News archive 2016

Northern domination of science relevant to climate-change policy and practice globally and lack of research led by Southern researchers in Southern countries may hinder development and implementation of global agreements and nationally-appropriate actions. These are the findings of an article just published in the international journal Nature Climate Change authored by 10 of the World’s most eminent scientists from Southern countries in consort with researchers from Sweden and the UK. They go on to recommend a set of practical steps in both Northern and Southern countries for spanning the divide,  identified specifically in relation to a wide range of actors at global, regional and national scales.

The Department of Earth Sciences in collaboration with the University Library proudly presents a seminar series and PhD course on science communication. 

In November, we host Dr. Heidi Pettersson, a guest researcher from the Finnish Meteorological Institute. 

Geologiska Föreningen has awarded Frances Deegan the Jan Bergström Young Geoscientist Award 2016! 

Nästa vecka börjar COP22, det årliga klimatmötet. Institutionen för geovetenskaper vid Uppsala universitet sänder en studentdelegation till Marrakech i Marocko. 

Since the 18th century, geologists have struggled to explain how big magma chambers form in the Earth’s crust. In particular, it has been difficult to explain where the surrounding rock goes when the magma intrudes. Now a team of researchers from Uppsala University and the Goethe University in Frankfurt have found the missing rocks – and they look nothing like what they expected

Sifra Bijl är en av våra studenter på masterprogrammet i geovetenskap. På på TekNats studentkonferens 2016 vann hon utmärkelse för bästa presentation för sitt ypperliga föredrag om åldersbestämmning av en Tyrannosaurus Rex vid namn Trix.

I en ny avhandling från Uppsala universitet visar Simon Davidsson att en snabb tillväxt av förnybar energiteknik inte nödvändigtvis är hållbar. För att hitta den bästa vägen framåt i den kommande energiomställningen behöver vi ta hänsyn till materialåtgång och se till att industrierna som växer fram är hållbara.

Spelar det någon roll för dig om fisken du köper i butiken är miljömärkt eller inte? Svaret beror troligen på om du känner igen märkningen och vet vad den innebär, och om du är orolig för tillståndet i haven och fiskebestånden. Systemekologen Malin Jonell har studerat detta i sin avhandling, som är ett samarbete mellan Stockholms universitet och forskningsprogrammet Naturresurser och hållbar utveckling, Institutionen för geovetenskaper, Uppsala universitet. 

Geologists at Uppsala University have traced magma movement beneath Mt. Cameroon volcano, which will help monitoring for future volcanic eruptions. The results are published in Scientific Reports.

Erik Jonsson, adjunct professor at Uppsala University and geologist at the Geological Survey, has just described a new mineral, together with a team of researchers from Sweden and Czechia. The new mineral is named gadolinit-(Nd) and is particularly rich in Rare Earth Elements (REE's), which are in high demand in modern applications such as solar cells, batteries and other high tech products.

Auli Niemi, professor in groundwater modelling at the department of earth sciences, has been awarded the Björkén Prize, one of the most prestigious prizes at Uppsala University.  

Did you miss last week's big event, the Uppsala University Lecture in Climate Change Leadership? Luckily, the whole seminar with professor Kevin Andersson, Niklas Zennström, Vice Chancellor Eva Åkesson and professor Doreen Stabinsky was filmed, so now you can see as many times as you like! 

Vid Kungliga Vetenskaps-Societetens årliga prisceremoni, där några av de mest framstående forskarna vid Uppsala universitet belönas, återfanns detta år två forskare från Institutionen för geovetenskaper. Priset delades ut vid en ceremoni i Museum Gustavianum tisdag 30 augusti. Kungliga Vetenskaps-Societeten i Uppsala grundades 1710 och är Sveriges äldsta vetenskapliga akademi. 

Klimatforskaren Kevin Anderson blir Uppsala universitets andra gästprofessor på Zennströms klimatprofessur med inriktning på området klimatledarskap. Missa inte seminariet den 31 augusti, som även kan ses live via länken här nedan.

Between August 22 and 26, Japan was hit by the tropical typhoon Mindulle. As Japan is located relatively far to the north in the Pacific, it is only rarely hit by typhoons. Below, you can read an interview with two of our researchers about this extreme weather phenomena, and about the constant struggle of Japan to deal with the forces of nature. 

Between August 22 and 25, you are welcome to attend the thesis presentations of our soon-to-be Masters of Science in Sustainable Development and Earth Science. You can find the schedule below.

Valentin Troll, professor in petrology at the Department of Earth Sciences, has just co-authored the book The Geology of the Canary Islands. Here, you can read the publishers interview with the authors and also access a free chapter of the book! 

In a new study researchers from Sweden and Italy show what happens when magma meets limestone on its way up to the surface. Magma-limestone interaction might help explain why volcanoes like Vesuvius in Italy and Merapi in Indonesia are particularly explosive and, moreover, it helps us to understand another source of natural carbon released to the atmosphere by volcanoes.

This summer, we got a new head of the department. Read this short interview with professor Christopher Juhlin below! 

To reduce our CO₂ emissions, we can implement more effective energy use and replace fossil fuels with renewable energy sources. But we can also stop the CO₂ from entering the atmosphere in the first place. 

The 2016 Award of Excellence for best MSc thesis at the department of Earth Sciences goes to Erik Magnusson! His thesis titled "Temporal evolution of historic mafic lavas from Fogo, Cape Verde" was very well recieved by the jury.

When Fabián Martínez received an e-mail from "the government", he figured it was nothing but spam. After getting a few more e-mails, he started wondering if maybe there was more to it! It turned out he had been selected to represent Uppsala University at the Global Swede prize ceremony hosted by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The Global Swede ceremony is arranged by the Ministries for foreign affairs together with the Ministry of enterprise and innovation, and the Swedish Institute. 

Come join us when our master students in sustainable development present their theses! 

Come listen when our students in the Master of Science programme in earth science present their findings! 

The end of the spring term is approaching, and that means graduation season is here! 

One of the big challenges in the geosciences is how to study the slow geological processes that take thousands or even millions of years. In other words, how can we possibly understand deep time, firmly rooted in our short human perspective on time? 

You can not overstate the importance of planning when it comes to field trips. You can not, however, prepare for everything. Yuliyas Zhuk went to Nepal to do field work in the aftermath of the disastrous earthquakes in April and May 2015, and found herself the middle of a geopolitical crisis.

The weather in month of April is famously unpredictable, with hailstorms, rain and snow intermixed with brilliant sunshine. And yet, we are just as surprised every year... 

What's better than an interview with one of our geologists? well, two interviews with two of our geologists of course!

We need a team of two to four students who wants to represent the Department of Earth Sciences at this years River Rafting event on Valborg, April 30! 

How did the first continental crust form? That is a question that has haunted geologists for decades. Sylvia Berg adressed this question in her dissertation that was successfully defended last week at the department of Earth Sciences.

Will the glaciers on the Tibetan plateau melt? Will there be more rain? Will we face droughts or floods?

Doctor Dahrén is an accomplished mandola player, has mastered the art of analogue photography, and wears the bow-tie at parties. Occassionally, he also climbs volcanoes.

David Budd has studied what he refers to as "rock-DNA". He says lava and ash created during past volcanic eruptions can tell us a lot about the hidden processes that operate within the Earth’s crust, and that eventually lead to an explosive eruption. Importantly, this information can also tell us how the magma plumbing system looks, thousands of meters below the surface of the Earth. With this knowledge, David hopes we can be better prepared to forecast future eruptions, and in the long run, maybe even save lives.

We are proud to say that that one of our many PhD-students, Frederic Wagner, has just received the "Best student paper award" for a presentation at the AGU-meeting last year. 

The prestigious award The Palaeontological Associations "President´s medal" have been presented to Professor Graham Budd, at the department of Earth Sciences.

The SHIpH-project releases a short film about their important research regarding environmental effects of commercial shipping in the Baltic Sea. One way to reduce the impact may be to use scrubbers to clean the emission gases, researchers say.

Ian Snowball, professor at the Department of Earth sciences, was interviewed by the Swedish television about the TREASURE project just before Christmas. The interview and a longer news report was aired on 4 January. 

A new study of the so called firn layers of the Greenland ice sheet, published in Nature Climate Change, shows that the recent atmospheric warming are changing the near-surface firn layers ability to store meltwater, which can result in a faster release of meltwater from the ice sheet.

Today, almost half of the fish we eat come from fish farms, and the trend is increasing. Considering the huge environmental impact of farmed fish and shellfish, like deforested mangrove forests and emissions of chemicals and antibiotics, it is important to take a closer look at how well the environmental certification of seafood really works. And if certification is enough. Malin Jonell and Patrik Rönnbäck from the Department of Earth Sciences, together with Max Troell from Stockholm University write an article about this in the latest issue of the magazine Havsutsikt.