SAIL’s Publicity, Organization and Academic departments welcome new members
On October 17 and 18, SAIL’s three departments held welcome meetings to introduce new members to their teams, day-to-day work and upcoming plans.
SAIL Updates
2026
SAIL meets with Igor Bashmachnikov and Iuliia Radchenko from Russia's Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Centre
On October 24, 2026, Prof. Igor Bashmachnikov and Dr. Iuliia Radchenko visited SAIL and joined members for a relaxed conversation over dinner about culture, personal interests and future careers.
SAIL founder Ruijian Gou attends the Global Tipping Points Conference 2026
SAIL founder Ruijian Gou attended the Global Tipping Points Conference 2026 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, held on October 12–15. He gave an academic presentation on abrupt warming in the Arctic Ocean and extreme events, presented a poster on Arctic resilience assessment, and discussed ocean-circulation tipping points with other participants.
SAIL welcomes new members at its 2026 recruitment event
SAIL introduced its mission, three departments and plans for research training, academic exchange, science outreach and innovation projects at its September 28 recruitment event.
SAIL marks National Science Popularization Month with a polar expedition talk and museum visit
For National Science Popularization Month, SAIL hosted Geng Xin's account of the 15th Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition on September 23 and visited Ocean University of China's university history museum on September 24. The activities connected field observations of sea fog, sea-surface skin temperature and sea ice with the university's history of marine research.
SAIL members invited to the 2026 Polar Science Summer School
SAIL members were invited to give presentations at the 2026 Polar Science Summer School, the flagship academic exchange platform of the Key Laboratory of Polar Science under the Ministry of Natural Resources. The programme was the 18th Polar Science Summer School, jointly organized by the Polar Research Institute of China, the Key Laboratory of Polar Science, and the Institute of Polar Ice, Snow and Climate Change.
Ruijian Gou receives Outstanding Presentation Award at the Chinese University Earth System Science Alliance Young Scholars Forum
At the Chinese University Earth System Science Alliance Young Scholars Forum, SAIL founder Ruijian Gou received the highest score and the Outstanding Presentation Award for his presentation on scale-dependent surprises in ocean and climate dynamics.
SAIL's Ruiqi Shu presents Ocean-E2E at KDD 2026
SAIL Machine Learning Working Group core member Ruiqi Shu gave a first-author oral presentation at KDD 2026. Ocean-E2E is an end-to-end framework that connects sparse ocean observations with global extreme marine heatwave forecasts through hybrid physics-based and data-driven modelling with neural assimilation.
SAIL Members Attend Tsinghua University Complex Systems Summer School
SAIL members attended the Tsinghua University Complex Systems Summer School, exchanging ideas with lecturers and researchers on complex systems, artificial intelligence, interdisciplinary science, and future collaboration.
The Hero's Journey as a Heuristic for Understanding Academic Careers
SAIL collaborator Gerrit Lohmann published a perspective article in Discover Education, proposing the Hero's Journey as a narrative framework for understanding challenges, transformation, and value in academic careers.
SAIL hosts Prof. William Cabos from Universidad de Alcalá for collaboration talks
Prof. William Cabos visited Qingdao for academic exchanges with SAIL. Discussions focused on regional high-resolution climate modeling, marine extremes, and potential joint research initiatives.
SAIL gathered for a graduation dinner to celebrate members starting new journeys
As another graduation season arrived, SAIL hosted a farewell dinner for Yanni Wang, Qiaoshi Zhu and Jiayi Zhang. Members gathered around the table to look back on shared research discussions and collaborations, and agreed to keep regular communication as the graduates move on to new institutions and fields.
Ruijian Gou presented SAIL Arctic research at EGU 2026
SAIL founder Ruijian Gou delivered an oral presentation at the 2026 European Geosciences Union General Assembly on stronger future Arctic Ocean convection associated with resolved boundary currents in high-resolution simulations. The presentation also introduced the collaboration between SAIL and the Norwegian ArMOC project.
Ruijian Gou visited AWI for academic exchange on Arctic variability, tipping and resilience
Invited by Gerrit Lohmann, SAIL founder Ruijian Gou visited the Alfred Wegener Institute and gave a talk entitled “Variability, Tipping, Resilience in the Arctic Ocean: Small-Scale Perturbations to Large-Scale Climate Shifts.” The exchange strengthened SAIL’s collaboration with AWI on Arctic Ocean and climate-change research.
SAIL chaired an Arctic resilience session at the ERC i2B annual meeting
At the annual meeting of the ERC Synergy project “i2B – into the blue” in Tromsø, SAIL founder Ruijian Gou chaired a SAIL-initiated session on Arctic resilience. The discussion brought together project members from AWI, NORCE and UiT and focused on Arctic environmental change, resilience and interdisciplinary collaboration under climate warming.
SAIL discussed Arctic tipping-point collaboration with John Schellnhuber
SAIL founder Ruijian Gou held a collaboration meeting with Hans Joachim “John” Schellnhuber. The discussion focused on future cooperation around Arctic tipping mechanisms, international collaboration and the role of SAIL in advancing Arctic climate research.
SAIL chaired a session at the 2026 CAMAS Annual Meeting
The 3rd CAMAS Annual Meeting was held at MBARI in California. Ruijian Gou chaired a session on sea surface temperature and sea ice. Yanni Wang presented progress on Arctic sea temperature and sea-ice memory variability, while Guo Jiahao, Zhu Qiaoshi and Diao Yufei participated online in core sessions.
2025
SAIL advanced interdisciplinary Arctic collaboration with EU i2B project scholars
Ruijian Gou and Jiayi Zhang held academic exchanges with the core team of the EU “i2B – into the blue” project, including scholars from AWI, NORCE and UiT. The discussion focused on Arctic tipping points, paleoclimate reconstruction and numerical modeling applications.
SAIL founder Ruijian Gou delivered an academic report at NERSC
Invited by researchers from the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center, Ruijian Gou gave a lecture as a Bjerknes Visiting Fellow on future Arctic marine heatwaves and their potential ecosystem impacts. The discussion covered interdisciplinary data integration, model uncertainty and Arctic climate-ecosystem adaptation.
Norwegian PhD candidate Marianne visited SAIL for Arctic marine heatwave collaboration
Marianne Williams-Kerslake from the University of Bergen visited SAIL and Ocean University of China. The meeting focused on Arctic marine heatwaves, including formation mechanisms in the Barents Sea, and laid the foundation for follow-up collaboration on Arctic marine heatwave definitions and mechanisms.
Gerrit Lohmann provided regular guidance on SAIL Arctic research projects
Gerrit Lohmann from the Alfred Wegener Institute joined a regular guidance meeting for SAIL Arctic research. The participants discussed mathematical models, analytical tools, abrupt Arctic climate changes and their responses to climate change.
SAIL founder contributed to formulating marine boundaries in the Planetary Boundaries framework
Ruijian Gou participated in a meeting hosted by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research to discuss key marine processes and their roles in the Planetary Boundaries framework. The meeting brought together leading scholars from multiple institutions and reached preliminary consensus on marine boundaries.
2024
SAIL founder discussed collaboration with Johan Rockström
Ruijian Gou held cooperation discussions with Johan Rockström, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and creator of the Planetary Boundaries framework. The discussion explored links between SAIL Arctic research, planetary boundaries and climate tipping points.
