BEPSII Annual Meeting 2026

The BEPSII Annual Meeting 2026 was held online from 26–29 May 2026, bringing together the community to discuss sea-ice biogeochemistry and associated ecosystems.

Meeting summary (PDF)  ·  Meeting minutes

To accommodate different time zones, two sessions were scheduled each day: 07:00–09:30 UTC and 15:00–17:30 UTC.

Archived programme
The original meeting programme is retained below for reference. Announcements reflect the information available at the time of the meeting.

Update — 2027 meeting: The BEPSII Annual Hybrid Meeting will take place on 18–21 June 2027 at Tvärminne Zoological Station, Finland, with the option to participate remotely. These confirmed details supersede the provisional dates and location mentioned in the archived programme below. See the 2027 meeting page for details.

BEPSII Meeting Agenda

Day 1: 26 May - ECR Day

• Welcome & Introduction (15 min)

  • BEPSII Overview (Emelia Chamberlain / Laura Dalman)

  • Icebreaker: 1-slide introductions

• Time Management Workshop (Lisa Miller; 1.5 hr)

• Wrap-up & discussion on future ECR activities (15 min)

Day 2: 27 May 

• Introduction to BEPSII and new Science Plan (15 min, Jacqueline Stefels / Letizia Tedesco)

• Roundtable: 1-slide introductions, 1 min each, 20-30 min

• Recap ECR day (5 min, Emelia Chamberlain / Laura Dalman)

• Updates on BEPSII activities

  • TG1: Methodologies  (Daiki Nomura / Karley Campbell, 20 min)

  • TG2: New technologies (Emiliano Cimoli / Klaus Meiners, 20 min)

  • TG3: Data Collation and Reviewing (Jacqueline Stefels / Bruno Delille, 30 min)

    • New and ongoing data collations

• 10-min break at around mid-meeting

• Science talks (~8+2 min/talk)

  • Haas, C and Nicolaus, M.: Plans for the Ice Station Polarstern (ISPOL)-2 in Dec 2028 to Feb 2029 in the northwestern Weddell Sea (session 2 only)

  • Lens, M. et al: Sea ice controls seasonal phytoplankton cycles in the Southern  Ocean (session 1 only)

  • Takahashi, M: Relationships between the microbial communities and physicochemical environment of brash sea ice in the marginal ice zone of the Southern Ocean during summer (session 1 only)

Day 3: 28 May

• Recap day 2 (5 min, Letizia Tedesco / Jacqueline Stefels) 

• Updates on BEPSII activities 

  • TG4: Process Studies (Ilka Peeken / Sebastien Moreau / Pat Wongpan, 20 min)

  • TG5: Processes across scales (Nadja Steiner / Giulia Castellani, 20-25 min)

    • Nadja Steiner: WGICA - Integrated Ecosystem Assessment for the Central Arctic Ocean (session 2 only)

• 10-min break at around mid-meeting

• Discussion session

  • Sea Ice Field School - Recap, discussion and feedback (Daiki Nomura, Letizia Tedesco, Bruno Delille, Josephine Rapp). Future plans, Rev Ocean (30 min) 

  • Updates SCOR WG Cice2Clouds and new SCOR WG ideas, SOLAS TG ideas (Nadja Steiner, Bruno Delille 20 min - 30 min)

• Announcements (10 min)

  • IGS Sea Ice session(s), 13–18 June 2027, and next BEPSII in-person meeting, 18–20 June 2027, Helsinki, Finland (Letizia Tedesco)

  • GRC Polar Marine Sciences, 13–18 June 2027, Oxnard, USA (Lisa Miller)

Day 4: 29 May

• Recap day 3 (5 min, Letizia Tedesco / Jacqueline Stefels) 

• Updates on BEPSII activities

  • TG6: Syntheses (Odile Crabeck /Lisa Miller, 30 min)

Highlight topic: Task team on light

• TG7: Outreach and Communication (Letizia Tedesco, Emelia Chamberlain, Laura Dalman, Josephine Rapp, Eeva Eronen-Rasimus, 30 min)

  • Tedesco et al.: Governing cryospheric risk beyond political timeframes, followed by a discussion of BEPSII at COPs, in both sessions

• 10-min break at around mid-meeting

• Updates and discussion 

  • Funders and funding applications (Jacqueline Stefels / Letizia Tedesco / Nadja Steiner / Bruno Delille, 30 min)

  • Antarctic InSync update and discussion  (Bruno Delille / Letizia Tedesco, 30 min)

  • Reporting, Chair/SSC review, Wrap-Up & Closing (15 min)