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Wed 07 May 14:00: Reconstructing wintertime seawater pCO2 on the data-barren shelf of the western Weddell Sea based on summertime bottom water measurements

Thu, 01/05/2025 - 16:39
Reconstructing wintertime seawater pCO2 on the data-barren shelf of the western Weddell Sea based on summertime bottom water measurements

The dense waters formed on the broad shelf of the western Weddell Sea are a source of Weddell Sea Bottom Water (WSBW), which transports anthropogenic CO2 along the continental slope to the bottom of the ocean. Our updated time series shows a positive trend of carbon in WSBW . To understand the drivers for this pathway for carbon sequestration, we need to understand the processes affecting carbon concentrations in shelf waters at the time of dense water formation, which is predominantly during sea ice formation in winter. Unfortunately, wintertime marine observations are particularly scarce in the western Weddell Sea. We are therefore testing a method that reconstructs the seawater partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) representative of wintertime conditions in this dense-water formation region, using carbonate chemistry observations made in WSBW in the summer. Results suggest that atmospheric CO2 uptake is the main driver of increasing carbon in WSBW , and thus that equilibration of surface seawater with the atmosphere is possible despite year-round sea ice cover in this region.

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Wed 07 May 13:00: The SIREN study at five years: Tracking SARS-CoV-2 and respiratory infections in UK healthcare workers since 2020

Tue, 29/04/2025 - 17:13
The SIREN study at five years: Tracking SARS-CoV-2 and respiratory infections in UK healthcare workers since 2020

All are invited to the Bradford Hill Seminar:

The SIREN study at five years: Tracking SARS -CoV-2 and respiratory infections in UK healthcare workers since 2020

Speaker: Victoria Hall, Consultant Epidemiologist, Antimicrobial Resistance & Healthcare Associated Infections Division of the UK Health Security Agency (UK HSA )

Register to attend Please note this will be a free hybrid seminar, with the option to attend in-person (Large Seminar Room, East Forvie Building, Forvie Site, Robinson Way, Cambridge CB2 0SR ) or virtually (via Zoom).

No registration is required to attend in person.

Register in advance to attend this seminar online at:

https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/register/CoavXVmNQtWN8j8TOFv-rg#/registration

Abstract The SARS -CoV-2 Immunity and Reinfection Evaluation (SIREN) study is a prospective cohort study of hospital-based healthcare workers across the UK. It was established in 2020 as a pandemic response study, with over 44,000 healthcare workers recruited from 135 NHS trusts/health boards. The study initially investigated SARS -CoV-2 reinfections and the durability of immunity following infection, and subsequently COVID -19 vaccination. It has expanded its scope to evaluate Winter Pressures on the healthcare workforce, and questions related to immunity more broadly.

SIREN has been running since 2024. This has involved collecting data on symptoms and absence from time off work trends in around 5000 participants recruited from the original SIREN cohort. In addition to investigating Winter Pressures, SIREN provides an opportunity to address new research questions of public health importance that impact healthcare workers, including the emergence of multidrug resistant organisms and risk factors for healthcare associated infections.

More details on the study and publications from the study can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/siren-study

About Victoria Hall Victoria Hall is a Consultant Epidemiologist in the Antimicrobial Resistance & Healthcare Associated Infections Division of the UK Health Security Agency and has been leading the SIREN study team since 2020. She completed public health speciality training in the East of England and the UK Field Epidemiology Training Programme based in South East and London Regional Field Epidemiology Service. She holds a part-time position at the Institute for Health Informatics, UCL working on research on infections and AMR in care homes with the VIVALDI study.

About the Bradford Hill seminars The Bradford Hill seminar series is the principal series of The Cambridge Population Health Sciences Partnership, in collaboration with the PHG Foundation. This comprises the Departments of Public Health & Primary Care, MRC Biostatistics Unit and MRC Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge, bringing together a multi-disciplinary partnership of academics and public health professionals. The Bradford Hill seminar programme of internationally recognised speakers covers topics of broad interest to our public health research community. It aims to transcend as well as connect the activities of our individual partners.

All are welcome at our Bradford Hill seminars.

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Wed 07 May 13:00: The SIREN study at five years: Tracking SARS-CoV-2 and respiratory infections in UK healthcare workers since 2020

Tue, 29/04/2025 - 17:13
The SIREN study at five years: Tracking SARS-CoV-2 and respiratory infections in UK healthcare workers since 2020

All are invited to the Bradford Hill Seminar:

The SIREN study at five years: Tracking SARS -CoV-2 and respiratory infections in UK healthcare workers since 2020

Speaker: Victoria Hall, Consultant Epidemiologist, Antimicrobial Resistance & Healthcare Associated Infections Division of the UK Health Security Agency (UK HSA )

Register to attend Please note this will be a free hybrid seminar, with the option to attend in-person (Large Seminar Room, East Forvie Building, Forvie Site, Robinson Way, Cambridge CB2 0SR ) or virtually (via Zoom).

No registration is required to attend in person.

Register in advance to attend this seminar online at:

https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/register/CoavXVmNQtWN8j8TOFv-rg#/registration

Abstract The SARS -CoV-2 Immunity and Reinfection Evaluation (SIREN) study is a prospective cohort study of hospital-based healthcare workers across the UK. It was established in 2020 as a pandemic response study, with over 44,000 healthcare workers recruited from 135 NHS trusts/health boards. The study initially investigated SARS -CoV-2 reinfections and the durability of immunity following infection, and subsequently COVID -19 vaccination. It has expanded its scope to evaluate Winter Pressures on the healthcare workforce, and questions related to immunity more broadly.

SIREN has been running since 2024. This has involved collecting data on symptoms and absence from time off work trends in around 5000 participants recruited from the original SIREN cohort. In addition to investigating Winter Pressures, SIREN provides an opportunity to address new research questions of public health importance that impact healthcare workers, including the emergence of multidrug resistant organisms and risk factors for healthcare associated infections.

More details on the study and publications from the study can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/siren-study

About Victoria Hall Victoria Hall is a Consultant Epidemiologist in the Antimicrobial Resistance & Healthcare Associated Infections Division of the UK Health Security Agency and has been leading the SIREN study team since 2020. She completed public health speciality training in the East of England and the UK Field Epidemiology Training Programme based in South East and London Regional Field Epidemiology Service. She holds a part-time position at the Institute for Health Informatics, UCL working on research on infections and AMR in care homes with the VIVALDI study.

About the Bradford Hill seminars The Bradford Hill seminar series is the principal series of The Cambridge Population Health Sciences Partnership, in collaboration with the PHG Foundation. This comprises the Departments of Public Health & Primary Care, MRC Biostatistics Unit and MRC Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge, bringing together a multi-disciplinary partnership of academics and public health professionals. The Bradford Hill seminar programme of internationally recognised speakers covers topics of broad interest to our public health research community. It aims to transcend as well as connect the activities of our individual partners.

All are welcome at our Bradford Hill seminars.

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Wed 09 Apr 15:00: Exploring the Spatial and Temporal Variability in Water Column Properties in Tidewater Glacier-Ocean Systems in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago

Wed, 02/04/2025 - 08:53
Exploring the Spatial and Temporal Variability in Water Column Properties in Tidewater Glacier-Ocean Systems in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago

The Canadian Arctic Archipelago (CAA) is home to over 300 marine-terminating glaciers facing retreat with ongoing Arctic change, increasing glacial meltwater delivery to the ocean. Subglacial discharge can produce meltwater plumes that promote upwelling and enhance mixing near glacier termini, impacting water column structure, turbidity, and other biogeochemical properties in the proximate ocean. Despite their abundance, knowledge is lacking on glacier-ocean systems across the CAA , specifically how glacial meltwater is influencing and modifying the marine environment in the coastal ocean. This talk explores the 4 years of late summer in-situ observations of marine-terminating glacier-ocean systems and non-glacierized systems in Jones Sound, a glacier rich region of the CAA . Specifically, we examine the systematic influence of marine-terminating glacier presence on the chemical and physical marine environment and contrast marine-terminating glacier systems with riverine systems in the same region. We find marine-terminating glaciers host late-summer nutrient enhancement above the region’s characteristic nutricline year over year. This contrasts riverine systems that show rare nutrient enhancement above the characteristic nutricline. Ongoing retreat may shift these systems towards riverine-like systems, reducing this above-nutricline nutrient enhancement that may impact phytoplankton community composition, which may have subsequent impacts on carbon sequestration and food web function. This work also informs the Inuit community of Ausuittuq (Grise Fiord, NU), who live in Jones Sound and use the neighbouring ocean for traditional hunting, culture, and economic benefit, about the ongoing change in their local environment.

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