We would like to inform you that the application for the US Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry workshop on "Oceanic Methane and Nitrous Oxide: The present situation and future scenarios" is now open. The workshop will take place 28-31 October 2018 at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Lake Arrowhead Conference Center in California, USA. This three-day workshop builds off a series of global inter-comparison exercises of nitrous oxide and methane. It will cover chemical analysis, microbial metabolism, and our observational and predictive capabilities, as well as address questions to help determine the future directions of methane and nitrous oxide measurements in the global oceans.

Participation in the workshop is open to everyone and attendees will be decided based on application. You can submit your application electronically at: https://web.whoi.edu/methane-workshop/application/. All documents including planning papers, agendas, and presentations will be made available from the workshop website over the forthcoming months. 

Deadline to apply is 1 June 2018. 

Workshop Overview
Where in the global oceans should spatial and temporal surveys be conducted to discern climatologically-relevant changes in water-column inventories of methane and nitrous oxide? This is an important question facing oceanographers today. However, attempts to answer this question stimulate many related and relevant queries concerning the production and consumption of methane and nitrous oxide in the ocean. For example, how will their water-column concentrations be influenced by factors such as increasing seawater temperatures, decreasing oxygen concentrations, and changing nutrient loading? Do we have sufficient analytical and observational capacity to conduct robust temporal surveys? Do we sufficiently comprehend the microbial metabolic pathways that produce and consume these two trace gases?

Draft Agenda

Sunday, October 28

Check-in begins at 4pm and dinner is at 6.30pm

Evening Focus: Why the workshop is needed and its objectives

• Welcome
• Keynote talk (speaker to be announced)

Monday, October 29

Focus: What do we know and what are we doing?

• Dissolved methane and nitrous oxide from the coast to the blue water
  • Highlights from coastal environments, vent and seep environments, the open ocean, oxygen-minimum zones
• Sources and sinks of methane and nitrous oxide in the water-column?
  • Physical processes, Biochemical changes associated with microbial metabolism; Use of methane and nitrous oxide isotopes
• How well can we constrain water-column concentrations of methane and nitrous oxide?
  • Results from recent intercomparison of methane and nitrous oxide; in situ sensors; use of remote observations (satellite, plane, aerial vehicle)
• How do observations compare with modeled predictions of methane and nitrous oxide?
  • Nitrogen and methane cycle, Nitrous oxide and oxygen; Emissions of methane from seafloor and to the atmosphere

Evening events

• Keynote talk (speaker to be announced)
• Poster session: 'Oceanic methane and nitrous oxide: What we know and what we need to know' (continues on Tuesday evening)

Tuesday, October 30

Focus: What do we need to know and What do we need to do?

Morning: Breakout into small groups to discuss topics chosen from the prior day's discussions. Three potential examples are provided below:

• Small group 1: Ocean expeditions: Continuity between disparate cruises, ground-truthing models and remote observations
• Small group 2: Making trace gas measurements better: Lab analysis, in situ technology
• Small group 3: Other pertinent measurements e.g. laboratory-based work, microbial community composition

Afternoon: Reporting of small group discussions to the whole group

Evening: Displays from small group discussions as a 'living poster' and continuation of Monday's poster session

Wednesday October 31

Half day wrapping up at noon

Focus: Where do we go from here and wrap-up

• Summary of meeting and discussion items
• Next steps
• Summary of potential scientific proposals and perspective articles

More Information

For more information on the workshop Steering Committee, venue logistics, and list of sponsors, please visit the workshop website: https://web.whoi.edu/methane-workshop/

Please contact Sam Wilson (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or any of the steering committee with any additional queries. To be added to the workshop email list, please contact us at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..