The SPP SeaLevel program gathered for its annual meeting 2021 online.

The members of the SPP SeaLevel program gathered virtually this year for its annual meeting due to COVID regulations to discuss the program’s status and future aspects of the program as it enters this period its final year. The successful and fruitful annual SPP SeaLevel meeting occurred on 20-22 September 2021 online and the agenda included both the report of the current state of all active projects as well as future plans until the completion of the program.

The coordinator of the SPP SeaLevel, Prof. Detlef stammer/University Hamburg, opened the annual meeting with a summary of the SPP Sealevel purpose and an overall view of the sea level science status currently.

During the first 2 days of the annual meeting, all projects had the opportunity to present in detail their newest results and progress as well as future planned actions and to lead also fruitful discussions with the rest of the projects about their outcomes and opportunities for potential collaborations and exchange of information among them for a more interdisciplinary approach to their research aims and prospects.  

Among others, the TRANSOCAP II project partners presented their current survey on the adaptive capacities of people and communities in Indonesia who are affected by environmental hazards and invited all members to circulate their survey to Indonesian partners that live in Germany and in the Netherlands. More specifically, the survey will explore how Indonesian households and communities use their personal social contacts to deal with these hazards and changes as well as the role that Indonesians living in Germany and the Netherlands play for affected Indonesians. They survey can be filled in here.

Moreover, the meeting agenda included discussions on the preparation of a collaborative paper on the results and outcomes of the entire SPP SeaLevel program throughout its life span where all SPP SeaLevel projects will have the opportunity to contribute with their research work and outcomes, and also coming sea level events, conferences and workshops to be held both by the SPP SeaLevel program itself, e.g. its last annual meeting in 2022, as well as by the global sea level community the time ahead, such as the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) Regional Sea Level Change and Coastal Impacts conference in Singapore on 11-15 July 2022, where all SPP projects were encouraged to submit their contributions. 

Representative of the DFG, Dr. Daniel Weymann also joined the annual SPP SeaLevel meeting to discuss the potential funding COVID extensions offered by the DFG to all SPP SeaLevel projects that were impacted by the pandemic to apply for an extension until end of November 2021 (final date to be determined and circulated to all projects soon).

In addition, members shared information about future opportunities for research funds for coming projects on oceanography and all participants were invited to contribute with their proposals and contributions for new collaborations. 

Overall, the annual meeting was fruitful and successful and the SPP SeaLevel program with the participation of most of the members of its active projects currently was fueled with fresh ideas and plans for the future and its final year and more.