​The JETZON UN Ocean Decade Program is organizing a symposium on the Biological carbon pump in the Ocean Twilight Zone at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (Boston, USA) from September 18-21, 2023. 
At this symposium, preliminary results of the JETZON Biological Carbon Pump (BCP) benchmark initiative, launched earlier this year, will be presented. The BCP benchmark initiative aims to come up with numbers and uncertainties on the different components of the BCP to set out an authoritative benchmark to provide a key reference for both future change and for discussions around marine Carbon Dioxide Removal. 
The BCP was divided into five aspects, each with its own working group, lead and mentor: 

• WG1 Gravitational component – Chloe Baumas (lead), Dave Siegel (mentor)
• WG2 Mixing component – Mat Dever (lead), Philip Boyd (mentor)
• WG3 Organism migration – Svenja Halfter (lead), Debbie Steinberg (mentor)
• WG4 Biogeochemical constraint – Jamie Wilson (lead), Carol Robinson (mentor)
•  WG5 Carbonate Pump – Griet Neukermans (lead), Luc Beaufort (mentor) 

Griet and Jordan will be presenting on behalf of WG 5 their work on the carbonate pump on Tuesday 19 September. 

Griet Neukermans gave an invited talk entitled "Towards autonomous in situ observations of coccolithophores and the carbonate pump" at the Symposium on Advances in coccolithophore research in Bergen, Norway. 
This conference was also Barney Balch's last conference, as he is retiring in 3 weeks from now. It is thanks to Barney's many excellent field and laboratory studies on the optical properties of coccolithophores that we can map the concentration of coccolithophore calcite in the global ocean using ocean colour satellites. 
Thank you Barney for all your awesome contributions to the ocean colour community and enjoy your retirement!