TropEcS Symposium
Coupling Tropical Coastal Ecosystems to Earth System Models
Bremen, Germany | 22.09.25 – 25.09.25
Monday, 22 September, 18:15 – Icebreaker Reception
at Universum® Bremen, Wiener Straße 1a
Day 1 (Tuesday, 23 Sep.) – Strengths and Limitations of Existing Earth System Models
at Atlantic Hotel Universum, Wiener Straße 4
Day 2 (Wednesday, 24 Sep.) – Coupling Components
at Atlantic Hotel Universum, Wiener Straße 4
Day 3 (Thursday, 25 Sep.) – Spatio-Temporal Scales and Socio-Economic Perspectives
at Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), Main Building, Fahrenheitstraße 6
On the eve of the symposium (22 Sept) 18:15 – 21:00: Registration & Icebreaker Reception with welcome addresses by Raimund Bleischwitz (Scientific Director, ZMT) and Kathrin Moosdorf (Senator for Climate, Environment and Science of the State of Bremen) at Universum® Bremen. Musical performance by Biyotob and science quiz with Tom & Darren. 
Day 1: Strengths and Limitations of Existing Earth System Models
@ Atlantic Hotel Universum
| Time Tuesday (23 Sept) | Opening |
|---|---|
| 8:00 – 8:45 | Registration |
| 8:45 – 9:00 | Welcome Address by Raimund Bleischwitz (Scientific Director, ZMT) |
| 9:00 – 9:30 | Catalyst Talk I: Opportunities for elucidating tropical climate dynamics with a new generation of km-scale climate models by Bjorn Stevens (MPI-M, Germany) |
| 9:30 – 10:00 | Catalyst Talk II: AI-empowered Next-generation Multiscale Climate Modeling for Mitigation and Adaptation by Veronika Eyring (DLR & Uni Bremen) |
| Session 1: Global Coupled Earth System Models
Chair: Bjorn Stevens (MPI-M, Germany) |
|
| 10:00 – 10:15 | A vision for tropical coastal modeling and observations by Jan Härter (University of Potsdam, Germany) |
| 10:15 – 10:30 | Air-Sea Interactions of Tropical Cyclones in Kilometer-Scale Earth System Models by Nils Brüggemann (MPI-M, Germany), Arjun Kumar, David Nielsen, Mikael Karvinen, Fatemeh Chegini, Nuno Serra, Cathy Hohenegger, Tatian Ilyina, and Jochem Marotzke |
Coffee Break 30min
| Session 1 continued: Global Coupled Earth System Models | |
|---|---|
| 11:00 – 11:15 | Paleoclimate Modelling Perspectives on Coastal Systems by Georg Feulner (PIK, Germany) |
| 11:15 – 11:30 | IITM-ESM v3: Advances in Tropical Climate Simulation and Bias Reduction by Praveen Veluthedathekuzhiyil (IITM, India), Swapna P., Sandeep N., Ayantika D. C., Priya P., Umakanth U. |
| 11:30 – 11:45 | Tailoring an Earth system model to the African context by Yolandi Ernst (University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa), Francois Engelbrecht, Jessica Steinkopf, Gregor Feig, Nolusindiso Ndara, Amukelani Maluleki |
| 11:45 – 12:00 | Requirements for the ocean model component in a coastal ESM by Knut Klingbeil (IOW, Germany) |
| 12:00 – 12:15 | The Australian Earth System Model: A Southern Hemisphere perspective by Tilo Ziehn (CSIRO, Australia) |
Lunch Break
(Lunch provided on site)
| Session 2: Regional Models
Chair: Alexandra Klemme (ZMT) |
|
|---|---|
| 13:30 – 14:00 | Challenge of multi-scale Ocean-Atmosphere Coupled Modelling System Keynote by Yu-Heng Tseng (NTU, Taiwan) |
| 14:00 – 14:15 | Coupled Regional Climate Modelling Systems in MED-CORDEX: Atmospheric Perspective by Bodo Ahrens (Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany) |
| 14:15 – 14:30 | Physical-biogeochemical modeling in the Northern Humboldt Current Ecosystem: Present trends and future scenarios by Dante Espinoza (IMARPE, Peru) |
| 14:30 – 14:45 | Resolving Tropical Instability Waves: Seasonal Dynamics of Shear Instabilities and Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Responses in high-resolution simulations by Mia Sophie Specht (MPI-M, Germany) |
| 14:45 – 15:00 | Coupling high-resolution Earth system model outputs and data-driven methods to project ecosystem change in the Canary Current upwelling system by Patrice Brehmer (IRD / SRFC, Senegal) Elodie Martinez, Thomas Gorgues, Hervé Demarcq, Shunya Koseki, Etienne Pauthenet, Keerthi Madhavan-Girijakumari, Ndague Diogoul, Aldo Affenou, Yoba Kande, Saliou Faye, Ndague Diogoul, Abdoulaye Sarré, Noel Keenlyside |
Coffee Break 30min
| 15:30–16:15 |
Wrap-up Panel Discussion Panel: Jan Härter, Yu-Heng Tseng, Veronika Eyring and Alexandra Klemme |
|---|
End of Day 1
Day 2: Coupling Components
@ Atlantic Hotel Universum
| Time Wednesday (24 Sept) |
Session 1: Integrating Ecological Models with Physical and Biogeochemical Processes Chair: Kenny Rose (University of Maryland, USA) |
|
|---|---|---|
| 9:00 – 9:30 | Estimating rate parameters in ecological models utilizing novel representations of transport processes Keynote by Edward Gross (GEI Consultants, USA) |
|
| 9:30 – 9:45 | Co-designing Adaptation Pathways for Peru’s Coastal Systems under Compound Drivers: Linking Ecological Modelling, Climate Projections, and Stakeholder Insights by Alonso Del Solar Escardó (ZMT) |
|
| 9:45 – 10:00 | Some Issues Related to Coupling Physical/Biogeochemical and Upper Trophic Level Models: Fallacy of Averaged Values, Incompatible Spatial Resolutions, and Nervous Skill Assessment by Kenny Rose (University of Maryland, USA) |
|
| 10:00 – 10:15 | How can size-spectrum and trait-based models advance the integration of marine ecosystem dynamics into Earth System Models? Towards a broader perspective on ecological modelling across scales by Ken Andersen (Technical University of Denmark) |
|
| 10:15 – 10:30 | TropEcS Topics in a Nutshell: Speed Talks about Posters on Display
by ZMT’s Senior Scientists: Alexandra Klemme, Murugan Ramasamy, Subhendu Chakraborty, Esteban Acevedo-Trejos, Stefan Koenigstein, Camilla Novaglio, Michael Kriegl |
|
Coffee Break 30min
| Session 2: Forces, Fluxes, and Exchange at the Land–Sea Interface
Chair: Joke Lübbecke (University of Bremen, Germany) |
|
|---|---|
| 11:00 – 11:30 | Measuring, Monitoring, and Modelling the East Australian Current System: … Keynote by Moninya Roughan (UNSW, Australia) |
| 11:30 – 11:45 | From Global Oceans to Regional Extremes: Towards Better Earth System Models by Lívia Sancho (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) |
| 11:45 – 12:00 | Modelling Land-Ocean linkages in Earth System Models, a roadmap to consider coastal ecosystems by Kirsten Thonicke, Sabine Mathesius (PIK, Germany), Georg Feulner |
| 12:00 – 12:15 | Land-Ocean Coupling in POEM: Exploring new ways to simulate climate impacts on coastal ecosystems in an Earth System Mode by Sabine Mathesius (PIK, Germany) |
Lunch Break
(Lunch provided on site)
| Session 2 continued: Forces, Fluxes, and Exchange at the Land–Sea Interface | |
|---|---|
| 13:30 – 13:45 | Advancing Ecological Modeling with pyMANGA: Modularity and Reusability for Robust and Reproducible Research by Marie-Christin Wimmler (TU Dresden, Germany), Ronny Peters, Guanzhen Liu, Uta Berger |
| 13:45 – 14:00 | Multiscale numerical approaches for evaluating the protective role of coral reefs and mangrove forests by Andrés Fernando Osorio Arias (UNAL, Colombia) |
| 14:00 – 14:15 | Bridging Scales in Coastal Biogeochemistry from Microbes to Climate by Sinikka Lennartz (University of Oldenburg, Germany) |
| 14:15 – 14:30 | Physical Modelling of Southern Canary Upwelling System: results, applications, perspectives and needs in terms of in situ data and future perspectives by Siny Ndoye (Université Amadou Mahtar Mbow, Senegal) |
| 14:30 – 14:45 | Importance of Large-Scale Climate Modes for Eastern Tropical Atlantic Coastal Conditions by Joke Lübbecke (University of Bremen, Germany) |
Coffee Break 30 min
| 15:15 – 16:00 |
Wrap-up Panel Discussion Panel: Kenny Rose, Edward Gross, Joke Lübbecke and Moninya Roughan |
|---|
End of Day 2
Day 3: Spatio-Temporal Scales and Socio-Economic Perspectives
@ Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), Main Building
| Time Thursday (25 Sept) |
Session 1: Cross-Scale Modelling of Physical–Ecological Interactions in Tropical Coastal Systems
Chair: Nils Moosdorf (ZMT) |
|---|---|
| 9:00 – 9:30 | Assessment of Extreme Weather Events in the Changing Climate over the Indonesia Maritime Continent Keynote by Erma Yulihastin (BRIN, Indonesia), Ibnu Fathrio, Albertus Sulaiman, Mochamad Furqon Azis Ismail, Dwiyoga Nugroho, Rahaden Bagas Hatmaja, and Ginaldi Ari Nugroho |
| 9:30 – 9:45 | Running regional models as if they were global? Atmospheric simulations over an aquapatch to understand the role of convection, land, and ocean in the “hysteresis” of the tropical rain band migration by Maxime Colin (ZMT), Vishal Dixit, Jan O. Haerter |
| 9:45 – 10:00 | Impacts of Tropical Cyclones on Harmful Algal Blooms in Coastal Oceans by Ming Li (University of Maryland, USA) |
| 10:00 – 10:15 | Is there a way from the process scale to the ecosystem model? by Ronny Peters (TU Dresden, Germany) |
Coffee Break 30 min
| Session 1 continued: Cross-Scale Modelling of Physical–Ecological Interactions in Tropical Coastal Systems |
|
|---|---|
| 11:00 – 11:30 | Using high-resolution hydrodynamic-sediment–biogeochemistry models to understand data-sparse coastal systems Keynote by Julia Moriarty (University of Colorado, USA) |
| 11:30 – 11:45 | Salinity and Mixing Dynamics in the Magdalena River Estuary and Plume: Insights from a High-Resolution Delft3D Model ensemble by Yuley M. Cardona Orozco (CEMarin, Colombia) |
| 11:45 – 12:00 | Linking physical processes to biological responses: Interdisciplinary observational insights into the enhanced biological productivity of the Cape Verde Archipelago by Florian Schütte (GEOMAR, Germany) |
Lunch Break
(Lunch provided on site)
| Time |
Session 2: Human Dimensions in Tropical Coastal Processes Chair: Michael Obersteiner (University of Oxford, UK) |
|---|---|
| 13:00 – 13:30 | Socioeconomic trends, drivers of environmental pressures and projecting economy-environment interactions Keynote by Rob Dellink (OECD, France) |
| 13:30 – 13:45 | Harnessing climate information systems and artificial intelligence (AI) innovations in enhancing resilience to climate change in Africa by Fredrick Kayusi (Pwani University, Kenya) |
| 13:45 – 14:00 | The Economic Dynamics of Climate Change Impacts on Global Agriculture by Alvaro Calzadilla (UCL, UK) |
| 14:00 – 14:15 | From Villages to Megacities: Urban expansion patterns and escalating flood risks by Jun Rentschler (World Bank, Belgium) |
| 14:15 – 14:30 | Resilience in Tropical Coastal Social-Ecological Systems: Patterns of Behavior Across Diverse Worldviews by Bruno Meirelles de Oliveira (AZTI, Spain) |
Coffee Break 30 min
| Session 2 continued: Forces, Fluxes, and Exchange at the Land–Sea Interface | |
|---|---|
| 15:00 – 15:15 | Integrating economic and physical-ecological modelling: an E3ME case study by Alistair Smith (Cambridge Econometrics, UK) |
| 15:15 – 15:30 | Managing Time-Lagged Climate Risks for Coastal Societies: Lasting Benefits of Temperature Peak-Shaving by Michael Obersteiner (University of Oxford, UK) |
| 15:30 – 15:45 | From Models to Meaning: Socio-Economic Indicators, Physical-Ecological Processes, and Coastal Resilience by Marie Fujitani (ZMT) |
| 15:45 – 16:15 | Intermission |
| 16:15–17:00 | Wrap-up Panel Discussion (Foyer) Panel: Nils Moosdorf, Erma Yulihastin, Julia Moriarty and Michael Obersteiner |
| 17:00–17:15 | Closing remarks by Raimund Bleischwitz (Scientific Director, ZMT) |
End of the TropEcS Symposium