physiology and ecology, and variable atmospheric drivers. As such, methodological developments and changes are happening quickly and have a strong bearing on process understanding and interpretation of findings. This session aims to address the current state of the art for methods, applications, and process interpretations using stable isotopes in the critical zone and to foster interdisciplinary exchange. We welcome experimental and modeling studies that present methodological developments and applications of isotope tracers to improve the actual knowledge of the water and nutrient exchanges at the soil-plant-atmosphere interfaces. Studies that seek to cross disciplinary boundaries and reveal new eco-hydrological process understanding are especially welcome.

Land degradation affects more than 52 billion hectares of land around the world. This is caused to a large extent by anthropogenic activities such as land abandonment, mining activities, deforestation, and inadequate land use and management. Disturbance or insufficient rebuilding of the soil physicochemical and biological characteristics can modify the ecosystem functions and services. In the absence of appropriate restoration, soils and ecosystems would remain in a disturbed state or continue to decline. Therefore, restoration and rehabilitation of degraded soils is critical to create healthy and functional ecosystems that support essential functions and services.
In this session, we welcome contributions covering research conducted in this area of research describing experimental, observational, and theoretical studies. Topics of interest are (although not limited to) causes and impacts of land degradation and remedial actions and strategies for soil restoration and rehabilitation at local, regional or global scales.

Sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) is an established proxy used to investigate the past biota, including community reconstruction, detection of richness, and eco-functional shifts. It has provided a much more detailed understanding of overall ecosystem changes and its relation to environmental variability from decadal to millennial time scales. The potential of sedaDNA data to comprehend past ecosystems is rapidly accelerating because of a.) increasing DNA reference databases, b.) increasing applications in case studies addressing different paleoecological scientific questions, c.) the use and development of new protocols for high-throughput sequencing technologies, d.) the establishment of stringent bioinformatic pipelines to improve data analyses and authenticate ancient molecular signals e.) the development of sedaDNA data management tools allowing comprehensive and summarizing sedaDNA data interpretation. This session invites contributions covering terrestrial and marine applications of sedaDNA in paleoecology, including methodological renewals, bioinformatic pipelines and data management.

Reliable information on past environmental and climatic conditions is crucial for understanding the evolution of life and the Earth System as a whole. Skeletal components of marine or aquatic organisms are among the most important and widely-used natural archives capturing information about the environment and fluid chemistry during precipitation in the form of geochemical signatures and/or specific mineralogies or micromorphologies. Over the past decades, a refined understanding of (bio)mineralisation, together with the development of new isotopic and elemental proxies (e.g. clumped isotopes Δ47, boron isotopes δ11B, or elemental ratios such as Li/Mg), has led to numerous breakthroughs in palaeoclimate research (e.g. on the evolution of seawater chemistry, causes and consequences of mass extinctions, or greenhouse vs. icehouse climate sensitivities). Simultaneously, geochemical, petrographic and crystallographic approaches have brought novel insights into (bio)mineral formation processes and alteration pathways of a variety of organisms. Critically, however, our knowledge of the incorporation of elements into the crystal lattice, and the quality and reliability of extracted climatic and environmental records, depends on careful proxy calibrations, and evaluation of secondary controls such as kinetic or vital effects and diagenetic influences.

This session seeks contributions on geochemical proxy development, including but not limited to new proxies, calibrations, modelling frameworks, and analytical or methodological advances. We invite experimental and observational studies dealing with biogenic but also inorganic mineral precipitation, transformation and alteration, including interface geochemistry, geomicrobiology or new perspectives on biomineralisation from culturing of calcifying organisms. We also welcome examples on how mechanistic understanding of marine or terrestrial carbonates and/or application of novel approaches results in an improved understanding of the global carbon(ate) cycle and Earth history. The aim of this session is to synthesize recent advances in geochemistry and (bio)mineralisation to further palaeo-proxy development and application that will result in a comprehensive understanding of past global changes.

Remotely-sensed signals result from the interaction of incoming and emitted electromagnetic radiation with atmospheric constituents, vegetation, soil surfaces or water bodies. Vegetation, soil and water bodies are functional interfaces between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere. These signals can be measured by optical, thermal and microwave remote sensing including the fluorescence parts of the remotely-sensed signal spectrum.
This session solicits for papers presenting strategies, methodologies or approaches leading to the assimilation of remote sensing products from different EM regions, angular constellations, fluorescence as well as data measured in situ for validation purposes.
We welcome contributions on topics related to climate change, food production & security, nature preservation, biodiversity, epidemiology, atmospheric chemistry & pollution (tropospheric ozone, anthropogenic and biogenic aerosols, nitrogen oxides, VOC’s, etc). We also welcome papers focusing on the assimilation of remote sensing and in-situ measurements in bio-geophysical and atmospheric models, as well as the RS extraction techniques themselves.

This session aims to bring together scientists developing remote sensing techniques, products and models leading to strategies with a higher bio-geophysical impact on the stability and sustainability of the Earth’s ecosystems, for the benefit of humanity and its next generations.

The MacGyver session focuses on novel sensors made, or data sources unlocked, by scientists. All geoscientists are invited to present:
- new sensor systems, using technologies in novel or unintended ways,
- new data storage or transmission solutions sending data from the field with LoRa, WIFI, GSM, or any other nifty approach,
- started initiatives (e.g., Open-Sensing.org) that facilitate the creation and sharing of novel sensors, data acquisition and transmission systems.

Connected a sensor for iPhone to an Arduino or Raspberri Pi? 3D printed an automated water quality sampler? Or build a Cloud Storage system from Open Source Components? Show it!

New methods in hydrology, plant physiology, seismology, remote sensing, ecology, etc. are all welcome. Bring prototypes and demonstrations to make this the most exciting Poster Only (!) session of the General Assembly.

This session is co-sponsered by MOXXI, the working group on novel observational methods of the IAHS.

Methods of analysis used in the investigation of soil chemical, biochemical and physical properties play very important role in the progress of soil science. The accuracy of provided analyses and quality of new knowledge and discoveries depends directly from the choice of analytical methods. The wise usage of a wide range of different analytical methods and techniques serves as a foundation for the investigation of the processes in soils and for the assessment of the soil environmental status. Unfortunately, the importance of their utilisation often remains in the shadow and is principally underestimated. Today we can notice, that the spectrum of methods used in soil science varies starting from quite simple ones and ending with high-precision methods based on high-tech instruments.
The aim of this session is to present the usage of different laboratory methods and techniques in soil research and give the possibility for researchers to exchange their experiences. The special goal of this session is to promote a wider use of innovative analytical methods for determination of chemical compounds in mineral and organic soils, sediments, substrates and composts. The innovative methods covering soil organic matter and humic substances analysis are acknowledged. The new concept “lab on phone” has appeared in scientific literature during the last few years, which specifies the use of smartphones as analytical instruments in labs and also for field experiments.
The session gives a favourable opportunity to present the works describing the usage of ICP-MS, GC-MS, HPLC-MS, TGA-MS, FTIR, fluorescence etc. in the soil analysis . The session is not limited to these techniques or methods, the works describing the methods „lab on phone“ or any other innovative method or its application for soil analysis are very expected. The studies connected with methodology of soil chemical analysis and particularly soil organic matter and humic substances are awaited.

This interdisciplinary session welcomes contributions on novel conceptual and/or methodological approaches and methods for the analysis and statistical-dynamical modeling of observational as well as model time series from all geoscientific disciplines.
Methods to be discussed include, but are not limited to linear and nonlinear methods of time series analysis. time-frequency methods, statistical inference for nonlinear time series, including empirical inference of causal linkages from multivariate data, nonlinear statistical decomposition and related techniques for multivariate and spatio-temporal data, nonlinear correlation analysis and synchronisation, surrogate data techniques, filtering approaches and nonlinear methods of noise reduction, artificial intelligence and machine learning based analysis and prediction for univariate and multivariate time series.
Contributions on methodological developments and applications to problems across all geoscientific disciplines are equally encouraged. We particularly aim at fostering a transfer of new methodological data analysis and modeling concepts among different fields of the geosciences.

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Sub-Session "Mathematical Climatology and Space-time Data Analysis" (Abdel Hannachi, Amro Elfeki, Christian Franzke, Muhammad Latif, Carlos Pires)

The recent progress in mathematical methods to solve various problems in weather & climate nonlinear dynamics and data analysis calls for the need to develop a new session that focus on those methods. Novel and powerful mathematical methods have been developed and used in different subjects of climate. Because those methods are used within specific contexts they go unnoticed most of the time by climate researchers. The proposed new session will provide the opportunity to climate scientists and researchers working on developing mathematical methods for climate to come together and present their findings in a transparent way. This will also be easily accessible to other climate scientists who look for, and are interested in specific methods to solve their problems.
Contributions are encouraged from researchers working on mathematical methods and their application to weather and climate. We particularly welcome contributions on optimization, dimension reduction and data mining, space-time patterns identification, machine learning, statistical prediction modelling, nonlinear methods , Bayesian statistics, and Monte-Carlo Markov Chain (MCMC) methods in stochastic modelling.

Almost 30 years of developing the concept of geodiversity in geosciences provides a robust foundation for moving to the issue of synthesizing the existing knowledge and methods of assessing geodiversity and to disseminate the achievements of this concept.
1. The spatial and temporal scales. On what cartographic scale should the source materials be useful for determining the degree of geodiversity? Can geodiversity be considered on a local, regional, national, continental and global scale? Having in place geodiversity (stationary, at a given time of observation/assessment) and dynamic geodiversity at your disposal - how deep, how far can you reach the past and the future in geodiversity assessments of any area? Can geodiversity be determined in a palaeogeographic/geological context? How can you use geodiversity to describe geosites, geoparks, landscapes, and other forms of geoconservation? How to translate geodiversity values into geoheritage measures?
2. The lack of a standard for geodiversity assessment. Is the quality or quantity (number) of assessed geodiversity features important? How to transform qualitative assessments into quantitative assessments, so that you can easily compare different areas in terms of their substantive value, not to mention independence from the spatial and temporal scale? These issues are related to the problem of uncertainty in geodiversity assessments. This problem affects applied geodiversity studies as well, limiting further qualitative/qualitative assessment of abiotic ecosystem services. So what should be the standards of this geodiversity assessment to minimize errors in assessments?
3. If we find a consensus in establishing a standard for geodiversity assessment, how to apply the developed standard at geoconservation and geoheritage? How to consider such a standard universally acceptable? What forms of activity should best promote the idea of geodiversity? How to implement geodiversity assessments by professionals for different forms of geoconservation and geoheritage? Which ecosystem services should be taken into account in determining the importance of geodiversity for human life? How to make the society aware of the importance of geodiversity in their everyday life? How to extend the geodiversity values to preserve the state of the environment for future generations? How to link the idea of geodiversity with 17 UN SDG? Finally, how should geodiversity values be compared with biodiversity values?

Homo sapiens as product of the natural evolution of the biosphere , was created as a species in the geochemical conditions of the virgin biosphere. After successful colonization of the adverse environmental conditions around the whole world, he started its transformation first by land cultivation, urbanization and now by creation a new habitat exclusively for man. All these have led to a significant geochemical transformation of the virgin biosphere. Nowadays, a growing variety of anthropogenic sources of pollution requires, not only a constant monitoring of the chemical state of soil, water, air and food products, but also the development of spatially differentiated approaches to assessing the health risk by evaluation of diseases’ provocation. To solve this problem, it is necessary to develop effective approaches towards interpretation of spatially related geochemical and medical information. In this way we propose to discuss: 1) the global trends of health transformation in geochemical environment of actual noosphere; 2) different approaches to assess the risk of diseases of geochemical nature in different countries; 3) criteria for determining pollution level depending on geochemical constrains and health effects; 4) the problem of mapping of risk zones, related to negative medical effects due to both excess and deficiency of certain chemical elements or compounds.

Food traceability is an important issue in food security and quality control.
The possibility of tracing the origin of food stuff is assuming an increasingly important role at the legislative level, as a tool that may allow to prove on product authenticity and to control adulteration.
Establish geochemical and isotopic analytical approaches to trace food play a key role to ensure food safety.

Citizen science (the involvement of the public in scientific processes) is gaining momentum across multiple disciplines, increasing multi-scale data production on Earth Sciences that is extending the frontiers of knowledge. Successful participatory science enterprises and citizen observatories can potentially be scaled-up in order to contribute to larger policy strategies and actions (e.g. the European Earth Observation monitoring systems), for example to be integrated in GEOSS and Copernicus. Making credible contributions to science can empower citizens to actively participate as citizen stewards in decision making, helping to bridge scientific disciplines and promote vibrant, liveable and sustainable environments for inhabitants across rural and urban localities.
Often, citizen science is seen in the context of Open Science, which is a broad movement embracing Open Data, Open Technology, Open Access, Open Educational Resources, Open Source, Open Methodology, and Open Peer Review. Before 2003, the term Open Access was related only to free access to peer-reviewed literature (e.g., Budapest Open Access Initiative, 2002). In 2003 and during the “Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities”, the definition was considered to have a wider scope that includes raw research data, metadata, source materials, and scholarly multimedia material. Increasingly, access to research data has become a core issue in the advance of science. Both open science and citizen science pose great challenges for researchers to facilitate effective participatory science, yet they are of critical importance to modern research and decision-makers. To support the goals of the various Open Science initiatives, this session looks at what is possible and what is applied in Earth Science.

We want to ask and find answers to the following questions:
Which approaches can be used in Earth Sciences?
What are the biggest challenges in bridging between scientific disciplines and how to overcome them?
What kind of participatory citizen scientist involvement and open science strategies exist?
How to ensure transparency in project results and analyses?
What kind of critical perspectives on the limitations, challenges, and ethical considerations exist?

Modelling the Earth system with state-of-the-art Earth System models is computationally expensive. Therefore, simple climate models (SCMs, also known as “reduced complexity” models and “emulators”) are useful as they are able to produce individual climate projections with reduced computational resources. This low computational burden enables the generation of large model ensembles where climate response, carbon cycle and forcing parameters can be varied, and internal variability and teleconnections emulated, allowing for probabilistic projections of a range of climate features. Simple climate models may be physical or statistical in nature, and can range in complexity from spreadsheet-based projections of global-mean temperature from prescribed radiative forcing through to Earth System Models of Intermediate Complexity and reduced resolution variants of operational ESMs. SCMs have historically proven useful in translating knowledge of physical processes, the carbon cycle and other Earth System responses into a format useful for the economical and social sciences, and policy/decision makers.

We invite presentations on all aspects of the development and application of simple climate and geophysical models, including but not limited to:
1. the development of simple climate models and results
2. the role of simple climate models in integrated assessment and scenario generation
3. best practices in tuning and calibration of simple models to observations and complex Earth System models
4. strategies for emulating internal variability, regional climate and climate extremes
5. models that focus on one particular complex aspect of the Earth system (for example atmospheric chemistry, land and ocean carbon cycles, or the cryosphere)
6. uses of simple climate models in outreach and education

Modelling past climate states, and the transient evolution of Earth’s climate remains challenging. Time periods such as the Paleocene, Eocene, Pliocene, the Last Interglacial, the Last Glacial Maximum or the mid-Holocene span across a vast range of climate conditions. At times, these lie far outside the bounds of the historical period that most models are designed and tuned to reproduce. However, our ability to predict future climate conditions and potential pathways to them is dependent on our models' abilities to reproduce just such phenomena. Thus, our climatic and environmental history is ideally suited to thoroughly test and evaluate models against data, so they may be better able to simulate the present and make future climate projections.

We invite papers on palaeoclimate-specific model development, model simulations and model-data comparison studies. Simulations may be targeted to address specific questions or follow specified protocols (as in the Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project – PMIP or the Deep Time Model Intercomparison Project – DeepMIP). They may include anything between time-slice equilibrium experiments to long transient climate simulations (e.g. transient simulations covering the entire glacial cycle as per the goal of the PalMod project) with timescales of processes ranging from synoptic scales to glacial cycles and beyond. Comparisons may include past, historical as well as future simulations and focus on comparisons of mean states, gradients, circulation or modes of variability using reconstructions of temperature, precipitation, vegetation or tracer species (e.g. δ18O, δD or Pa/Th).

Evaluations of results from the latest phase of PMIP4-CMIP6 are particularly encouraged. However, we also solicit comparisons of different models (comprehensive GCMs, isotope-enabled models, EMICs and/or conceptual models) between different periods, or between models and data, including an analysis of the underlying mechanisms as well as contributions introducing novel model or experimental setups.

One of the big challenges in Earth system science consists in providing reliable climate predictions on sub-seasonal, seasonal, decadal and longer timescales. The resulting data have the potential to be translated into climate information leading to a better assessment of multi-scale global and regional climate-related risks.
The latest developments and progress in climate forecasting on subseasonal-to-decadal and longer timescales will be discussed and evaluated. This will include presentations and discussions of predictions for a time horizon of up to ten years from dynamical ensemble and statistical/empirical forecast systems, as well as the aspects required for their application: forecast quality assessment, multi-model combination, bias adjustment, downscaling, etc.
Following the new WCPR strategic plan for 2019-2029, prediction enhancements are solicited from contributions embracing climate forecasting from an Earth system science perspective. This includes the study of coupled processes, impacts of coupling and feedbacks, and analysis/verification of the coupled atmosphere-ocean, atmosphere-land, atmosphere-hydrology, atmosphere-chemistry & aerosols, atmosphere-ice, ocean-hydrology, ocean-ice, ocean-chemistry and climate-biosphere (including human component). Contributions are also sought on initialization methods that optimally use observations from different Earth system components, on assessing and mitigating the impacts of model errors on skill, and on ensemble methods.
We also encourage contributions on the use of climate predictions for climate impact assessment, demonstrations of end-user value for climate risk applications and climate-change adaptation and the development of early warning systems.

A special focus will be put on the use of operational climate predictions (C3S, NMME, S2S), results from the CMIP5-CMIP6 decadal prediction experiments, and climate-prediction research and application projects (e.g. EUCP, APPLICATE, PREFACE, MIKLIP, MEDSCOPE, SECLI-FIRM, S2S4E, CONFESS).
An increasingly important aspect for climate forecast's applications is the use of most appropriate downscaling methods, based on dynamical or statistical approaches or their combination, that are needed to generate time series and fields with an appropriate spatial or temporal resolution. This is extensively considered in the session, which therefore brings together scientists from all geoscientific disciplines working on the prediction and application problems.

Observations from aircraft, remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS/UAV/UAS) and balloons are an important means to obtain a broad view of processes within the Earth environment during measurement campaigns. The range of available instruments enables a broad and flexible range of applications. It includes sensors for meteorological parameters, trace gases and cloud/aerosol particles and more complex systems like high spectral resolution lidar, hyperspectral imaging at wavelengths from the visible to thermal infra-red and synthetic aperture radar. The use of small state-of-the-art instruments, the combination of more and more complex sets of instruments with improved accuracy and data acquisition speed enables more complex campaign strategies even on small aircraft, balloons or RPASs.
Applications include atmospheric parameters, surface properties of vegetation, glaciological processes, sea ice and iceberg studies, soil and minerals and dissolved or suspended matter in inland water and the ocean. Ground based systems and satellites are key information sources to complement airborne datasets and a comprehensive view of the observed system is often obtained by combining all three. Aircraft and balloon operations depend on weather conditions either to obtain the atmospheric phenomenon of interest or the required surface-viewing conditions and so require detailed planning. They cover large areas in the horizontal and vertical with adaptable temporal sampling. Future satellite instruments can be tested using airborne platforms during their development. The validation of operational satellite systems and applications using airborne measurements has come increasingly into focus with the European Copernicus program in recent years.
This session will bring together aircraft, balloon and RPAS operators and the research community to present:
• an overview of the current status of environmental research with a focus on the use of airborne platforms
• recent observation campaigns and their outcomes
• multi-aircraft/balloon/RPAS and multi-RI campaigns
• using airborne and ground-based RI to complement satellite data, including cal/val campaigns
• identifying and closing capability gaps
• contributions of airborne measurements to modelling activities
• airborne platforms to reduce the environmental footprint of alternative observation strategies
• airborne instruments, developments and observations
• future plans involving airborne observational research

Instrumentation and measurement technologies are currently playing a key role in the monitoring, assessment and protection of water resources.
This session focuses on measurement techniques, sensing methods and data science implications for the observation of water systems, given the strong link between measurement aspects and computational aspects, especially in the water sector.
This session aims at providing an updated framework of the observational techniques, data processing approaches and sensing technologies for water management and protection, giving also attention to today’s data science aspects, e.g. data analytics, big data, cloud computing and Artificial Intelligence.
We welcome contributions about field measurement approaches, development of new sensing techniques, low cost sensor systems and measurement methods enabling crowdsourced data collection also through social sensing. Therefore, water quantity and quality measurements as well as water characterization techniques are within the scope of this session.
Remote sensing techniques for the monitoring of water resources and/or the related infrastructures are also welcome.
Contributions dealing with the integration of data from multiple sources are solicited, as well as the design of ICT architectures (including IoT concepts) and of computing systems for the user-friendly monitoring of the water resource and the related networks.
Studies about signal and data processing techniques (including AI approaches) and the integration between sensor networks and large data systems are also very encouraged.

Soil organic matter (SOM) plays a vital role not only in soil fertility and quality (by providing a number of physical, chemical, and biological benefits), but also in carbon cycling. SOM contains a vast range of diverse organic structures, and also a living component (microorganisms) with various residence times that define the central role SOM plays in the soil. The decline of SOM represents one of the most serious threats facing many arable lands of the world. One of the efficient approaches to increase SOM content and decrease land degradation is the application of organic amendments, such as crop residues and animal manures. Nowadays, organic amendments originate from many kinds of organic wastes, which are being increasingly produced mainly by farms, agro-food industries, municipalities, and energy plants. Besides serving as a source of organic matter and plant nutrients, these materials may contribute to reduce soil contamination, erosion, and desertification, as well as mitigate climate change. At the same time, a safe and useful application of organic amendments requires an in-depth scientific knowledge of their nature and impacts on the SOM pools and factions, soil-plant system, as well as on the surrounding environment.
This session will combine the current research and recent advances on the use of organic amendments in modern agriculture as well as for the restoration of degraded soils. Special attention will be given to the soil chemical, physical, biological and biochemical aspects, including tracing the dynamics of SOM pools and fractions by using 13C/14C/15N/33P/18O isotopes. Field and laboratory studies focused on the effects of management practices, climate change, environmental conditions, soil properties are highly welcome. We also encourage contributors to present and discuss analytical challenges that remain due to environmental and analytical uncertainty.

Land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector is the only sector in National green-house gas (GHG) Inventory that accounts for carbon (C) removals, therefore it has been recognized as important for reaching the long-term climate mitigation objectives. Recently, an issue of uncertainty of the LULUCF sector estimates is strongly being emphasized and scientific community is facing a growing need to facilitate national reporting regarding C emissions/removals under LULUCF sector.
National level estimates often require long-term and comprehensive datasets at national scale, like national forest inventories (NFI), but these data are not always available. To overcome this gap, multi-source data integration, remote-sensing and modelling approaches are commonly used, but all these methods carry many issues.
This session invites contributions on national and subnational carbon budget estimates (past, present and future) in different land uses (forests, crops, grasslands, urban areas) using multiple data sources and different calculation methods. NFI-based, remote sensing and modelling studies on C stocks and/or fluxes in different ecosystem pools (live biomass, dead wood, litter or soil) are encouraged.
Aim is to provide extensive overview of different methodological approaches that can be used for national scale estimates and highlight main issues regarding data integration and model calibration and validation process.

Evapotranspiration (ET) is the key water flux at the interface of soil, vegetation and atmosphere. In-situ measurements to estimate ET (and its individual components evaporation and transpiration) have been developed in different research disciplines and cover a range of scales, from the point scale of individual sap flow sensors in trees over pedon-scale lysimeters to eddy covariance footprints. Each estimate and each scaling step includes a method-specific set of uncertainties which are rarely communicated. This is problematic for connecting different methods and the effort to scale up to remote sensing products from satellites or to model resolutions.

This session will mainly focus on the variety of ET estimates from different in-situ devices such as lysimeters, sap flow sensors, eddy covariance stations, scintillometers, approaches like the Bowen ratio method and others, including reporting and comparing the respective uncertainties of the methods. Additionally, we want to address the scale dependency of the various approaches and the scale gap between in-situ ET data, remote sensing products and catchment- or landscape-scale modelled ET. We welcome contributions that (1) assess and compare established and new in-situ ET measurements, (2) address uncertainty in the respective methods, (3) analyse trends as well as spatial and temporal patterns in in-situ measured ET data, (4) include cross-scale comparisons and scaling approaches and (5) incorporate in-situ measurements into modeling approaches.

Peatlands develop in specific hydrological settings and react sensitively to changes in climatic and hydrological boundary conditions. The hydrology of peatlands is fundamental to their function and development. Soil hydrological properties can change drastically after human interventions such as drainage, causing challenges for both model parameterization and re-wetting measures. Pristine peatlands offer and regulate many ecosystem services such as biodiversity, carbon storage, and nutrient retention. Hydrology is a key control for a number of these services. Furthermore, the effects of peatlands (both pristine and disturbed) on flood retention and regional climate are much debated. As hydrological and biotic processes in peatlands are strongly coupled, estimating the eco-hydrological response of peatlands under climate change and linking it to vegetation development and greenhouse gas emissions is a demanding task for modelers.

This session focuses on:
(1) hydrological processes operating in all types of peatlands (pristine, disturbed, degraded, drained, managed, rehabilitated or re-wetted) in northern and tropical latitudes, and
(2) the first-order control of peatland hydrology on all kinds of peatland functions.

We aim to boost knowledge transfer across spatial/temporal scales and methods; from the pore to the global scale, including laboratory, field, remote sensing, and modeling studies on hydrological, hydrochemical, biogeochemical, ecohydrological or geophysical topics, as well as ecosystem service assessments.

The terrestrial vegetation carbon balance is controlled not just by photosynthesis, but by respiration, carbon allocation, turnover (comprising litterfall, background mortality and disturbances) and wider vegetation dynamics. Observed, and likely future, changes in vegetation structure and functioning are the result of interactions of these processes with atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration, climate and human activities. The quantification and assessment of such changes has proven extremely challenging because of a lack of observations at large scales and over the long time periods required to evaluate trends.

Thus, our current understanding of the environmental controls on vegetation dynamics and properties, and, in turn, their impact on carbon stocks in biomass and soils, is limited. The behaviour of vegetation models regarding many of the processes mentioned above remains under-constrained at scales from landscape to global. This gives rise to high uncertainty as to whether the terrestrial vegetation will continue to act as a carbon sink under future environmental changes, or whether increases in autotrophic respiration or carbon turnover might counteract this negative feedback to climate change. For instance, accelerated background tree mortality or more frequent and more severe disturbance events (e.g. drought, fire, insect outbreaks) might turn vegetation into carbon sources. Likewise, understanding how these shifts in dynamics will influence forest composition is crucial for long-term carbon cycle projections.

Uncertainties and/or data gaps in large-scale empirical products of vegetation dynamics, carbon fluxes and stocks may be overcome by extensive collections of field data and new satellite retrievals of forest biomass and other vegetation properties. Such novel datasets may be used to evaluate, develop and parametrize global vegetation models and hence to constrain present and future simulations of vegetation dynamics. Where no observations exist, exploratory modelling can investigate realistic responses and identify necessary measurements. We welcome contributions that make use of observational approaches, vegetation models, or model-data integration techniques to advance understanding of the effects of environmental change on vegetation dynamics, tree mortality and carbon stocks and fluxes at local, regional or global scales and/or at long time scales.

Peatland restoration for conservation purposes can solve many problems related to drained peatlands and has been implemented for decades now. However, innovative management measures that sustain economically viable biomass production while reducing negative environmental impacts including greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, fire risk and supporting ecosystem services of organic soils are only currently studied. Those management measures include, but are not limited to, productive use of wet peatlands, improved water management in conventional agriculture and innovative approaches in conservation-focused rewetting projects. We invite studies addressing all types of peatland management, i.e. agriculture, forestry and “classical” restoration, as well as their integration into GHG inventories. Work on all spatial scales from laboratory to national level addressing biogeochemical and biological aspects and experimental and modelling studies are welcome. Furthermore, we invite contributions addressing policy coherence and identifying policy instruments for initiating and implementing new management practices on organic soils. Implementation and efficiency of management practices depends not only on hydrogeology and climate but also on other regional factors. Therefore, we hope to host contributions from different geographical regions where peatlands are important including boreal, temperate and tropical peatlands.

Reports of climate change-induced tree mortality and forest decline are increasing in many parts of the world, yet there is no consensus on the consistency of global patterns or trends of tree mortality, nor on potential trajectories of future forest condition. Given the important role of forests for global biogeochemical cycles and for a sustainable provision of life-supporting ecosystem services and products, these knowledge gaps highlight the need for novel approaches towards monitoring and modelling tree mortality rates at the site, regional, continental and global level.
This session focuses on efforts to improve our understanding on: I) causes and mechanisms related to forest vulnerability and dieback; II) potential changes in tree species composition, forest structure and extent of dieback under current and future climate change scenarios; III) which hydraulic traits, both functional anatomical and physiological, make some tree species or stands and tree populations more prone to environmental-induced dieback and decline; IV) the role and interaction of insect disease and other abiotic factors on mortality; V) avenues for developing coherent assessments across the diverse existing data sets and associated monitoring methods.

Natural disturbances in forests, including windthrow events, insect infestations, wildfires and droughts have intensified in severity, frequency, and extent over the last few decades, and ongoing climate change is predicted to further accelerate these trends. If disturbance regimes exceed ecosystem resilience thresholds, forests may change to a new permanent state (e.g. turnover of tree species composition) or may convert fully into non-forest ecosystems.

Forest management practices can influence both the resistance and resilience of a forest ecosystem to its disturbances, in terms of outcomes for biodiversity, nutrient cycling, and the biochemical and physical properties of landscapes. Promotion of mixed species forestry, for instance, can increase stand stability against windthrow, and might decrease forests’ vulnerability to insect attacks or drought. Retention of dead wood, on the other hand, is thought to enhance the recovery of forest structure and complexity, as well as above and below-ground diversity. Type, scale and intensity of disturbance events, along with pre- and post-disturbance management practices, may ultimately lead to changes in vegetation dynamics and plant-soil-atmosphere interactions.

In this session, we hope to stimulate scientific exchange among ecological research disciplines, broaden the view on how forest management shapes forest susceptibility to natural disturbances, and draw attention to how management can alleviate post-disturbance effects on ecosystem functioning. We aim to bring together research spanning from tree and soil processes at the microscale to landscape-level dynamics. We invite contributions investigating natural forest disturbances and pre- and post-disturbance management practices from a variety of perspectives, including:
• Vegetation dynamics;
• Micro-meteorology;
• Plant physiology;
• Soil sciences;
• Microbiology.

Contributions based on observational, experimental, and modeling studies as well as reviews and syntheses are welcome.

Gross photosynthetic CO2 uptake is the single largest component of the global carbon cycle and a crucial variable for monitoring and understanding global biogeochemical cycles and fundamental ecosystem services. Nowadays routine measurements of the net biosphere-atmosphere CO2 exchange are conducted at the ecosystem scale in a large variety of ecosystem types across the globe. Gross photosynthetic and ecosystem respiratory fluxes are then typically inferred from the net CO2 exchange and used for benchmarking of terrestrial biosphere models or as backbones for upscaling exercises. Uncertainty in the responses of photosynthesis and respiration to the climate and environmental conditions is a major source of uncertainty in predictions of ecosystem-atmosphere feedbacks under climate change. On the other hand, transpiration estimates both at ecosystem to global scales are highly uncertain with estimates ranging from 20 to 90 % of total evapotranspiration. The most important bottleneck to narrow down the uncertainty in transpiration estimates is the fact that direct measurements of transpiration are uncertain and techniques like eddy covariance measure only the total evapotranspiration.
During the last decade, technological developments in field spectroscopy, including remote and proximal sensing of sun-induced fluorescence, as well as in isotope flux measurements and quantum cascade lasers have enabled alternative approaches for constraining ecosystem-scale photosynthesis, respiration and transpiration. On the other hand, a variety of approaches have been developed to directly assess the gross fluxes of CO2 and transpiration by using both process based and empirical models, and machine learning techniques.
In this session, we aim at reviewing recent progress made with novel approaches of constraining ecosystem gross photosynthesis, respiration and transpiration and at discussing their weaknesses and future steps required to reduce the uncertainty of present-day estimates. To this end, we are seeking contributions that use emerging constrains to improve the ability to quantify respiration and photosynthesis processes, transpiration and water use efficiency, at scales from leaf to ecosystem and global. Particularly welcome are studies reporting advancements and new developments in CO2 and evapotranspiration flux partitioning from eddy covariance data, the use of carbonyl sulfide, stable isotopes approaches and sun-induced fluorescence.

Environmental research is challenged by the question, how life supporting systems (ecosystems, the critical zone) and their services will develop in the next decades. However, addressing changes in ecosystem structure and function requires an integrated approach from the subsurface to the vegetation and atmosphere, across scales and ecosystems, and it entails combining observation, ecosystem theories and modelling. Such integrated approach depends on how environmental research and observation are shaped, comprising seamless collaborations amongst involved disciplines, the interactions of actual research with other stakeholders, research infrastructure design and operation and – as a key factor – the structures and rulesets of related funding mechanisms.
To practically implement this integration, a common conceptual framework is urgently needed. Such framework should be relevant for catalyzing integration efforts and implementing complementary modules of research infrastructures serving various user groups and disciplines towards a fundamental understanding and improved predictions of how s ecosystems and their services will evolve and adapt under global change, with climate change, land use and societal change as key drivers.
Triggered by the challenge to streamline the ecosystem, critical zone and socio-ecological research infrastructure at the Pan-European level in close collaboration with other ongoing European environmental RIs like ICOS and LifeWatch, the eLTER Research Infrastructure (RI) therefore strives for a Whole system Approach for In-situ & Long-term environmental System research on Life supporting Systems (WAILS), combining human-environment interactions at a given scale, and cross-scale interactions and feed-back loops across scales. The session will include presentations highlighting the theoretical basis and practical implementation.

Silicon (Si) is crucial in numerous biochemical and geochemical processes. Earlier scientific literature on Si cycling focused on abiotic weathering processes, while in recent years, scientists have become more aware of the significant role of biotic controls. Silicon plays a key role in processes governing soil formation and soil-plant feedback interactions. Vegetation, soil organisms, including fauna, microorganisms and fungi, strongly affect Si dynamic in terrestrial ecosystems but the mechanisms are still poorly understood. In particular, Si has numerous beneficial effects on both plant structure, function as well as resilience to biotic and abiotic stresses motivating studies focusing on Si functional ecology and silica biomineralization. The global Si cycle is receiving increased attention because of its links with the carbon cycle as well as other major biogeochemical cycles and toxic elements. A better understanding of the terrestrial Si cycle is thus critical, especially as drastic and subtle changes in the terrestrial Si cycle are occurring worldwide in response to global change.
This session aims at compiling recent work focusing on biogeochemical Si cycling under global change, its functions in terrestrial ecosystems as well as its evolution in the recent past. This session bridges advances from soil sciences, ecology, plant physiology, agronomy, biogeochemistry (including isotopes studies) and palaeontology. We invite studies tackling biotic and abiotic interactions at different time and spatial scales affecting the Si cycle and its interactions with other biogeochemical cycles. We encourage interdisciplinary studies as well as contributions from both field and laboratory experiments encompassing biogeochemical processes, molecular mechanisms to improve our understanding of the role of Si in ecosystem processes. Meta-analyses and paleo-environmental studies using phytoliths are also welcome.

The shorter return period of climate and hydrological extremes has been observed in the changing climate, which affects the distribution and vitality of ecosystems. In many regions, available water is a crucial point of survival, especially in forests. Risk can be enhanced by the exposure and/or by the vulnerability of the affected ecosystem as well as by land use/land cover change.
The session should provide a multidisciplinary platform for sharing experiences and discussing results of local and catchment scale case studies from a wider range of relevant fields such as
• observed impacts and damage chains in natural, agricultural, and forest ecosystems induced by droughts and intense rainfall events;
• correlation between the underlying environmental factors (e.g. climate, soil parameters, topographic factors) and the distribution/vitality of ecosystems;
• integrated application or comparison of databases and methods for the identification and complex assessment of ecosystem responses to abiotic stress factors;
• contribution to the increase of knowledge of adaptive forestry, the sustainability of management, and the conservation and improvement of mixed forests to support rural development;
Contributions are encouraged from international experiences, ongoing research activities as well as national, regional, and local initiatives.

Observations and simulations of the terrestrial carbon and water budget are fundamental to understanding biosphere-atmosphere interactions under a changing climate. Multiple processes determine how mass and energy exchange scale from the level of a leaf, to the whole plant, to the ecosystem level, and to the globe. Empirical studies are subject to the level at which observations are collected, and models imply a choice regarding the scale for which predictions are representative. The underlying ecosystem processes are still relatively poorly described by models. Confronting them at multiple temporal and spatial scales with Earth observation data could benefit simulations of the terrestrial carbon and water budget. Recent research has also revealed systematic differences between observations taken at different levels, e.g., regarding exchange fluxes of carbon and water between the biosphere and the atmosphere. This can add to model-data mismatch and limits process understanding.
This session aims at bridging terrestrial ecosystem observations across multiple temporal and spatial scales and from multiple variables. We particularly invite research with a focus on how we can learn from multiple observations of carbon and water exchange fluxes. We encourage contributions with a focus on process modelling, machine learning, satellite monitoring of ecosystem dynamics or with an empirical focus that aims at learning from parallel measurements, captured at the leaf (e.g. gas exchange), tree (e.g. sap flow and tree growth, dendroecology), and/or ecosystem level (eddy covariance towers, UAVs, aircrafts and satellites).

Managed agricultural ecosystems (grassland and cropland) are an important source and/or sink for greenhouse gases (GHG) as well as for reactive trace gases. Due to the simultaneous influence of various environmental drivers and management activities (e.g. fertilizer application, harvest, grazing) the flux patterns are often complex and difficult to attribute to individual drivers. Management related mitigation options may often result in trade-offs between different GHG or between emission of GHG and reactive gases like NH3, NO, or VOCs.
The session addresses experimentalists and modelers working on carbon and nitrogen cycling processes and related fluxes on plot, field, landscape, and regional scale. It is open to a wide range of studies including the development and application of new devices, methods, and model approaches as well as field observations and process studies.
Particularly welcome are studies on the full carbon, nitrogen or GHG budgets, as well as studies comparing GHG and reactive gas exchange. We also encourage contributions about emission factors for relevant gases.

Plant traits extend the range of earth observations to the level of individual organisms, providing a link to ecosystem function and modelling in the context of rapid global changes. However, overcoming the differences in temporal and spatial scales between plant trait data and biogeochemical cycles remains a challenge.

This session will address the role of plant traits, biodiversity, acclimation, and adaptation in the biogeochemical cycles of water, carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. We welcome conceptual, observational, experimental and modelling approaches, and studies from the local to the global scale, including in-situ or remote sensing observations.

Sustainable agriculture is needed to ensure that both present and future societies will be food secure. Current agricultural productivity is already challenged by several factors, such as climate change, availability and accessibility of water and other inputs, socio-economic conditions, and changing and increased demand for agricultural products. Agriculture is also expected to contribute to climate change mitigation, to minimize pollution of the environment, and to preserve biodiversity.
Assessing all these requires studying alternative land management at local to global scales and to assess agricultural production systems rather than individual products.
This session will focus on the modeling of agricultural systems under global change, addressing challenges in adaptation to and mitigation of climate change, sustainable intensification and environmental impacts of agricultural production. We welcome contributions on methods and data, assessments of climate impacts and adaptation options, environmental impacts, GHG mitigation and economic evaluations.

The need to predict ecosystem responses to anthropogenic change, including but not limited to changes in climate and increased atmospheric CO2 concentrations, is more pressing than ever. Global change is inherently multi-factorial and as the terrestrial biosphere moves into states without a present climate analogue, mechanistic understanding of ecosystem processes and their linkages with vegetation diversity and ecosystem function is vital to enable predictive capacity in our forecast tools.

This session aims to bring together scientists interested in advancing our fundamental understanding of vegetation and whole-ecosystem processes. We are interested in contributions focused on advancing process- and hypothesis-driven understanding of plant ecophysiology, biodiversity and ecosystem function. We welcome studies on a range of scales from greenhouse and mesocosm experiments to large field manipulative experiments, remote sensing studies and process-based modelling. We encourage contributions of novel ideas and hypotheses in particular those from early stage researchers and hope the session can create an environment where such ideas can be discussed freely.

Despite the tight coupling between carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling in terrestrial ecosystems, these two key elemental cycles are often studied separately, by different research groups using different methods and at different study sites. The aim of this session is to bring together scientists representing both fields of biogeochemistry in order to advance our understanding of the interactions between C and N cycling. C and N dynamics are altered in a changing climate through soil warming, changes in root exudates and litter input, changes in local hydrology, and disturbances including permafrost thaw and wildfires. While enhanced N availability may promote the C sink capacity of vegetation, complex interactions between climate, topography, soils, vegetation, and the microbial world will ultimately control the net ecosystem C and N balance in current and future conditions.
In this session, we welcome contributions that integrate both C and N dynamics across a variety of spatial scales, methods, and terrestrial ecosystem types that aim to address the challenges outlined above. Experimental and observational contributions focusing on ecosystem functions and compartments where C and N coupling occurs are encouraged, such as studies on plant-microbe interactions and priming, microbial processes coupling C and N cycles, and lateral transport of C and N to aquatic systems. We also welcome contributions describing new field and remote sensing methods and local and global models.

From pole to pole, peatlands contain up to 30% of the world’s soil carbon pool, illustrating their role in the global carbon cycle. Currently peatlands are under various pressures such as changing climate, land-use or nutrient loading with unknown consequences for their functioning as carbon sinks and stores and the uptake or release of the greenhouse gasses carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O). Simultaneously, increasing amount of restoration activities, aiming to return peatlands back to their original state are ongoing. It is, however, not clear how the carbon reservoir will react to these pressures and how resilient these ecosystems are. This session will focus on the observed or predicted changes on the biogeochemistry at peatlands, caused by climate change, nutrient loading or land-use. We invite studies concentrating, for example, on the effects of climate change on GHG flux or nutrient dynamics on pristine and managed peatlands, impact of drainage or restoration and subsequent vegetation succession on biogeochemistry, atmosphere-biosphere interaction, or studies on carbon stock changes demonstrating the impact of land-use or climate change. Experimental and modelling studies of both high- and low latitude peatlands are welcomed.

Human activities are altering a range of environmental conditions, including atmospheric CO2 concentration, climate, and nutrient inputs. However, understanding and predicting their combined impacts on ecosystem structure and functioning and biogeochemical cycles is challenging. Divergent future projections of terrestrial ecosystem models reveal uncertainties about fundamental processes and missing observational constraints. Models are routinely tested and calibrated against data from ecosystem flux measurements, remote sensing, atmospheric inversions and ecosystem inventories. These model projections constrain the current mean state of the terrestrial biosphere, but they provide limited information on the sensitivity of ecophysiological, biogeochemical, and hydrological processes to environmental changes. Observational and ecosystem manipulation studies (e.g., Free-Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment (FACE), nutrient addition or warming experiments) can complement modelling studies with unique insights and inform model development and evaluation.
This session focuses on how ecosystem processes respond to changes in CO2 concentration, warming, altered precipitation patterns, water and nutrient availability. It aims at fostering the interaction between the experimental and modelling communities by advancing the use of observational and experimental data for model evaluation and calibration. We encourage contributions from syntheses of multiple experiments, model intercomparisons and evaluations against ecosystem manipulation experiments, pre-experimental modelling, or the use of observations from "natural experiments". Contributions may span a range of scales and scopes, including plant ecophysiology, soil organic matter dynamics, soil microbial activity, nutrient cycling, plant-soil interactions, or ecosystem dynamics.

Exchange of greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) in forest ecosystems has traditionally focused on gas flux measurements from soil or between biosphere and atmosphere in the surface layer only. However, it has become evident that trees may play an important role in the net exchange of these GHGs in forests. Trees can contribute to ecosystem exchange by uptake and transport of soil-produced CH4 and N2O to the atmosphere, in-situ production and consumption of both gases in plant tissues, and alternation of carbon- and nitrogen-turn-over in adjacent soil. However, the contribution of these individual processes to the net ecosystem GHGs exchange is still unclear and seems to depend on many aspects as tree species, forest ecosystem type, environmental parameters and seasonal dynamics. Wetland tree species may be important CH4 sources, whereas some upland tree species are even known to be sinks or sources for CH4. Trees can also emit N2O to the atmosphere, but this process seems to be strongly regulated by soil N2O concentration. Interactions between soil, vegetation and the atmosphere exert a crucial role controlling the global budget of these gases.
This session seeks to bring together scientists working on the exchange of CH4 and N2O in forest ecosystems at any relevant scale, and from the full climatic and hydrological forest range. We therefore welcome contributions on (i) production and consumption processes in soils and plant tissues; (ii) gas transport processes in soil-tree-atmosphere continuum; (iii) gas flux measurements on the forest floor, cryptogams, tree stems or at leaf and canopy level; (iv) micrometeorological measurements using flux towers, satellite, or modelling approaches that seek to integrate our understanding of CH4 and N2O exchange in forest ecosystems.

Wildfires induce physical and chemical alterations on soil properties, affecting both the quantity and composition of soil organic matter (SOM), and transforming biomass and SOM into pyrogenic carbon (PyC), also known as black carbon. PyC can derive from natural (e.g., wildfire charcoal), as well as anthropogenic sources (e.g., biochar) and it is recognized as important carbon sink in terrestrial and aquatic systems.

Wildfires and PyC can influence physical-, chemical-, and microbial soil functions by: changing composition and properties of native SOM which can modify soil physical properties (e.g. texture, structure, and moisture), changing redox- and pH conditions, and forming aggregates by mineral surface interaction of PyC micro- and nanoparticles. These changes can impact nutrient cycling and plant productivity, pollutant mobility, the soil microbiome, and edaphic fauna. These processes are of high importance for soil biochemistry, functioning, and carbon cycling, and to assess the environmental impact of wildfires for generating predictive tools that can be useful for post-fire restoration actions. To better understand the effects of Wildfires and PyC on soil, a wider knowledge of the abovementioned interlinked processes is urgently needed.

This session aims to bring together monodisciplinary as well interdisciplinary research on wildfire- and PyC-soil biochemistry, and carbon cycling, including studies on the alterations, impacts and cause-effect relationships induced by fire on SOM, as well as on describing recent advances on analytical techniques in the field. It welcomes submissions from lab- to field scale experiments as well as modelling, or meta-analytical approaches. Early career researchers and underrepresented groups in the field are strongly encouraged to apply.

Soil organic matter (SOM) is well known to exert a great influence on physical, chemical, and biological soil properties, thus playing a very important role in agronomic production and environmental quality. Globally SOM represents the largest terrestrial organic C stock, which can have significant impacts on atmospheric CO2 concentrations and thus on climate. The changes in soil organic C content are the result of the balance of inputs and losses, which strongly depends on the processes of organic C stabilization and protection from decomposition in the soil. This session will provide a forum for discussion of recent studies on the stabilization and sequestration mechanisms of organic C in soils, covering any physical, chemical, and biological aspects related to the selective preservation and formation of recalcitrant organic compounds, occlusion by macro and microaggregation, and chemical interaction with soil mineral particles and metal ions.

The growing amount of data on chemical composition of soils all over the world shows constantly increasing anthropogenic activity accompanied by emissions of chemical elements and compounds in quantities exceeding natural background levels, which leads to contamination of basic foods of plant and animal origin. However, the diversity of pollution sources and their location in different climatic, physiographic and geochemical conditions require the development of differentiated approaches to assess and prevent the risk of adverse health and environment effects. The development of technologies for the rehabilitation of soil properties, including its fertility is also a challenge. The problem of soil monitoring and rehabilitation is becoming increasingly topical due to population expansion to abandoned mining areas as well as other polluted industrial areas. We invite researchers to share their ideas and results of studying soil contamination/rehabilitation at various spatial levels - from children's and sports grounds to large cities, abandoned and existing areas of mining, existing and former agricultural areas, etc.. Studies of the site-specific forms of occurrence, migration and accumulation of rare earth and potentially hazardous elements in soils, from different natural and anthropogenic transformed substrata are particularly welcome. We consider it especially important to evaluate the variation and spatial distribution of natural and man-made associations of macro- and microelements as a key to understanding the dynamics of the existence and sustainability of natural and anthropogenic substances and their spatial structures formed in soils that you need to know to provide safe operation of polluted land.

The soil-plant system, as a key part of the environment, can play a crucial role for achieving one of the goals of the European Green Deal, “A zero pollution ambition for a toxic-free environment”. Soils are the basis of terrestrial ecosystems and a crossroad of biogeochemical cycles at the lithosphere-hydrosphere-biosphere-atmosphere interface. However, soils are a limited and fragile resource. Soil health and quality is crucial for food quality production as well as to contribute to boost biodiversity. Soil pollution is, together with other threats (e.g. soil erosion, soil compaction, loss of organic matter), one of the most important concerns contributing for soil degradation and biodiversity loss. Human activities are the sources of soil pollution, such as, the mismanagement of industrial agriculture and mining activities, sewage and waste disposal, contributing to increase the concentration of potentially toxic substances (metals/metalloids, radionuclides and organic compound) in the ecosystems.
Remediation techniques are considered as cost-effective and environmentally friendly technologies for the in situ restoration of the health and productive capacity of soils, mitigating environmental impacts of impaired soils, and last but not least, the recovery of raw materials. Phytoremediation that consider the soil-plant system and particularly the rhizosphere area and soil biota, are effective approaches towards the recovery of polluted soils. These recovery techniques should be introduced and encouraged as they are more environmentally friendly, sustainable and affordable.
Bioremediation and biomining techniques involve the i) extraction of inorganic pollutants or economically valuable elements from soils or technogenic substrates , ii) stabilization of potentially toxic elements in the root zone of plants as well as iii) the microbial degradation of organic pollutants. Optimization and establishment of these technologies requires a sound understanding of soil-associated factors and plant-associated factors as well as root-soil-microbial interactions in the rhizosphere of plants controlling the mobility and availability of the target compounds in soils.

As an integral part of terrestrial ecosystems, soils play a crucial role in the provision of numerous ecosystem services. Soil ecosystem services are vital components to all aspects of life and support the production of ecosystem goods and services, such as food and fiber production, water storage and climate and natural hazards regulation, among many others. The provision of soil ecosystem services relies on soil characteristics, processes and functions. Moreover, healthy and diverse soils ensure biodiversity among soil biota (soil biodiversity), which in turn guarantees the provision of soil ecosystem services. Incorrect land uses such as intense land management may critically reduce the ecosystem services provided by soils and result in land degradation through erosion, sealing or pollution processes. Sustainable land management and the conservation and restoration of degraded ecosystems is therefore key to maintain functional soils that can provide multiple ecosystem services. By 2030, the Agenda for Sustainable Development – the 17 ‘Sustainable Development Goals’ – are intended to be achieved. The role of soil science, and the work between soil scientists and other disciplines, will be paramount over the coming decade. In particular, healthy and sustainable soil management plans will need to ensure that soils continue to deliver services to ecosystems, societies, and economies. Global climate change and the burgeoning demands from a growing world population are set to place escalating pressures on soils, suggesting an urgent need to build resilience into soil management whilst also reversing current global trends of soil degradation.
In this session, we welcome contributions covering inter and transdisciplinary research through observational, theoretical and applied studies, on soil ecosystem services and soil function in the context of a changing global environment. Topics of interest are (although not limited to): 1) Impacts of soil degradation on soil function and ecosystem services, 2) Soil conservation and restoration actions for maintaining ecosystem services (including research, management, education and policy), 3) Linking soil ecosystem services and soil function in the context of the SDGs.

This session is supported by the project A09.3.3-LMT-K-712-01-0104 Lithuanian National Ecosystem Services Assessment and Mapping (LINESAM) is funded by the European Social Fund according to the activity “Improvement of researchers” qualification by implementing world-class R&D projects.

Soils sustain complex patterns of life and act as biogeochemical reactors producing and consuming a large amount of gas molecules. They play a fundamental role in the temporal evolution of the atmospheric gases concentration (greenhouse gases, biogenic volatile organic compounds, nitrous acid, isotopic composition…) and they modulate the soil pore gas concentrations affecting many soil functions, such as root and plant growth, microbial activity, and stabilization of soil organic carbon. Gases production, consumption and transport in the different soil types have then some important ecological implications for the earth system.
The factors affecting the soil gas processes range from physical soil structure (porosity, granulometry,…), type and amount of living material (microbiota, root systems), soil chemistry properties (carbon and nitrogen contents, pH,…) and soil meteorological conditions (temperature, water content,…). A large mixing of different scientific backgrounds are therefore required to improve the knowledge about their influence which is made even more difficult due to the very large spatial heterogeneity of these factors and the complexity of their interactions.
This session will be the place to present and exchange about the measurement techniques, data analyses and modelling approaches that can help to figure out the temporal and spatial variability of the production/consumption and transport of gases in soils. In addition to mechanisms related to carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), including the geochemical ones, the abstracts about volatile carbon compounds produced by plant and microbial or Helium and Radon geogenic emissions production are welcome
A special attention will be given to the researches including special water situations as edaphic drought or waterlogged soils

Soil is the largest carbon (C) reservoir in terrestrial ecosystems with twice the amount of atmospheric C and three times the amount in terrestrial vegetation. Carbon related ecosystem services include retention of water and nutrients, promoting soil fertility and productivity and soil resistance to erosion. In addition, changes in the soil C can have strong implications for greenhouse gas emissions from soil with implications in environmental health.

Drivers controlling C pools and its dynamics are multiple (e.g. land use/vegetation cover, climate, texture and bedrock, topography, soil microbial community, soil erosion rates, soil and other environment management practices, etc. ) and some of them are mutually interacting. Also, rate of net soil C loss can be high in some environments due to both climatic constrains or management. Thus, investigation of C dynamics should be addressed with regards to the climate change and climatic extreme events to provide a better understanding of carbon stabilization processes and thus support decision making in soil management and climate adaptation strategies.

The present session highlights the importance of soil C changes, and the interaction among the mechanisms affecting C concentration and stocks in soil. Discussion about the proxies to measure and model C stocks, with special emphasis to cropping systems and natural/semi-natural areas, is encouraged. These proxies should be approached at varying the availability of soil and environment information, including, e.g., soil texture, rainfall, temperature, bulk density, land use and land management, or proximal and remote sensing properties. Studies presented in this session can aim to a wealth of aims, including soil fertility, provision of ecosystem services, and their changes, and the implication for economy, policy, and decision making.

Types of contribution appreciated include, but are not limited to, definitive and intermediate results; project outcomes; proposal of methods or sampling and modelling strategies, and the assessment of their effectiveness; projection of previous results at the light of climate change and climatic extremes; literature surveys, reviews, and meta-analysis. These works will be evaluated at the light of the organisation of a special issue in an impacted journal

Evapotranspiration (ET), the key component of water and energy balances, has myriad challenges to measure it precisely. In the last two decades, innovative approaches for remote sensing (RS) based measurements of ET has allowed for its measurement in a range of climates on most continents for different green covers. Remotely-sensed ET methods have been proved to be reliable, affordable and applicable to a broad range of scales from plot/field to regional to global in different landscapes including agricultural, forested, riparian zones and urban green spaces.

We invite researchers to contribute abstracts to share their advances and challenges in the development, application, validation, calibration and accuracy assessment of landscape ET through remote sensing platforms. We welcome studies that estimate ET using both prognostic and diagnostic approaches from process-based models that rely on the integration of gridded precipitation and soil-vegetation dynamics to a more direct estimation of ET using remote sensing-based data streams. The scope of the session will include: (1) advances in remote sensing-based ET estimation, (2) applications for a range of land covers and spatiotemporal scales, and (3) accuracy enhancement.

Remote sensing techniques are widely used to monitor the relationship between the water cycle and vegetation dynamics and its impact on the carbon and energy cycles. Measurements of vegetation water content, transpiration and water stress contribute to a better global understanding of the water movement in the soil-plant system. This is critical for the detection and monitoring of droughts and their impact on biomass, productivity and feedback on water, carbon and energy cycles. With the number of applications and (planned) missions increasing, this session aims to bring researchers together to discuss the current state and novel findings in the remote observation of the interactions between vegetation and hydrology. We aim to (1) discuss novel research and findings, (2) exchange views on what should be done to push the field forward, and (3) identify current major challenges.

We encourage authors to submit presentations on:
• Remote sensing data analyses,
• Modelling studies,
• New hypothesis,
• Enlightening opinions.

Theme A- Orogenic plateaus and plateau margins
Orogenic plateaus and their margins are integral parts of modern mountain ranges and offer unique opportunities to study feedbacks between tectonics and climate at the Earth’s surface. Complex interactions among a wide range of parameters may lead to rapid shifts in surface elevation and the growth, recycling, and destruction of lithosphere. These controlling factors, which include crustal deformation and basin growth, surface uplift and atmospheric circulation, precipitation and erosion, landscape and biological change, result in lateral plateau growth and its characteristic morpho-climatic domains: humid, high-relief margins that contrast with (semi-)arid, low-relief plateau interiors.

Theme B- Bridging records of tectonic and climatic forcings on the evolution of Central Asia: from Paleozoic origins to Cenozoic aridification
Central Asia witnessed profound changes in tectonic and climatic environments over its geologic past: Paleozoic to Mesozoic closures of deep oceans and the amalgamation of major tectonic blocks laying the groundwork for Cenozoic fault reactivations since the India/Asia collision. The Cenozoic rise of intracontinental mountain ranges such as the Tianshan was accompanied by the retreat of Paratethys and the onset of intracontinental aridification. Major efforts bridging tectonic, geomorphic and climatic records are underway to understand i) the tectonic origins of Central Asia and how these control its present-day landscape, ii) individual responses to climatic and tectonic forcings, and their contribution to erosion and sediment deposition patterns, iii) long-term interactions between climatic change and tectonic activity, iv) and the role of topographic barriers, inland seas and global climate change in shaping regional climate and the aridification of the continental interior.

Session Goals
The two primary goals of this session are: 1) creating a discussion forum on the complex interactions and feedbacks among climatic, surficial, and geodynamic processes that challenge the notion of comprehensive mechanisms for the formation of orogenic plateaus and their margins, as well as for the evolution of Central Asia since the Paleozoic; and 2) encouraging future collaborations that not only overcome spatio-temporal scales but also bridge observations across disciplines leading to a more holistic view of landscape evolution from an integrative tectonic, climatic and geomorphic perspective.

Vadose zone hydrology studies the physical processes in the unsaturated zone. Modeling and observation of soil and vadose zone processes aims at characterizing soil properties and quantifying terrestrial water storage dynamics. The states of soil, air and water affect biogeochemical processes, vegetation water availability, nutrient and pollutant transport at local scale, catchment response functions and rainfall-runoff processes at intermediate scale, land-atmosphere interaction and land-climate feedbacks at the continental scale. Advanced measurement techniques, increased availability of high-frequency data, and the need for terrestrial system understanding challenges vadoze zone modeling concepts, budging model parameterizations from static to near dynamic. This session aims to bring together scientists advancing the current status in modelling soil and vadose zone processes from the pore to the catchment and continental scale. Contributions to this session address soil hydrological processes, characterization of soil properties and soil hydraulic properties, soil biogeochemical processes and their interactions with hydrology, transport of pollutants, and soil vegetation atmosphere modelling.

Biogeomorphology addresses the two-way interaction between biotic and abiotic elements that shape landscapes at various spatio-temporal scales. Yet, developing theory, methods and quantifying processes at the abiotic/biotic interface remains challenging due to the interdisciplinarity of biogeomorphology, integrating concepts from ecology, evolutionary biology, engineering, geomorphology, geology and Quaternary science. On the other side, there is an urgent need to understand the interactions among abiotic and biotic processes in natural and managed systems to adapt to for instance climate change.
Consequently, a wide range of interdisciplinary projects in fields related to biogeomorphology have emerged. Such projects have included field, computational, and laboratory studies across a wide range of scales to understand the effects of underlying physical and ecological processes on biogeomorphic interactions.
This session focuses on the lessons learned from such approaches: advantages, limitations, best practices, and the future of the discipline of biogeomorphology. Research topics include, but are not limited to: 1) Biogeomorphic processes, rates and feedbacks, 2) Organism-Habitat interaction, 3) Biota as ecosystem engineers, 4) Effects of biogeomorphic interactions on nutrient and pollutant transport, 5) Biogeomorphology for the development of nature-based-solutions.

Atmosphere and Cryosphere are closely linked and need to be investigated as an interdisciplinary subject. Most of the cryospheric areas have undergone severe changes in last decades while such areas have been more fragile and less adaptable to global climate changes. This AS-CR session invites model- and observational-based investigations on any aspects of linkages between atmospheric processes and snow and ice on local, regional and global scales. Emphasis is given on the Arctic, high latitudes and altitudes, mountains, sea ice, Antarctic regions. In particular, we encourage studies that address aerosols (such as Black Carbon, Organic Carbon, dust, volcanic ash, diatoms, bioaerosols, bacteria, etc.) and changes in the cryosphere, e.g., effects on snow/ice melt and albedo. The session also focuses on dust transport, aeolian deposition, and volcanic dust, including health, environmental or climate impacts at high latitudes, high altitudes and cold Polar Regions. We include contributions on biological and ecological sciences including dust-organisms interactions, cryoconites, bio-albedo, eco-physiological, biogeochemical and genomic studies. Related topics are light absorbing impurities, cold deserts, dust storms, long-range transport, glaciers darkening, polar ecology, and more. The scientific understanding of the AS-CR interaction needs to be addressed better and linked to the global climate predictions scenarios.

This session is linked to the Pan-Eurasian EXperiment (PEEX; www.atm.helsinki.fi/peex), a multi-disciplinary, -scale and -component climate change, air quality, environment and research infrastructure and capacity building programme. It is aimed at resolving major uncertainties in Earth system science and global sustainability issues concerning the Arctic, Northern Eurasia and China regions. This session aims to bring together researchers interested in (i) understanding environmental changes effecting in pristine and industrialized Pan-Eurasian environments (system understanding); (ii) determining relevant environmental, climatic, and other processes in Arctic-boreal regions (process understanding); (iii) the further development of the long-term, continuous and comprehensive ground-based, air/seaborne research infrastructures together with satellite data (observation component); (iv) to develop new datasets and archives of the continuous, comprehensive data flows in a joint manner (data component); (v) to implement validated and harmonized data products in models of appropriate spatio-temporal scales and topical focus (modeling component); (vi) to evaluate impact on society though assessment, scenarios, services, innovations and new technologies (society component).
List of topics:
• Ground-based and satellite observations and datasets for atmospheric composition in Northern Eurasia and China
• Impacts on environment, ecosystems, human health due to atmospheric transport, dispersion, deposition and chemical transformations of air pollutants in Arctic-boreal regions
• New approaches and methods on measurements and modelling in Arctic conditions;
• Improvements in natural and anthropogenic emission inventories for Arctic-boreal regions
• Physical, chemical and biological processes in a northern context
• Aerosol formation-growth, aerosol-cloud-climate interactions, radiative forcing, feedbacks in Arctic, Siberia, China;
• Short lived pollutants and climate forcers, permafrost, forest fires effects
• Carbon dioxide and methane, ecosystem carbon cycle
• Socio-economical changes in Northern Eurasia and China regions.
PEEX session is co-organized with the Digital Belt and Road Program (DBAR), abstracts welcome on topics:
• Big Earth Data approaches on facilitating synergy between DBAR activities & PEEX multi-disciplinary regime
• Understanding and remote connection of last decades changes of environment over High Asia and Arctic regions, both land and ocean.

Land–atmosphere interactions often play a decisive role in shaping climate extremes. As climate change continues to exacerbate the occurrence of extreme events, a key challenge is to unravel how land states regulate the occurrence of droughts, heatwaves, intense precipitation and other extreme events. This session focuses on how natural and managed land surface conditions (e.g., soil moisture, soil temperature, vegetation state, surface albedo, snow or frozen soil) interact with other components of the climate system – via water, heat and carbon exchanges – and how these interactions affect the state and evolution of the atmospheric boundary layer. Moreover, emphasis is placed on the role of these interactions in alleviating or aggravating the occurrence and impacts of extreme events. We welcome studies using field measurements, remote sensing observations, theory and modelling to analyse this interplay under past, present and/or future climates and at scales ranging from local to global but with emphasis on larger scales.

The interactions between aerosols, climate, and weather are among the large uncertainties of current atmospheric research. Mineral dust is an important natural source of aerosol with significant implications on radiation, cloud microphysics, atmospheric chemistry and the carbon cycle via the fertilization of marine and terrestrial ecosystems.

In addition, properties of dust deposited in sediments and ice cores are important (paleo-)climate indicators.

This interdivision session --building bridges between the EGU divisions CL, AS, SSP, BG and GM-- is open to contributions dealing with:

(1) measurements of all aspects of the dust cycle (emission, transport, deposition, size distribution, particle characteristics) with in situ and remote sensing techniques,

(2) numerical simulations of dust on global and regional scales,

(3) meteorological conditions for dust storms, dust transport and deposition,

(4) interactions of dust with clouds and radiation,

(5) influence of dust on atmospheric chemistry,

(6) fertilization of ecosystems through dust deposition,

(7) any study using dust as a (paleo-)climate indicator including sediment archives in loess, ice cores, lake sediments, ocean sediments and dunes.

We especially encourage to submit papers on the integration of different disciplines and/or modelling of past, present and future climates.

In 2021 we look forward to hear three solicited speakers present their latest work.

We are proud to announce:

1) Siyu Chen, professor at Lanzhou University, China.
Siyu will present her work on modelling emission, transport and radiative effects of Asian mineral dust

2) Kevin Ohneiser, PhD student at TROPOS, Leipzig, Germany

Kevin will present his latest findings on aerosols observed during the MOSAIC campaign

3) Jeff Munroe, professor at Middlebury College, USA

Jeff will present his latest findings from the DUST^2 project; a source-to-sink investigation of the modern dust system in SW North America

Share: https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU21/session/40684

Tree rings are one of nature’s most versatile archives, providing insight into past environmental conditions at annual and intra-annual resolution and from local to global scales. Besides being valued proxies for historical climate, tree rings are also important indicators of plant physiological responses to changing environments and of long-term ecological processes. In this broad context we welcome contributions using one or more of the following approaches to either study the impact of environmental change on the growth and physiology of trees and forest ecosystems, or to assess and reconstruct past environmental change: (i) dendrochronological methods including studies based on tree-ring width, MXD or Blue Intensity, (ii) stable isotopes in tree rings and related plant compounds, (iii) dendrochemistry, (iv) quantitative wood anatomy, (v) ecophysiological data analyses, and (vi) mechanistic modelling, all across temporal and spatial scales.

This session provides a platform for transdisciplinary science that addresses the continuum of the river and its catchment to the coastal sea. We invite studies across geographical borders; from the source to the sea including groundwater, and across the freshwater-marine water transition, including estuaries, deltas and marshlands. The session particularly welcomes studies that link environmental and social science, addressing the impacts of climate change and extreme events and impact of human activities on water and sediment quality and quantity, hydromorphology, biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and services of River-Sea continua. Such a systems approach is required to develop solutions for sustainable management of River-Sea social-ecological systems.

We need to fully understand how River-Sea Systems function. How are River-Sea continua changing due to human pressures? What is the impact of processes in the catchment on coastal and marine systems function, and vice versa? How can we discern between human-induced changes or those driven by natural processes from climate-induced variability and extreme events? What will the tipping points of socio-ecologic system states be and what will they look like? How can we better characterise river-sea systems from the latest generation Earth observation to citizen science based observatories. How can we predict short and long term changes in River-Sea-Systems to manage them sustainably? What is the limit to which it is possible to predict the natural and human-influenced evolution of River-Sea-Systems? The increasing demand to jointly enable intensive human use and environmental protection in River-Sea Systems requires holistic and integrative research approaches with the ultimate goal of enhanced system understanding as the knowledge base for sustainable management solutions.

The coastal ocean has been increasingly recognized as a dynamic component of the global carbon budget. This session aims at fostering our understanding of the roles of coastal environments and of exchange processes, both natural or perturbed, along the terrestrial / coastal sea / open ocean continuum in global biogeochemical cycles. During the session recent advancements in the field of coastal and shelf biogeochemistry will be discussed. Contributions focusing on carbon and nutrient and all other element's cycles in coastal, shelf and shelf break environments, both pelagic and sedimentary, are invited.

This session is multidisciplinary and is open to observational, modelling and theoretical studies in order to promote the dialogue. The session will comprise subsections on coastal carbon storage, and on benthic biogeochemical processes.

Carbonate (bio)minerals have played an essential role in the history of life on Earth, forming one of the most important archives for past climate and environmental change. Geochemical investigations have been crucial for understanding the evolution of microbial habitats and the paleobiology of carbonate biomineralizers since the Precambrian. With this session, we encourage contributions from sedimentology, geochemistry and biology that utilize carbonate (bio)minerals (e.g., microbialites, mollusk shells, and foraminifera) with the aim to reconstruct past environments, seasonality, seawater chemistry, and paleobiology in a wide range of modern to deep time settings, including critical intervals of environmental and climatic change. This includes theoretical or experimental studies of trace element partitioning and isotope fractionation and studies into original skeletal carbonate preservation and diagenetic alteration.

Our ability to understand biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus in aquatic ecosystems has evolved enormously thanks to advancements in in situ and laboratory measurement techniques. We are now able to provide a detailed characterisation of aquatic organic matter with spectroscopic and chromatographic methods and collect data on nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations in relation to highly dynamic hydrological events thanks to automated in situ instruments. Therefore, the aim of this session is to demonstrate how this methodological advancement improves our understanding of coupled hydrological, biogeochemical and ecological processes in aquatic environments controlling the fate of organic matter, nutrients and other chemicals.

Specifically, our ability to characterise different fractions of natural organic matter and organic carbon has increased thanks to a range of analytical methods e.g. fluorescence and absorbance spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and chromatography combined with advanced data mining tools. Matching the water quality measurement interval with the timescales of hydrological responses (from minutes to hours) thanks to automated in situ wet-chemistry analysers, optical sensors and lab-on-a-chip instruments has led to discovery of new hydrochemical and biogeochemical patterns in aquatic environments e.g. concentration-discharge hysteresis and diurnal cycles. We need to understand further how hydrochemical and ecological processes control those patterns, how different biogeochemical cycles are linked in aquatic environments and how human activities disturb those biogeochemical cycles by emitting excess amounts of nutrients to aquatic systems. In particular, there is a growing need to better characterise the origins, delivery pathways, transformations and environmental fate of organic matter and nutrients in aquatic environments along with identification of robust numerical tools for advanced data processing and modelling.

Biological and ecological experimental studies in laboratory and nature, and their applications to the paleo- and future understanding of marine environments

In order to discuss Earth marine realms and answer questions about biotic evolution and ecosystem functioning in the Past, Present and Future, scientists try to take various laboratory- or natural-based experimental approaches. This includes experiments controlling environmental variables, experiments with stable or radioactive isotopic biomarkers, breeding experiments, genetic analyses (e.g. ancient DNA), or so-called natural laboratories (e.g. the Lessepsian invasion via the Suez Canal or natural CO2 vents functioning as ocean acidification analogues). Altogether, they unriddle faunal and ecosystem functional responses to changing connectivity patterns, habitat change or global change threats. These experimental approaches are effective to make clear how biotic evolution takes place in nature, how ecosystems also act as functional labs and how Earth systems have moved and can move dynamically. They enable us to make more robust projections into the future or decipher past ecosystem trajectories with potential analogues to future change. In this session we welcome contributions that use experimental approaches in this context, but also discussing biogeochemical proxies that fix information of past environmental change during biomineralization in calcareous or siliceous tests.

A large proportion of the global stream network comprises channels that cease to flow or dry periodically. These systems range from near-perennial rivers with infrequent, short periods of zero flow to rivers experiencing flow only episodically following large rainfall events. Intermittent and ephemeral rivers support a unique high-biodiversity because they are coupled aquatic-terrestrial systems that accommodate a wide range of aquatic, semi-aquatic and terrestrial flora and fauna. Extension and connection of the flowing stream network can affect the quantity and quality of water in downstream perennial rivers. In many arid conditions, they are the main source of fresh water for consumptive use. However, in many places intermittent and ephemeral rivers lack protection and adequate management. There is a clear need to study the hydrology, ecology and biogeochemistry of natural intermittent and ephemeral streams to characterize their flow regimes, to understand the main origins of flow intermittence and how this affects their biodiversity, and to assess the consequences of altered flow intermittency (both increased and decreased) in river systems.
This session welcomes all contributions on the science and management of intermittent and ephemeral streams, and particularly those illustrating:
• current advances and approaches in characterizing and modelling flow intermittency,
• the effects of flow in intermittent streams on downstream perennial streams,
• the factors that affect flowing stream network dynamics
• land use and climate change impacts on flow intermittency,
• links between flow intermittency and biogeochemistry and/or ecology.

In recent years the interaction between the ocean and the cryosphere in the Southern Ocean has become a major focus in climate research. Antarctic climate change has captured public attention, which has spawned a number of research questions, such as: Is Antarctic sea ice becoming more vulnerable in a changing climate? What controls the inflow of warm water into ice shelf cavities and what is the impact of enhanced meltwater outflow? What role do ice processes play in nutrient upwelling on the shelf? Recent advances in observational technology, data coverage, and modeling provide scientists with a better understanding of the mechanisms involving ice-ocean interactions in the far South. Processes on the Antarctic continental shelf have been identified as missing links between the cryosphere, the global atmosphere and the deep open ocean that need to be captured in large-scale and global model simulations.

This session calls for studies on physical and biogeochemical interactions between ice shelves, sea ice and the ocean. The ice-covered Southern Ocean and its role in the greater Antarctic climate system are of major interest. This includes work on all scales, from local to basin-scale to circumpolar. Studies based on in-situ observations and remote sensing as well as regional to global models are welcome. We particularly invite cross-disciplinary topics involving physical and biological oceanography, glaciology or biogeochemistry.

The Indian Ocean is unique among the other tropical ocean basins due to the seasonal reversal of monsoon winds and concurrent ocean currents, lack of steady easterlies that result in a relatively deep thermocline along the equator, low-latitude connection to the neighboring Pacific and a lack of northward heat export due to the Asian continent. These characteristics shape the Indian Ocean’s air-sea interactions, as well as its variability on (intra)seasonal, interannual, and decadal timescales. They also make the basin and its surrounding regions, which are home to a third of the global population, particularly vulnerable to anthropogenic climate change: robust trends in heat transport and freshwater fluxes have been observed in recent decades in the Indian Ocean and Maritime Continent region and 2019 marked one of the largest Indian Ocean Dipole events on record. Advances have recently been made in our understanding of the Indian Ocean’s circulation, interactions with adjacent ocean basins, and its role in regional and global climate. Nonetheless, significant gaps remain in understanding, observing, modeling, and predicting Indian Ocean variability and change across a range of timescales.
This session invites contributions based on observations, modelling, theory, and palaeo proxy reconstructions in the Indian Ocean that focus on recent and projected changes in Indian Ocean physical and biogeochemical properties and their impacts on ecological processes, interactions and exchanges between the Indian Ocean and other ocean basins, as well as links between Indian Ocean variability and monsoon systems across a range of timescales. In view of the large 2019 event, contributions on the Indian Ocean Dipole mechanisms and climate impacts, with a particular focus on extreme events, are particularly sought. We also welcome contributions that address research on the Indian Ocean grand challenges highlighted in the recent IndOOS Decadal Review, and as formulated by the Climate and Ocean: Variability, Predictability, and Change (CLIVAR), the Sustained Indian Ocean Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Research (SIBER), the International Indian Ocean Expedition 2 (IIOE-2), and the Year of the Maritime Continent (YMC) programs.

The net amount of CO2 that is taken up and stored by the ocean is a major driver of the rate of climate change but also affects biogeochemical stressors such as ocean acidification. Alongside the gradual increase in the ocean’s anthropogenic carbon inventory, the uptake, storage, and transformation of carbon display a large degree of spatial and temporal variability. In this session, we wish to shine a light on such trends and variability in ocean carbon dynamics, focusing on underlying processes and the consequences for marine ecosystems in the recent past, present, and future.

We are specifically interested in temporal changes in the fluxes and inventories of natural and anthropogenic inorganic carbon, as well as other marine carbonate system parameters, such as alkalinity, pCO2, and pH. We welcome contributions with a focus on the open or coastal ocean, surface, and/or ocean interior, based on observations, models, or theory and with a global or regional focus. Observational and multi-model constraints on marine carbon dynamics are particularly welcome, as are studies based on GLODAP or SOCAT data and insights from the recent Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) simulations.

The rapid decline of the Arctic sea ice in the last decade is a dramatic indicator of climate change. The Arctic sea ice cover is now thinner, weaker and drifts faster. Freak heatwaves are common. On land, the permafrost is dramatically thawing, glaciers are disappearing, and forest fires are raging. The ocean is also changing: the volume of freshwater stored in the Arctic has increased as have the inputs of coastal runoff from Siberia and Greenland and the exchanges with the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. As the global surface temperature rises, the Arctic Ocean is speculated to become seasonally ice-free by the mid 21st century, which prompts us to revisit our perceptions of the Arctic system as a whole. What could the Arctic Ocean look like in the future? How are the present changes in the Arctic going to affect and be affected by the lower latitudes? What aspects of the changing Arctic should observational, remote sensing and modelling programmes address in priority?
In this session, we invite contributions from a variety of studies on the recent past, present and future Arctic. We encourage submissions examining interactions between the ocean, atmosphere and sea ice, on emerging mechanisms and feedbacks in the Arctic and on how the Arctic influences the global ocean. Submissions with a focus on emerging cryospheric, oceanic and biogeochemical processes and their implications are particularly welcome.
The session promotes results from current Arctic programmes and discussions on future plans for Arctic Ocean modelling and measurement strategies, and encourages submissions on the first results from CMIP6 and the recently completed Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC). This session is cosponsored by the CLIVAR /CliC Northern Ocean Regional Panel (NORP) that aims to facilitate progress and identify scientific opportunities in (sub)Arctic ocean-sea-ice-atmosphere research.

Connectivity with the ocean and climate strongly control the physical and chemical properties of restricted marine basins, sometimes leading to the formation of large evaporite accumulations known as salt giants. As a result of these processes, salinity, water oxygenation and nutrient availability may develop trends distinct from those of the global ocean, resulting in extreme salinity – from brackish to evaporitic – and driving ecosystems through specific patterns of origination and extinction. Reversely, the genesis and demise of such physico-chemically distinct water bodies changes global ocean circulation patterns, affects climate and leads to shifts in the location of global biodiversity hotspots. Our session mostly includes presentations on the Mediterranean, the Dead Sea, using modelling, sesimic stratigraphic, (bio)geochemical, sedimentologic and micropaleontological methods to investigate feedbacks between hydroclimate, tectonics and marine biota.

Water and sediments interact at different spatial and temporal scales in freshwaters promoting the development of highly dynamic systems. Erosion, transport and sedimentation are vital processes that shape river morphology. These dynamic processes, in turn, are essential to provide a mosaic of diverse habitat patches for aquatic species and to freshwater ecosystems functioning.
Anthropogenic activities such as flow regulations or dams lead to fragmentation and ecosystem degradation, interfering with natural hydro-morphodynamics and affecting aquatic ecology. In Europe, large efforts are set to restore disturbed river sections to meet the goals of a good ecological status, set by the Water Framework Directive. Experience to date indicates that integrating both physical and ecological processes in river restoration efforts is critical to freshwater ecosystems conservation. In this context, the interdisciplinary field of Ecohydraulics represents the link between abiotic components (e.g. hydrology, hydraulics, geomorphology) and riverine biota (e.g. vegetation, fish, macroinvertebrates). Advances in this field of research are therefore paramount to make future management decisions in freshwater systems.
This session aims at integrating the core research disciplines forming Ecohydraulics, from hydrology, hydraulics, fluvial geomorphology, and biology, but also social aspects to ensure a holistic assessment of rivers, lakes and reservoirs, and to enable the implementation of sustainable restoration measures.
We welcome both fundamental and applied research, presenting approaches at different spatio-temporal scales. They may include holistic tools and methods to improve the assessment, prediction and management of restoration and mitigation measures in aquatic systems, with a focus on the hydrological, fluvial geomorphological, and biological interactions.
Contributions may refer, but are not restricted, to:
- sediment transport, fluvial dynamics and sediment budgets in rivers
- risk analysis and mitigation in fluvial systems
- reservoir sedimentation: processes and management
- large wood and microplastic in aquatic systems
- nature-compatible river engineering and river development
- nature based solutions
- revitalization of river systems (from successful studies to failures in restoration)
- tools and methods (concepts, measurements, monitoring, modelling) to understand the interactions between fluvial processes and their biological responses

Coastal wetland ecosystems, such as salt marshes, mangroves, seagrass beds and tidal flats, are under increasing pressure from natural and anthropogenic processes shifting climatic conditions, and are declining in area and habitat quality globally. These environments provide numerous ecosystem services, including flood risk mediation, biodiversity provision and climate change mitigation through carbon storage. Hence, the need to get a deeper understanding of processes and interactions in these environments, and how these may be altered by climate change has never been greater. This is the case for ‘managed’, restored wetlands and natural systems alike.
This session will bring together studies of coastal wetland ecosystems across climates and geomorphic settings, to enhance the understanding of ecosystem service provisioning, interactions between hydrodynamics, sediment and ecology, and identify best future management practices. Studies of all processes occurring within coastal wetlands are invited. This includes, but is not exclusive to, sediment dynamics, hydrology, hydrodynamics, biogeochemistry, morphological characterisation, geotechnical analysis, bio-morphodynamics, ecological change and evolution, impact of climate change, sea level rise, anthropogenic and management implications. Multidisciplinary approaches across spatial and temporal scales are encouraged, especially in relation to global climate change. This session aims to enhance our understanding of basic processes governing coastal wetland dynamics and to propose sustainable management solutions for contemporary environmental pressures.

It has been shown that regional climate change interacts with many other man-made perturbations in both natural and anthropogenic coastal environments. Regional climate change is one of multiple drivers, which have a continuing impact on terrestrial, aquatic and socio-economic (resp. human) environments. These drivers interact with regional climate change in ways, which are not completely understood. Recent assessments all over the world have partly addressed this issue (e.g. Assessment of Climate Change for the Baltic Sea region, BACC (2008, 2015); North Sea Climate Change Assessment, NOSCCA (2011); Canada’s Changing Climate Report, CCCR (2019)).
This session invites contributions, which focus on the connections and interrelations between climate change and other drivers of environmental change, be it natural or human-induced, in different regional seas and coastal regions. Observation and modelling studies are welcome, which describe processes and interrelations with climate change in the atmosphere, in marine and freshwater ecosystems and biogeochemistry, coastal and terrestrial ecosystems as well as human systems. In particular, studies on socio-economic factors like aerosols, land cover, fisheries, agriculture and forestry, urban areas, coastal management, offshore energy, air quality and recreation, and their relation to climate change, are welcome.
The aim of this session is to provide an overview over the current state of knowledge of this complicated interplay of different factors, in different regional seas and coastal regions all over the world.

Ocean-atmosphere flux exchanges of biogeochemically active constituents have significant impacts on global biogeochemistry and climate. Increasing atmospheric deposition of anthropogenically-derived nutrients (e.g., nitrogen, phosphorus, iron) to the ocean influences marine productivity and has associated impacts on oceanic CO2 uptake, and emissions to the atmosphere of climate active species (e.g., nitrous-oxide (N2O), dimethyl-sulfide (DMS), marine organic compounds and halogenated species). Over the past decades, emission reductions for air pollution abatement has also resulted in changes in precipitation, cloud and aerosol chemical composition, and in atmospheric deposition of anthropogenically derived nutrients to the ocean, affecting atmospheric acidity and atmospheric deposition to ecosystems. Atmospheric inputs of other toxic substances (e.g., lead, mercury, cadmium, copper, and persistent organic pollutants) into the ocean are also of concern for their impact on ocean ecosystem health. In turn, oceanic emissions of reactive species and greenhouse gases influence atmospheric chemistry and global climate, and induce potentially important chemistry-climate feedbacks. While advances have been made by laboratory, field, and modelling studies over the past decade, we still lack understanding of many of the physical and biogeochemical processes linking atmospheric acidity, atmospheric deposition, nutrient availability, marine biological productivity, and the biogeochemical cycles governing air-sea fluxes of these climate active species.

This session will address the atmospheric deposition of nutrients and toxic substances to the ocean, their impacts on ocean biogeochemistry, and also the ocean to atmosphere fluxes of climate active species and potential feedbacks to climate. We welcome new findings from measurement programmes (in-situ and remote sensing), process studies, and atmospheric and oceanic numerical models.
This session is jointly sponsored by GESAMP Working Group 38 on ‘The Atmospheric Input of Chemicals to the Ocean’, the Surface Ocean-Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS), and the International Commission on Atmospheric Chemistry and Global Pollution (ICACGP).

Methane is one of the most important greenhouse gasses with ever-rising atmospheric concentrations. While anthropogenic sources are comparably well understood, it is still a major scientific challenge to unravel methane dynamics in natural systems: (bio)geochemical and geological controls on methane dynamics in aquatic and terrestrial systems as well as the spatial distribution of methane in marine and aquatic sediments, soils and permafrost areas is not well constrained.
The topics of the session will include:
- methane formation (biological and geological processes)
- subsurface fluid flow and methane/hydrocarbon transport mechanisms
- ‘marine’ methane-rich systems: e.g. gas hydrates, shallow gas, cold seep-related systems
- ‘terrestrial’ methane-rich systems: e.g. wetlands (natural & artificial), lakes (from puddles to inland seas), permafrost areas and rivers
- methane-associated (bio)geochemical reactions, microbial communities and food web structures
- methane-derived carbonates and microbe-mineral interactions
- monitoring of methane emission
- methane in paleo environments
- methane and as a new alternative energy source

We aim at gathering scientists from the fields of (bio/geo)chemistry, (micro)biology and ecology as well as geology and (geo)physics, to evaluate our current knowledge of aquatic and terrestrial methane dynamics, interactions between element cycles and ecosystems, environmental controls and mechanisms.

Processes responsible for formation and development of the early Earth (> 2500Ma) are not well understood and strongly debated, reflecting in part the poorly preserved, altered, and incomplete nature of the geological record from this time.
In this session we encourage the presentation of new approaches and models for the development of Earth's early crust and mantle and their methods of interaction. We encourage contributions from the study of the preserved rock archive as well as geodynamic models of crustal and mantle dynamics so as to better understand the genesis and evolution of continental crust and the stabilization of cratons.
We invite abstracts from a large range of disciplines including geodynamics, geology, geochemistry, and petrology but also studies of early atmosphere, biosphere and early life relevant to this period of Earth history.