Due to ongoing travel restrictions, the organisers have decided to delay this workshop until May, 2022. Microscale Ocean Biophysics fosters relaxed face-to-face interactions in order to promote a free-flowing exchange of ideas and as such the organisers believe it is worth delaying. The venue will remain the same and further updates will be announced as the rescheduled workshop takes shape.
This interdisciplinary foresight workshop will focus on the biophysics of microscale marine processes, i.e., how small-scale interactions between marine microorganisms and their physico-chemical environment overwhelmingly govern global ocean processes. If we are to advance our understanding of aquatic ecosystems, we need to replace current statistical and heuristic descriptions with a mechanistic understanding of the component processes. Ecosystem structure and function ultimately depend on interactions at the level of individual organism. Small organisms that live in a non-intuitive physical world dominate the biological processes in the ocean. This world and the organisms inhabiting it cannot be understood without a strong appeal to small-scale fluid physics, mass transport, active suspensions, turbulence, and mechanics in general.
Key Objectives
The Microscale Ocean Biophysics FWS will serve as a catalyst for the formation of a European network dedicated to consolidating the activities of the pending Marie-Curie network proposal INT: PHYMOT. In order to encourage the achievement of this objective, the workshop will be structured as a series of Gordon Conferences, where formal discussions are delivered within a greater atmosphere of free-form discussions and conversations. The organisers also expect multiple co-authored scientific publications will emerge from this event.
Expected Outcomes
- Press release covering an overview of the workshop
- Concrete plans to conduct in the near-future:
- Short-term scientific visits (with a focus on early career researchers)
- Joint training events
- Proposals for joint projects
- A position paper to be published in a relevant journal
Expected Impacts
This FWS will tackle the emerging topic of biophysical approaches to microbial ecology and contribute to the development of robust scenarios covering the consequences of significant disturbances to life in the global oceans.