Events
Bjerknes Getaway at Voss 7-9 January 2026
Bjerknes Getaway 2026
7-9th of January at Hotel Scandic Voss
Wednesday 7. January
08:29–09:41 Train trip Bergen-Voss
10:15 Kikki Kleiven: Welcome to Voss and the Bjerknes Getaway.
10:20-11:20 Climate in Norway 2100: How did we produce the report? The county profile for Vestland and how Voss municipality plan for a changing climate.
11:20-14:30 Break for skiing or other activities (walk to Bordalsgjelet).
11:30 Lunch
(Note: For those skiing and not joining lunch: bring your own packed lunch from home)
14:30 Gather for a musical surprise and the afternoon program.
Our strategic projects 2022-2025
14:45-15:30 Climate change and sustainability in Norwegian fjords, CLIFORD
How did it go?
Short talks on challenges, results and the way forward.
15:30-16:00 Coffee break and check-in
16:00-16-:45 Dynamics of the North Atlantic Surface and Overturning Circulation, DYNASOR
Short talks on the challenges, results, and the way forward.
16:45-17:30 The breathing Ocean (O2Ocean)
Short talks on the challenges, results, and the way forward.
18:00 BarQuiz
19:00 Dinner
Thursday 8. January
09:00-09:45 Proxy Assimilations for Reconstructing Climate and Improving Models (PARCIM)
Short talks on the challenges, results, and the way forward.
09:45-10:30 Seal level Projection and Reconstruction unit (SEAPR)
Short talks on the challenges, results, and the way forward.
10:30-11:00 Mental representations of “Science” by Steffen Wagner
11:00-14:00 Time off for skiing or other activities (walk to Bordalsgjelet)
11:30 Lunch
14:15 Coffee break
14:30-15:00 PIONEER by Margit Simon
Machine Learning for increasing weather data resolution
by Sigrid Passano Helland
1500-1730 Poster session starting with 1 minute poster pitch presentations.
17:30 The Bjerknes bowling tournament at Voss bowling
19:30 Dinner
Friday 9. January
09:00-10:30 Summing up 2025. The research theme leaders and director’s 90 minutes
Global by Stefan Sobolowski
Highlight: Edson Silva
Polar by Marius Årthun
Highlight: Rebekka Frøystad
Hazards by Stijn De Schepper
Highlight by: Manuel Hempel
Carbon by Nadine Goris
Highlight: Jerry Tjiputra
10:30-11:00 Check out
11:00-11:30 What we do with AI and Machine learning by Stefan Sobolowski
Planning for the years to come by Kikki Kleiven
11:30 Lunch
12:30-13:45 Group work
Goodbye
14:07 – 15:24: Train leaves for Bergen
Sandy Thomalla - Do Small Scales Make a Big Difference? SOCCO's Journey in Building South African Southern Ocean Carbon-Climate Science
Abstract
This talk shares SOCCO’s journey from a small South African research effort to a leading Southern Ocean carbon–climate programme. Through pioneering glider campaigns, remote sensing and high-resolution modelling, we show how fine-scale ocean dynamics shape the seasonal cycle, carbon flux variability and climate sensitivity—offering new insights and challenges for next-generation climate models.
Speaker information
Sandy Thomalla is a Chief Researcher at the CSIR and Research Group Leader of the Southern Ocean Carbon-Climate Observatory (SOCCO), a national programme advancing understanding of the Southern Ocean’s role in a changing climate. Her work focuses on how physical drivers shape event-scale to inter-annual variability in ecosystem and biogeochemical processes, with the aim of better constraining carbon cycling in the Southern Ocean. Her combined expertise in observations, autonomous technologies, and remote sensing provides a strong foundation for improving assessing the climate sensitivity of the Southern Ocean biological carbon pump.
