A week ago Oden departed from the Victoria Fjord in Northern Greenland, aiming to go east around the northern tip of Greenland and arrive in Longyearbyen on Svalbard.
We are very happy and proud to congratulate Karen Haandrikman who was recently appointed professor in Geography with a focus on Human Geography at Stockholm University!
On September 3rd, a seminar titled "Climate Change and Water Challenges in Latin America" was held at the library of the Nordic Institute of Latin American Studies.
The event addressed critical water issues in Latin America, such as the lack of infrastructure, insufficient support from the international community, and the risks involved in planning across the region.
August 28, 2024, Johan Nilsson. We have now completed our exploration of the Victoria Fjord. Oden only managed to get 30 km into the 70 km long fjord. At that point the concentration of enormous icebergs became so dense that further progress was impossible.
Aerial photos from 60 countries across the developing world are now becoming a gold mine for researchers in various fields. This is thanks to a research project in which a large and previously inaccessible archive is digitised and made freely available.
Icebreaker Oden has as the first vessel ever now reached the remote and uncharted Victoria fjord at northern Greenland. Read an update from the GEOEO North of Greenland 2024 expedition on its challenging battle against multiyear sea ice and pressure ridges.
The emissions of carbon dioxide from ecosystems are known to be higher in warmer climates. Therefore, global warming can speed up emissions, causing a stronger greenhouse effect that worsens climatic changes. But only in sufficiently moist environments where plants and soil organisms are not limited by water availability, as shown in a Nature Ecology & Evolution article with four co-authors from Stockholm University.
August 15, 2024, Johan Nilsson. We have now reached deep into the Arctic and are at 82 degrees north, just off the coast of Greenland. Currently, we are at the entrance to the Sherard Osborne Fjord, which Oden visited in 2019.
August 7, 2024, Johan Nilsson. Oden has just begun its journey northwards from Pituffik (formerly Thule). Oden was anchored in the fjord outside Pituffik Air Base, which is the northernmost location with permanent residents in western Greenland.
In August, the icebreaker Oden will go to northern Greenland's hard-to-reach waters. Researchers on board will study how much and how rapidly melting glaciers can contribute to raising global sea levels.
A small team of geologists and archaeologists from Stockholm University have just finished a field expedition to the Scottish island of Islay in the Inner Hebrides to look at the peat.
Matt O'Regan (IGV) and Tomasso Tesi (CNR-ISP: Italian National Research Council-Institute of Polar Sciences) have been awarded a grant for their collaborative project
Solving complex questions about interactions between the sea and climate change, and how they relate to society, requires a broad set of skills. In a new research school, PhD students from diverse scientific disciplines at Stockholm University get a unique opportunity to learn how transdisciplinary approaches and research communication can lead to sustainable management of coastal environments.
In today's world where environmental conservation is acknowledged as a top priority, it's vital to recognize the close ties between communities and their rivers for achieving sustainable development.
How does climate change and human activities affect lakes in Sweden? A new study from Stockholm University reveals changes in water levels across 144 lakes in Sweden using satellite data and water level stations.
Large anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide don’t only cause global warming, but also acidification of the oceans. In the Baltic Sea pH is expected to decrease between 0.1 and 0.4 units during this century depending on future emissions. The effects of ocean acidification on organisms have already been visible and are expected to increase, but not for the reason previously thought.
On February 6, Gia Destouni was elected as an international member of The National Academy of Engineering (NAE), one of the highest honours in engineering.
We are very happy and proud to congratulate Andrew Byerley who was recently appointed Docent in Geography with a focus on Human Geography at Stockholm University!
Our climate is becoming ever warmer – impacting plant and animal ecosystems. But this is by no means the first time Earth has experienced climate change. Wallenberg Academy Fellow Peter Heintzman is using genetics to examine how prehistoric climate change has impacted life on Earth.
In a new research project, Fredrik Charpentier Ljungqvist, together with researchers from three different disciplines, will investigate and explain the relationship between grain prices and food stress in various parts of Europe from the 16th century to the 18th century.
At the end of the last Ice Age, many iconic species became extinct. However, one Ice Age relict, perfectly adapted to the harsh climate of the tundra environment, has survived until the present day. In a new research study in Molecular Ecology, scientists investigate how the muskox mastered living on the edge – geographically, ecologically, and genetically.
Within a new graduate school in ocean, climate and environmental issues, 12 doctoral students will be admitted at several of Stockholm University's departments.
The Swedish Research Council has granted grants to the program which aims to improve the understanding of, among other things, patterns of ethnic, socio-economic and demographic segregation over time, taking into account both micro and macro segregation.
The glacier on Kebnekaise's southern peak is shrinking. What was previously Sweden's highest summit is now 1.4 meters lower than last year. Measurements also show great melting on other Swedish glaciers.
The Amaryllis-Amagas expedition overarching goal is to investigate the role of the Amazon region in the Earth's climate system, and to reconstruct the climate history of the Amazon basin and northeastern Brazil, with R/V Marion Dufresne.
In a new publication, observational constraints showed that removing aerosol air pollution led to climate warming (from Greenhouse Gases, GHG) over South Asia (aerosol demasking of climate warming).
Chakad Ojani has been admitted to the Pro Futura Sciencia programme for promising early-career scholars. In the coming five years he will be working on the project ‘Oceans in the sky’ that deals with fog capture in coastal Peru.
Researchers have used a 30-year time series to analyze how surface salinity in the Southern Ocean has changed. By studying changes in ocean surfaces properties the researchers were able to trace back to the processes behind salinity changes.
During three days, over 20 researchers from institutions across Europe came to Store Mosse National Park to discuss ongoing research in the park and nearby sites.
For the first time researchers at Stockholm University investigate the effects of soil amendments, i.e. compost, on floral resources in grasslands and the effects of drought.
Once again, Professor Patrick Crill (Department of Geological Sciences) is among the Top Scientists in the area of Environmental Sciences according to the prominent academic platform for scientists, Research.com, 2023 Edition. Congratulations!
The seabed and the bedrock could play an important role for the green transition; for mining of minerals and storing of carbon dioxide. But the environmental consequences of such activities are not fully understood, showed the presentations at the last Baltic Breakfast.
Methane hydrate clogs pipelines, is difficult to extract profitably, and exists in quantities sufficient to screw up Earth’s climate. Brett Thornton and Christian Stranne, from the Department of Geological Sciences and Bolin Centre for Climate Research at Stockholm University, consider this confounding cage compound.
The work with forest preservation in southwestern Ethiopia, where smallholder coffee farmers play an important part, is essential for global sustainability. But there are also negative consequences to the synergy between smallholder cash crop production and biodiversity values. A new study conducted by researchers from Stockholm University, published in the International Journal of Educational Development, shows that child labour plays an important role in the system.
The Baltic Sea Fellows initiative, a network of young Baltic Sea researchers from several disciplines, was launched to strengthen the environmental Baltic Sea research at Stockholm University. The results of this year's awarded research grants from the Swedish Research Council and Formas show that it is going well. The group of researchers has raised over 25 million Swedish crowns this year.
Scientists had always been puzzled why the Great Barrier Reef formed long after Australia had conditions suitable for reef growth. It turns out the answer might be K’gari, or Fraser Island, shows new research by Daniel Ellerton, Postdoctoral at IGV and James Shulmeister, Adjunct Professor (University of Queensland and University of Canterbury). They discussed the new research in "The Conversation".
New review article in Nature Climate Change, on recent advances in the study of dryland productivity and major outstanding debates on dryland responses to environmental changes.
The leakage of methane gas from the Nord Stream pipelines has a large local effect on ocean chemistry, but the global climate impact is likely to be small. This according to geochemist Volker Brüchert at Stockholm University.
Reindeer herding has a long history in northern Norway, Sweden and Finland. It has shaped the Fennoscandian mountain landscape, and is also seen as means to mitigate climate change effects on vegetation. Yet a new study published in Scientific Reports shows that the majority of this grazing land is exposed to cumulative pressures, threatened by the expansion of human activities towards the north.
When students of the Stockholm University course in Marine Geophysical Mapping Methods collect sediment cores from the bottom of the Baltic Sea, the cores are immediately used in research. No sample material is wasted. The ability to map the seabed is a much sought-after skill in today's job market.
This year’s measurement confirms that the summit of Kebnekaise’s southern peak continues to be lower than that of the northern peak. However, in contrast to reports on extreme glacier mass loss in the Alps, glacier mass loss in Sweden was moderate during the summer of 2022, according to researchers at Tarfala Research Station.
A research team at IGV led by Helen Coxall is investigating the response of marine plankton to climate change in the Arctic Ocean. The team has sampled planktonic foraminifera from the ocean and seafloor sediments during the SAS cruise in 2021 with Icebreaker /Oden/. They will use these samples to investigate how different species have responded to warm periods in the past and how they are adapting to modern global warming. This article contains more information about the project and about the progress the researchers have made so far.
Stockholm University Center for Circular and Sustainable Systems
During the SUCCeSS workshop on June 14th, the first three funded post doc projects were announced. We are now happy to share this piece of new with the world. The following projects will be funded:
Stockholm University's research vessel Electra sets off today across the Baltic Sea for a major multidisciplinary expedition off the Finnish coast. Through extensive sampling of sediment, water and air, researchers at the new CoastClim centre will map how much methane from the seabed is reaching the atmosphere and affecting the climate.
Researchers at Stockholm University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences have developed a novel value chain for production of textile and bio-fuel from fast-growing poplars. By applying sustainable catalysis on these poplars grown on marginal land in Nordic climates, the demand for cotton can be reduced. Consequently, considerable areas of productive agricultural land can be converted from cotton to food production.
Increased nutrient efficiency in agriculture and decreasing atmospheric deposition have had large and sustained effects on the Danish river loads of nitrogen. But to reach the goal of the Water Framework Directive, further measures are needed, such as taking areas out of agricultural production, means researcher Gitte Blicher-Mathisen, Aarhus University. Benoît Dessirier, researcher at Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre urges to reconsider today's focus on animal production to build a more resilient system and safeguard the water quality.
Late Holocene peat paleodust deposition in south-western Sweden - exploring geochemical properties, local mineral sources and regional aeolian activity
In spatial planning, new strategic planning practices have appeared in the form of contractual policies and accompanying agreement-based arrangements between state and local governments (public-public partnerships) at the city-regional level.
The project aims to explore urban forest trails and their role as versatile places for different activities and social interactions. The focus is on understanding the uses, norms and possible conflicts that arise between different user groups in the forest.
The cumulative effects of various human activities on coastal and marine ecosystems are a pressing problem. The seafloor is subject to physical pressures from e.g. construction, dredging, marine traffic and bottom trawling, which may co-occur with each other and with climate change and eutrophication.
DEMOCLIM explores new democratic governance methods in the design and implementation of effective and socially just climate policies that emerge in the face of climate protests in four Scandinavian cities; Oslo, Bergen, Stockholm and Gothenburg.
The purpose of this research programme is to improve our understanding of the patterns, mechanisms and consequences of ethnic, socioeconomic and demographic segregation over time using a multiscalar approach and including features of the built environment.
In August–September 2024, the North of Greenland expedition with IB Oden will go to Northern Greenland and the adjacent Arctic Ocean, including the Lincoln Sea. The expedition forms a part of the research theme GEOEO (North Greenland Earth-Ocean-Ecosystem Observatory), which has been endorsed through the Polar Research Process.
Due to employment transitions, changes in type of residence, loss of social supports, and acclimation to a new health service system, immigrants temporarily or permanently face challenges in terms of income, professional status, and health outcomes such as anxiety, depression, HIV/AIDS, and various forms of chronic disease.
The cryosphere and hydrosphere are among the most dynamic components of the Earth system. Interactions between them play a critical role in global climate such as influencing ocean current patterns through redistributing heat and salt.
Methane (CH4) is an important greenhouse gas and increased atmospheric concentrations of CH4 account for 20% of the postindustrial global warming. Marine sediments along continental margins contain vast amounts of CH4, stored as solid gas hydrate.
Atmospheric CH4 concentration has tripled since pre-industrial times and is now increasing faster than ever in the observational record. Our current inability to predict the trajectory of atmospheric CH4 concentrations indicates a formidable knowledge gap within global CH4 dynamics and its response to climate warming.
CALIPSO is aimed at understanding the fate of future CO2 and climate change through a new representation of carbon loss pathways from plants, soils and ocean, by leveraging novel observations, theoretical understanding, machine learning tools and integration of processes with Earth system models
Accelerating permafrost thaw in the Arctic drastically changes the ecosystem as a whole, which, in turn, impacts the everyday life of local communities and Indigenous populations. CAPES specifically focuses on the impact of climate change on populations living on permafrost in the Arctic using an ecosystem service approach.
The DeepWetland project aims to develop a machine learning (ML) platform to monitor water extent changes in wetlands by integrating multiple data sources from satellite images, radars, and other space sensors.
Forests are natural air conditioners: During hot and dry periods, they can cool the understory and all life below the canopy by shading the ground and evaporating water. However, this climate buffering capacity is under threat.
The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency's call "Indicators for biodiversity at landscape level" aims to increase our knowledge about the effects of fragmentation on biological diversity, important ecological structures, functions at a landscape level and proposals on how this can be measured.
Striving to limit global warming, there is an increased scientific focus on the feasibility of realizing low-emission scenarios where CO2 is actively removed from the atmosphere.
The project develops a new methodology based on current and future space missions to track hidden changes in wetland water level, extent, storage, and connectivity, and untangle the links between the human and climate drivers of change.
Savannas are a globally important ecosystem for climate change and grazing wildlife and livestock. Fire is a major driver of savanna vegetation dynamics, and we
aim to better understand how fire management affects plant species distributions.
Practicing Food Sovereignty focuses on indigenous communities and agricultural practices in four countries of the Eastern Himalaya region: Bhutan, Chittagong Hill Tracks of Bangladesh, Nepal, and Northeast India.
Questions about how regional spatial planning can contribute to reducing climate impact and how regional actors can manage land use conflicts have been neglected in Sweden, despite the fact that this is an important arena for addressing many of today's acute sustainability challenges. This research project aims to contribute to reducing this knowledge gap.
In the Swedish debate, spatial differences in living conditions have increasingly been identified as one of society's major challenges. While large population groups enjoy better material living conditions than perhaps ever before, other groups are living in both economic, social, and housing insecurity.
Over long timescales, the circulation systems co-evolve with ice sheets, mountain ranges, and redistributions of carbon between the atmosphere, ocean and land. The circulation and associated feedbacks influence exchanges of energy and materials between compartments of the climate system, and create teleconnections and natural climate variability.
The Ecography Lab at the department is engaged in an ongoing research project focusing on environmental and multispecies anthropology, with the aim of combining ecology and ethnography into one ecographic method and way on anlysis.
Volcanic ashes (tephra) buried in sediments or glacier ice are a useful material for geochronological applications. At Stockholm University, tephrochronology has been used in geological research over the course of the last few decades.