2026 US-UK Scientific Forum on Shifts and Tipping Points in Ocean Systems

Every year, the Royal Society and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) jointly convene the US-UK Scientific Forum to help the scientific leadership of the United Kingdom and the United States forge an enduring and productive partnership on pressing topics of worldwide scientific concern.

The 2026 forum took place on 19-20 May and focused on Shifts and Tipping Points in Ocean Systems. It convened leading scientists to examine the frontier of knowledge on critical thresholds in ocean systems. Incremental pressures such as warming, acidification, and fishing can trigger abrupt, likely irreversible nonlinear shifts in circulation, biogeochemistry, and ecosystem structure and functioning. The forum explored examples of such shifts from the recent and geological past, as well as those projected for the future. It examined the drivers and mechanisms for shifts, indicators and early-warning signals of approaching thresholds, implications for ecosystem services and human systems, and strategies for anticipating, avoiding, or adapting to abrupt changes in marine environments.

Recordings of all the talks are available below.

Keynote session: Shifts, tipping points, and systems dynamics

Session 2: Shifts and tipping points in ocean circulation

Session 3: Shifts and tipping points in ocean biogeochemical cycles

Session 4: Shifts and tipping points in marine ecosystems

Session 5: Tipping points in ecosystem services

Session 6: Human dimensions of ocean tipping points

2026 US-UK Scientific Forum Planning Committee

Co-Chairs

Professor Corinne Le Quéré CBE FRS, University of East Anglia, UK
Scott Doney, University of Virginia, USA

Committee Members

John Bruno, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
Ida Kubiszewski, University College London, UK
Professor Tim Lenton OBE, University of Exeter, UK
Professor Michael Meredith, British Antarctic Survey, UK
Professor Malin Pinsky, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA
Anastasia Romanou, NASA Goddard Institute of Space Studies, USA