GEOTRACES Session and Workshop at XMAS2027, 12-15 January 2027, Xiamen, China

Dear colleagues,

We would like to draw your attention to two GEOTRACES-related sessions/workshops at the forthcoming XMAS2027 meeting, which will take place from 12–15 January 2027 in Xiamen, China.

Please find the session and workshop descriptions below. Abstracts can be submitted until 30 June 2026.

Further details are available on the conference webpage: https://mel-xmas.net/index.html

Best wishes,
GEOTRACES IPO
……

Trace metal biogeochemical cycles in the ocean (session)

The international GEOTRACES programme and the development of trace metal clean analysis techniques has led to a revolution in our understanding of marine trace metal dynamics. The sources, sinks and speciation of trace metals have been subject to intense study for several decades revealing the important roles of shelf sediments, atmospheric deposition, hydrothermal vents and the cryosphere as trace metal sources. Bioessential roles for micronutrients including iron, manganese, and cobalt in primary metabolism are well established. The importance of different biogenic, authigenic and lithogenic particulate phases for controlling metal distributions is increasingly recognised. Unfortunately, anthropogenic pollutants such as lead and mercury remain pervasive, and climatic shifts in ocean temperature, oxygen and pH are increasingly recognised as drivers of changing trace metal dynamics. Key questions in the context of climate change are how these physical drivers, combined with changing source dynamics, will affect the bioaccessibility of metals to marine biota. Understanding the role of trace metals in biogeochemical cycles is important to constrain the effects of climate change on the past, present and future ocean system, and to fully comprehend the implications of proposed ocean intervention schemes such as iron fertilization. We encourage submissions from interdisciplinary teams focusing on the sources, sinks, speciation and biological utilization of trace metal in marine systems worldwide. Studies that combine multiple methodological approaches or inter-regional comparisons to understand trace metal dynamics are especially welcomed.

Conveners

Ruifang Xie, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Mark Moore, University of Southampton
Laramie Jensen, Columbia University
Mark Hopwood, Southern University of Science and Technology

A GEOTRACES synthesis workshop: Building data outcomes for the Pacific Ocean and its marginal seas (workshop)

The international GEOTRACES programme has generated a wealth of knowledge on the biogeochemical cycles of trace elements and their isotopes in the ocean. With this growing body of observations, there is a compelling opportunity to move toward synthesising GEOTRACES data and draw broader insights into the role of metal dynamics in ocean biogeochemistry, for example through the GEOTRACES Intermediate Data Product 2025 (IDP2025). Here, we take the Pacific Ocean and its marginal seas as a focus region, offering diverse biogeochemical regimes and dataset with full potential to be realized through coordinated synthesis. To achieve this, the workshop will feature invited talks in an extended format, drawing on perspectives from field and laboratory observations and modelling to concrete proposals for synthesis outputs. Open discussion sessions and opportunities for networking will further support the collaborative exchange needed to turn this collective expertise into lasting scientific impact.

Yuping Guo, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel
Zanna Chase, The University of Tasmania
Yihua Cai, Xiamen University
Te Liu, University of Southampton