News & Features

Large amounts of often polluted dredged sediments are being dumped in the Baltic Sea – even though it is banned, shows a new study by researchers from Stockholm University (the Department of Environmental Science among the departments involved), and the Swedish Geotechnical Institute published recently in Frontiers in Marine Science. The study uncovered inconsistencies in granting exemptions for sediment dumping …

Many of the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that end up in the ocean boomerang back to shore after they are re-emitted into air with the crashing of waves, according to a study by researchers at Stockholm University published today in Environmental Science & Technology. The findings suggest that this sea-to-air transport process is a significant contributor to PFAS air …

Twelve researchers at the Department of Environmental Science have secured in excess of 40 million SEK (€3,9 million) in the latest Swedish Research Council (VR) and the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development (Formas) funding rounds, attracting 41,2 million SEK (€4 million) for 10 projects. In addition, Professor Ilona Riipinen was awarded 8,75 million SEK (€853.000) by The Wallenberg Foundations …

Researchers Matthew Salter, Ilona Riipinen and Christoph Humborg from the Department of Environmental Science are behind a successful infrastructure funding application to the Swedish Reseach Council (VR) on the development of a new atmospheric science laboratory at Askö, a marine research station located within the Stockholm archipelago. This funding is the latest milestone in the establishment of a multidisciplinary centre …

On a crisp morning in October 2019, some of Europe’s most prominent climate scientists gathered inside Geovetenskapens hus at Frescati Campus, Stockholm University, to attend the inaugural meeting about FORCeS (Constrained Aerosol Forcing for Improved Climate Projections), a pan-European research project with the ambitious goal to tackle the uncertainty of aerosol forcing on climate and one the first projects of …

Together with senior scientific advisers from around the world, Stockholm University has signed a statement to governments on climate change ahead of the COP26 climate summit. On October 31, the COP26 climate summit began in Glasgow, where countries from all over the world gathered to find ways to reduce climate-affecting emissions. Ahead of the climate summit, 38 senior scientific advisers …

Without wastewater treatment, diseases and infections would ravage our modern world. At the same time, wastewater treatment is something we often take for granted. What actually happens down the pipelines when the water we flush leaves the house? “Danger down the Drain” is the pilot episode in the podcast series  Insights to Science produced and hosted by PhD student Roxana Cremer at …

The air around us is filled with tiny, invisible particles called aerosols. These particles affect the radiative balance of our planet in a number of ways, both directly, by scattering and absorbing light, and indirectly, by influencing cloud properties. Traditional methods to study cloud formation involve artificially activating aerosol particles or short-term direct sampling of clouds. Now a new observation …

Persistent mobile (PM) substances are being recognized as serious threats to the safety of water resources. In many cases, drinking water supplies have to be purified using expensive technologies because of contamination by PM substances. As part of this effort, a five-year wide-reaching European Research project, Zero Pollution of Persistent, Mobile substances, ZeroPM, has been launched. Fifteen partners are involved …

Current rates of plastic emissions globally may trigger effects that we will not be able to reverse, argues a new study by researchers from Sweden, Norway and Germany published on July 2nd in Science. According to the authors, plastic pollution is a global threat, and actions to drastically reduce emissions of plastic to the environment are ”the rational policy response”. …

Researchers at the Department of Environmental Science and Department of Meteorology (MISU) at Stockholm University together with international colleagues have recently launched the new Horizon 2020 project CRiceS (Climate relevant interactions and feedbacks: the key role of sea ice and snow in the polar and global climate system). The CRiceS project aims to contribute knowledge for better understanding of the …

Professor Christina Rudén from the Department of Environmental Science has been elected member of the European Commission’s high-level expert group whose mission is to help implement the new EU’s chemicals strategy for Sustainability published on 14 October 2020. She is one of eight representatives from the international scientific community. The expert group, officially known as High Level Roundtable on the …