NGWM 2026 in Finland
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January 18, 2026
in Conferences, IKKA project, Impact projects, Science Projects

NGWM 2026 in Finland

Erik and I just returned from the Nordic Geological Winter Meeting 2026 (https://ngwm2026.fi), which was held in Åbo in Finland, also called Turku in Finnish. This is the place Erik goes to every second year to teach Geophysics at Åbo Akademi. Thus, he knows both the town and the people at the universities really well. Åbo Akademi is the Swedish-speaking university, whereas University of Turku is the Finnish-speaking. This is a part of Finland, where both languages are used, although my feeling is that Swedish is slowly retreating and many courses at the universities are now taught in English. Back to NGWM 2026. This was a really well-organised meeting and a lot of interesting talks with around 540 participants from 32 countries. Erik presented his results from the Söderfjärden impact crater, one of 12 meteorite craters found in Finland. I presented for the first time the idea behind the Ikkaton project on how to capture CO2 through the mineral ikaite in seawater – inspired by our IKKA project in SW Greenland. The really great thing about this conference is that it offers a chance to meet up with Nordic colleagues. Once again I thought about how important it is to meet in real person, and not just through screens on Zoom or Teams meeting. You discuss things differently when you meet in person. Besides presenting my science, I was offered the important task of joining the Nordic jury to chose the best Student Poster out of a selection of 45 posters. There were many excellent student posters and fantastic to see so many new innovative ideas on how to carry out research!

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Photo: Erik Sturkell. Around 90% of the passengers onboard the flight from Stockholm to Åbo were geoscientists on their way to the winter meeting, which gave a lively atmosphere on the plane.
Photo: Erik Sturkell. The conference was held at the Logomo conference hall in Åbo. It worked really well to have the posters in the center of the hall.
Photo: Erik Sturkell. Colleagues from Sweden and Finland/Estonia, Ragnar and Heidi.
Photo: Iwona Galeczka. Erik presenting the results of the Söderfjärden impact crater.
Photo: Iwona Galeczka. Gabrielle presenting the Ikkaton project on Carbon Capture through ikaite.
Photo: Erik Sturkell. A very nice conference dinner at studentkåren in Åbo.
Photo: Gabrielle. Iwona presented the progress of the Carbfix project in Iceland – super talk!
Photo: Iwona Galeczka. The Nordic Best Student Poster jury consisting of Iwona, Gabrielle, Eemu, Justin and Kristoffer (not on photo).
Photo: Gabrielle. The Centro hotel in Åbo/Turku is renowned for its fantastic breakfast buffet.
Photo: Gabrielle. A really nice hotel we can warmly recommend.
Photo: Erik Sturkell. Centro hotel has a nice retro style with real old-fashioned keys. Wonderful!
Photo: Erik Sturkell. Åbo/Turku also has a Stockmann warehouse, like Helsinki and Oulu.
Photo: Gabrielle. Erik with the cathedral in the background.
Photo: Gabrielle. The cathedral close up.
Photo: Gabrielle. I love the Finnish design featured in Åbo/Turku, here at the Archeological Museum.
Photo: Gabrielle. Erik next to a Finnish retro mail box, no longer existing in Denmark.