S2 Extremes: Causes, Symptoms, and Impacts

This symposium, partnered with the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (AMOS), features extreme events and their impacts on marine ecosystems via a sudden and intermittent change of physical and/or biogeochemical environmental conditions. Extreme events are traditionally defined as rare, intense and severe weather phenomena such as heat waves, droughts or tropical storms. While those events can directly affect marine ecosystems, recent research reveals that the sea has its own extreme events. An example are oceanic heat waves that can be triggered without their atmospheric counterpart. Alternatively, we may define an extreme event indirectly via its symptoms, such as an unexpected ecological catastrophe or regime shift, as a basis to investigate and identify possible causes. For this symposium, we welcome any presentation shedding light on extreme events – their causes, symptoms, and impacts.

Symposium led by

Jochen Kaempf
College of Science & Engineering, Flinders University

Andrew Marshall
Bureau of Meteorology