Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2024

convener:Toshio Suga(Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University), Sayaka Yasunaka(Tohoku University), Tong Wang(Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology), Chairperson:Toshio Suga(Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University), Sayaka Yasunaka(Tohoku University), Tong Wang(Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology)

Today, all the subsystems that make up Earth system are changing in unison at a rate that far exceeds the natural patterns of change before the Holocene or Industrial Revolution. The biodiversity loss is proceeding at a rate 100 to 1,000 times faster than the historical average, and we are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction in the history of this planet. The sea surface temperatures in 2023 were the highest ever recorded, up to 5-degree C higher than in a typical year, and the United Nations warned that "The era of global warming is over and the era of global boiling has arrived." In fact, the North Sea to North Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts were hit by intense ocean heat waves classified as Category 4 (Extreme). Stagnation of ocean circulation and frequent ocean heat waves may cause fundamental damage to the functioning of the entire marine ecosystem, from the microbial primary production at the bottom of the food chain to larger organisms, especially the growth of photosynthetic plankton living in shallow waters and fish and shellfish, including those in aquaculture. This session will provide an opportunity to discuss the relationship between the changing global marine environment and ecosystems and their impacts on human society, transcending the boundaries of academic disciplines and fields.