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Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland

Marine Climate Change Forum

Welcome to the MASTS Marine Climate Change Forum

This Forum provides a platform for knowledge exchange (information, education, networking), enabling the MASTS community to collaborate on Marine Climate Change. As a more holistic approach to studying marine climate change is needed to solve present issues this Forum engages researchers representing a variety of disciplines.

A Humpback Whale jumping out of the water

News & Events

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General

Forum Activities & Resources

2024: MASTS Annual Science Meeting 5-7 Nov

The 2024 MASTS ASM offered a wide range of climate change related talks, such as:

  • Michelle Jackson (University of Oxford) “Understanding and Mitigating the Dual Threats of Warming and Pollution”
  • Colin Moffat (SAMS) “Visualizing Climate Change Impacts around Scottish Deep Seas using a Story Map”
  • Marta Santos-Garcia (University of Edinburgh) “Is the Arctic losing Nitrogen?”
  • Susan Fitzer (University of Stirling) “Using biomineralisation responses to predict moluscan species specific pathways for resilience to climate change.”

A comprehensive overview can be found here!

A group of Puffin sea birds, sitting on a rock overlooking the ocean2024: MASTS Working Group contribution “Understanding Climate Change Impacts around Scottish Deep Seas”

Members of the Marine Climate Change Forum have joined this Working Group initiated by the MASTS Deep Sea Community, which identified the need for clear communication of the impacts of climate change on Scottish deep-sea ecosystems together with the associated socio-economic impacts.

For more details please visit the Working Group Website!

Resources

This report describes a series of surveys of the biodiversity of rocky intertidal seashores around Scotland in September 2020, June to September 2021, and June to September 2022. The work builds on the ongoing MarClim (Marine Biodiversity and Climate Change) programme, started in 2002 and covering the coastlines of Great Britain and Ireland (to 2005) and parts of the Atlantic coasts of mainland Europe.

NatureScot Research Report 1371 – Marine Biodiversity and Climate Change (MarClim): Scotland 2020-2022

  • Coordinated a programme of activities around and at COP26.
  • Increase climate literacy: co-develop a carbon literacy course with the MASTS Graduate School, first iteration of the course to run January 2023

Forum Objectives

Climate Change is a cross-cutting theme within the MASTS remit but has until now not had a dedicated forum. The Marine Climate Change Forum aims to address this, providing a focal point for climate change related research within the MASTS community in synergy with activities by the other MASTS research fora and themes.
The Scottish Government will continue to look to the scientific community to provide the necessary evidence to support climate change policies for adaptation and mitigation. The MASTS community also contributes already to the global knowledge base on the ocean’s role in the Earth’s climate, and climate change impacts, mitigation and adaptation.

  • Horizon Scanning: bring together expertise to identify research priorities, emerging issues, and funding mechanisms.
  • Research Translation: translate research outputs to policy makers and other stakeholders.
  • Foster Collaboration: encourage new collaborations and nurture existing ones to submit funding proposals and PhD studentships.  
  • Outreach: disseminate research topics/themes to a broad audience, including contributing to activities at and around COP26 (November 2021, Glasgow).

These four main aims at their core are built on five common principles: (1) ensuring the MASTS community has opportunities to network, (2) communicating research within and beyond the MASTS community, (3) delivering tangible outputs, (4) amplifying –rather than duplicating– activities, and (5) being inclusive of all disciplines, career stages and organisations.

Forum Steering Group

MASTS Logo, a seahorse
Forum Convenor: Barbara/Bee Berx (University of Aberdeen & Marine Directorate)

Visiting Lecturer | Marine Directorate Climate Change Lead | Environment Monitoring and Assessment Programme Oceanography Group | ICES Working Group on Oceanic Hydrography

Interests: Physical Oceanography | Ocean circulation of the sub-polar North Atlantic and European continental sheld | Observation of currents and water properties and their changes through natural variability and human-induced climate change

MASTS Logo, a seahorse
Forum Convenor: Katherine/Kate Wright (Heriot-Watt University)

PhD Student | The Lyell Centre

Interests: (PhD Title) How fisheries release carbon and how fisheries management can help the climate change agenda whilst protecting marine biodiversity.

Sandy Downie (SEPA)
Colin Moffat (SAMS/RGU)
Dan Goldberg (University of Edinburgh)
David Paterson (University of St Andrews)
Jennifer Scott (Heriot-Watt University)
Joanne Porter (Heriot-Watt University)
John Baxter (University of St Andrews)
Kara Layton (University of Aberdeen)
Kate Wade (JNCC)
Kevin Scott (St Abbs Marine Station)
Laura Steel (NatureScot)
Marco Fusi (Newcastle University)
Mike Burrows (SAMS-UHI)
Pablo Diaz (Marine Directorate)
Ricardo Gonzalez-Gil (University of Strathclyde)
Silvia Malagoli (University of Strathclyde)
Simona Aracri (University of Edinburgh)
William Austin (University of St Andrews)
Marine Climate Change Forum MASTS Member Logos
MASTS Resources

We’re working behind the scenes to bring you a suite of useful, and updateable, resources including: 

  • Find an expert
  • Find facilities & equipment
  • MASTS Publications

 

If you would like to be updated when the resources section is live please let us know.

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