From 13-16 April 2026, the joint conference of the 13th International Conference on Tropical Marine Environmental Changes (MEC) & the 6th CLIVAR Climate Dynamics Panel (CDP) Annual Workshop, themed “Abrupt Changes and Tipping Points”, was held at the State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography (SKLTO) in Guangzhou, China. The conference focused on nonlinear processes, feedbacks, and potentially irreversible transitions under climate change. It featured 55 oral presentations and 40 poster presentations, bringing together more than 170 participants from China, the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Bangladesh, India, Australia, and beyond.
At the session on Ecosystem and Biogeochemical Tipping Points in a Changing Ocean, IMBeR was represented by Fang ZUO, Executive Officer, who presented “Integrated Marine Biosphere Research (IMBeR): A Review, Planning, and Platform Development for the Third Decade”. The presentation highlighted IMBeR activities in topical oceans, key synthesis outputs under its three Grand Challenges, the newly released IMBeR 3.0 concept, and the outlook for platform development, with emphasis on working groups and data platforms. It also reflected on the long-standing collaboration between CLIVAR and IMBeR, noting that working groups serve as effective interfaces for interdisciplinary and international cooperation.
During the conference, IMBeR engaged in in-depth discussions with representatives from SKLTO, the CLIVAR Scientific Steering Group (SSG), the CLIVAR International Project Office (IPO), SIMSEA, and other institutions. Collaboration with the CLIVAR IPO on a Doctoral Forum is currently under development. The progress of the IMBeR 3.0 Science Plan was well received by the CLIVAR SSG and the wider international community.
The conference highlighted that coastal zones are at the forefront of global change and face increasing risks. Emerging science on tipping dynamics provides powerful tools—from early warning indicators to coupled Earth system models—for identifying critical thresholds and informing adaptive interventions. Frontier approaches include time series analysis of tipping elements, multi-element system identification, and regional Earth system modeling for improved detection of tipping points. In addition, the integration of large language models with literature-based big data is enabling systematic analysis and classification of tipping point cases at the global scale.
IMBeR gratefully acknowledges the support of the conference host, the State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography (SKLTO). Following earlier interactions at the Ocean Sciences Meeting in Glasgow in February, IMBeR received a warm invitation from SKLTO Director Yan DU and Deputy Director Lei ZHANG (also a CDP member). The initiative proposed by SKLTO on Open Research Cruises in the South China Sea and the Northeastern Indian Ocean is highly commendable, and the community looks forward to collaboration.
More information about the conference is available here.