23-25 June 2026, Reykjavík, Iceland
With increased climate trajectories, borealization is reshaping ecosystems, human-nature and economic interactions across the Arctic and Subarctic regions. Warming water masses, shifts in species’ distribution, changes in sea ice, circulation patterns and local biogeochemistry are modifying high-latitude ecosystems as we know. The goal of the 2026 ESSAS Annual Meeting was to bring to the spotlight all the research conducted across physical, chemical, biological, and human dimensions.
The meeting occurred over three days of sharing high-level research with representation from nine countries that have a connection with Arctic and Subarctic research. The first day kicked off with presentations that examined historical and modern Atlantic and Pacific gadids dynamics, among them, the utilization of otolith data to uncover the shifting baselines syndrome. Other presentations showed shifting trophic interactions, spatial distributions, and structural vulnerabilities of forage fish species (e.g., capelin) and marine mammals. Throughout the meeting, we also saw the compounding effects of environmental stressors, such as marine heatwaves, ocean acidification, disruption of the carbon pump and marine habitats, the effects of legacy mining waste, hypoxia, and the bioaccumulation of mercury and PCBs in marine food webs. The presentations underscore a rapid northward migration of boreal species and a critical need for advanced modeling, from Bayesian state-based and species distribution models to ecosystem modeling approaches and the use of machine learning, to monitor the physical and chemical patterns and assess high-latitude ecosystem dynamics to inform local and regional management and policies.
Photo: ESSAS ASM 2026 organizers and participants.
Invited Author
Bia Dias (she/her) is a research scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean, and Ecosystem Studies (CICOES), University of Washington, working in collaboration with the Alaska Fisheries Science Center. Her research explores the effects of regime shifts in the Gulf of Alaska marine food webs, and how that will persist in future climate change scenarios. Bia is also interested in climate adaptation of small pelagic fishes and socio-economic systems.
Bia has served on the ESSAS Scientific Steering Committee since 2022 and as IMECaN Co-Chair since 2026.