The 8th International Symposium on Gas Transfer at Water Surfaces

The local organising committee has taken the decision to postpone the GTWS8 symposium (19th to 22nd May 2020) due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. We are now going to hold the symposium from 18th to 21st May 2021 – a delay of 12 months. If you have paid for registration then this will still be valid for the symposium in May 2021. All existing student registrations will be honoured (even if attendees have completed their studies before May 2021). Abstract submission for the new symposium dates will open in late 2020 as will registration for new attendees. We will keep on record all the abstracts that have been submitted previously and authors will be able to update or replace their original submissions if they so choose.

Please email [email protected] if you wish to contact the local organising committee.

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The Gas Transfer at Water Surfaces (GTWS) meeting occurs every 5 years and brings together approximately 150 scientists from countries all over the world. This topic is globally-important - the most widely-known example of air-water gas transfer is the ocean’s uptake of ~30% of the atmospheric carbon dioxide resulting from fossil fuel burning. The ocean’s absorption of carbon dioxide has slowed the impact of anthropogenic climate change, but is also causing ocean acidification and negatively impacting the marine ecosystem.

The Gas Transfer at Water Surface Conference will be held in Plymouth in 2020 – the year of the Mayflower 400 commemorations, which are centred in this city. 400 years ago, pioneers set off from Britain on the Mayflower, on a bold venture into what they considered a new world. They travelled over a relatively unpolluted ocean in a time before the industrial revolution and the human-led climate change we are experiencing today. The health of our seas is globally important, and we are pleased to host this conference of pioneering marine work/study in Plymouth, Britain’s Ocean City, on the anniversary of the Mayflower voyage.

Plymouth is a global centre of excellence for the marine sector, with a cluster of specialist marine businesses linked to a strong advanced manufacturing sector and world-class research expertise.

The focus is on the physicochemical and biogeochemical processes that govern atmosphere-water gas exchange and fluxes, which include turbulence, shear, breaking waves, bubbles andnatural and anthropogenic surfactants. Biological and chemical processes within the microlayer can also impact on gas fluxes. Many of these mechanisms also govern the exchange of heat and momentum and thus the conference is attended by many in the community studying a wide range of processes that occur across gas-water boundaries or within the near-surface layers close to those boundaries. The scope of the conference covers all domains where atmosphere and water meet, which include but are not limited to, fresh water, estuarine, mountain, glacial, marine (coastal and open ocean) and polar regions.

Topics include: field observations, laboratory and numerical studies, near-surface processes, biological effects including surfactants, the micro-layer, remote sensing, global scale processes and many more.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, Plymouth, United Kingdom