Representatives of the Department of Polar and Marine Research and the Department of Hydrology and Hydrodynamics of the Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, presented their research at the Ocean Sciences Meeting 2026, which took place on 22–27 February in Glasgow. OSM, organized by the American Geophysical Union, the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography, and The Oceanography Society, is one of the largest and most significant events in global oceanography.
Dr hab. Oskar Głowacki presented a poster entitled “Listening to mini-tsunamis induced by glacier calving”. The research focuses on the novel use of widely available microphones to analyse glacier calving processes and the interactions between calving‑generated tsunami waves and the shoreline. The work was conducted within the project “Studying glacier calving fluxes and calving styles through a novel combination of acoustic and optical methods”, funded by the Polish National Science Centre (SONATA, project no. 2021/43/D/ST10/00616).
Meri Korhonen presented a poster entitled “Seasonal water column transformation in front of an Arctic tidewater glacier from a bottom-moored Argo float”. The presented results concern the innovative use of ARGO-type floats to measure changes in the temperature–salinity structure of glacial bays. The research was made possible thanks to support from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education for the Polish contribution to the global ARGO ocean observing system. The Argo‑Poland consortium includes the Institute of Oceanology PAS (coordinator), the Institute of Geophysics PAS, and the Polish Naval Academy.
Dr hab. eng. Magdalena Mrokowska promoted the development of research on the role of biopolymers produced, among others, by algae and bacteria in shaping hydrodynamic processes across a wide range of spatial scales, the development of which was supported by the National Science Centre under the SONATA programme (SONATA project no. 2019/35/D/ST10/01135). In the eLightning presentation “Microplastic accumulation at pycnoclines influenced by biopolymer abundance”, she presented pioneering laboratory results on how the non-Newtonian properties of biopolymer-enriched seawater influence the dynamics and accumulation of microplastics. In addition, the session she co-chaired, “Interactions of Microbes with Their Viscous Environment”, became a platform for knowledge exchange among researchers investigating the microscale interactions of biopolymers that govern microbial functioning and the formation of aggregates responsible for the oceanic transport of organic matter.
This year’s edition of the conference gathered more than 6,000 scientists from around the world working on physical, chemical, and biological ocean processes, biogeochemistry, marine ecosystem functioning, numerical modelling, laboratory studies, and modern measurement technologies.
