Call for abstracts: SCAR sessions on Antarctic and Southern Ocean changes convened by iC3 researchers

Researchers from the iC3 Polar Research Hub are convening five parallel sessions at the upcoming SCAR Open Science Conference in Oslo in August 2026. The deadline for abstract submission is 28 February 2026.

The sessions will cover:

·      Tropical teleconnections and Antarctica in a global climate perspective

·      Changes in the atmosphere-ice-ocean boundary of the Southern Ocean

·      From shelf to deep basin: the Southern Ocean circulation and exchanges

·      Evidence and Importance of Antarctic Groundwater

·      Southern Ocean Biogeochemistry: Linking ecosystem dynamics, nutrient cycling and carbon export in a changing climate

The SCAR conference is the leading international conference for Antarctic science and brings together researchers from across disciplines working on the polar regions.

More details on each session below. 

If you plan to travel to SCAR, please consider coming by train. Norway’s rail network is excellent with outstanding WiFi and power outlets along all routes. There are also direct ferries to Oslo from Copenhagen and Frederikshavn in Denmark and from Kiel in Germany.

Session S4: Tropical teleconnections and Antarctica in a global climate perspective

iC3 co-convenor: Petra Langebroek (with Sheeba Chenoli, Feba Francis, Suchithra Sundaram, and Kristin Richter)

This session explores the role of Antarctica within the global climate system.

We welcome abstracts that investigate tropical–Antarctic teleconnections and their impacts across all timescales, past, present, and future, using observational data and numerical modelling approaches. Submissions are also encouraged on the roles of ice-sheet mass loss, freshwater fluxes, and iceberg calving in reshaping global ocean circulation.

We particularly invite studies examining how variations in surface albedo, ice-sheet topography, and atmosphere–cryosphere interactions feed back into large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns. Additionally, we seek contributions that address the influence of ice-sheet instabilities, thresholds, and tipping points on uncertainties in regional and global sea-level rise projections.

Submit your abstract here.

Session S6: Understanding rapid changes in the atmosphere-ice-ocean boundary of the Southern Ocean

iC3 co-convenor: Tore Hattermann (with Juhi Yadav, Robert Ricker, Isabelle Giddy, Andreas Klocker, Giacomo Traversa, and Roberta Pirazzini)

This session aims to foster interdisciplinary collaboration among glaciologists, oceanographers, atmospheric scientists, remote sensing experts, and climate modelers, thereby enhancing predictive capability and advancing our collective understanding of Antarctic change and its global significance.

We invite studies addressing the physical interactions between ice shelves, the atmosphere, and the Southern Ocean, which play a decisive role in modulating the evolution and stability of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Contributions may include assessments of the current state and projected future of ice shelves; analyses of sub-ice-shelf cavity circulation, basal melting, and iceberg calving; and investigations into grounding-line retreat and its implications for sea-level rise.

We also invite studies on the causes and consequences of the observed rapid sea-ice decline in the Southern Ocean. These contributions may include assessments of the role of the atmosphere and ocean on sea-ice decline; atmosphere–ice–ocean (thermo)dynamic in the pack ice, marginal ice zone, landfast ice, and polynyas; ice surface processes, including radiative and thermal transfer within the snow and ice, melting, and the spatial and temporal variability of albedo, temperature, thermal emissivity, and snow depth across diverse cryospheric surfaces.

Submit your abstract here.

Session S7: From shelf to deep basin: the Southern Ocean circulation and exchanges

iC3 Convenor: Tore Hattermann (with Pierpaolo Falco and Feba Francis)

This session focuses on the physical, dynamical, and biogeochemical processes that link the ice shelf cavities, the continental shelf and slope regions, and the abyssal basins of the Southern Ocean.

We invite studies exploring the mechanisms controlling cross-shelf and along-slope exchanges, including the intrusion of Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) onto continental shelves and its interactions with dense shelf waters and ice shelves. These processes determine the heat and freshwater balance at the ice–ocean interface, driving basal melting, and influencing the formation of Antarctic Bottom Water. Contributions that address observational programs, autonomous platforms, process-oriented studies (through field observations, idealised models, or high-resolution numerical models) are especially encouraged.

We also welcome multidisciplinary studies integrating physical, biogeochemical, and ecological perspectives to explore cross-shelf circulation and water mass transformations and their contributions to carbon cycling, CO₂ exchange with the atmosphere, and the distribution and variability of other chemical and biological tracers.

Submit your abstract here.

Session S15: Evidence and Importance of Antarctic Groundwater

iC3 Convenor: Jill Mikucki (with Rogier Westerhoff, Bernd Kulessa, and Sarah Seabrook)

Groundwater is a physical link between a series of key Antarctic climate, environmental and biological processes. Although difficult to observe, there is evidence that groundwater plays a significant role in ice-sheet dynamics, ecosystem function, carbon and methane cycling, and the global water budget.

This session invites contributions that describe evidence for and importance of Antarctic groundwater in its broadest sense.

Submit your abstract here.

Session S29: Southern Ocean Biogeochemistry: Linking ecosystem dynamics, nutrient cycling and carbon export in a changing climate

iC3 Convenor: Sebastien Moreau, Onur Karakuş, Fanny Monteiro (with Melissa Chierici, Heather Forrer, Susana Flecha, Giacomo Galli, Sarat Chandra Tripathy, Rajani Kanta Mishra, Sian Henley,  and Juan Höfer)

This session focuses on understanding the biogeochemistry of the Southern Ocean and how it is responding to extreme and unprecedented environmental changes (e.g., sea ice minima, accelerated glacial melt, high SST, ocean acidification).

We invite contributions that address the full spectrum of biogeochemical processes, from nutrient supply and cycling to primary production and carbon export, and that examine the mechanisms linking ecosystem dynamics, nutrient cycling and carbon fluxes. Studies using a range of approaches are welcome, including observational datasets, time series analyses, remote sensing, process-based experiments and modelling.

We also encourage submissions looking at basin-scale biogeochemical distributions, ecosystem feedbacks and the potential effects of changing biogeochemistry on the Antarctic marine ecosystem.

Submit your abstract here.