Published 15 November 2022 Swedish, previously uncut forests have been converted to plantations at a steady rate since 2003. In a new study, MERGE-researcher Anders Ahlström and his research team find that old forests have been cut and lost by ∼1.4% per year since 2003, and at this rate they will disappear by the 2070s. Natural ecosystems that have experienced limited direct human impact are threa

https://www.merge.lu.se/article/old-unprotected-forests-might-disappear-2070s-sweden - 2025-04-15

Published 22 November 2022 MERGE is one of the partners in CLIMB-FOREST - a new Horizon Europe project that will investigate how the climate is affected by different ways of managing the forest. There is a lot of expertise in each individual country, but there is no coordinated overview of Europe’s forests and forest health. A major new EU project, CLIMB-FOREST, will create an overview of European

https://www.merge.lu.se/article/how-climate-affected-forest-management-new-project-help-guide-european-forestry - 2025-04-15

Published 13 January 2023 Tipping elements are regions that are vulnerable to climate change and capable of sudden drastic changes. However, it is not well understood to what degree tipping of one element in the system can influence other tipping elements. In this study, the researchers establish long-distance connections (teleconnections) between tipping elements using network analysis – thus app

https://www.merge.lu.se/article/network-analysis-new-approach-uncover-long-distance-connections-between-climate-tipping-elements - 2025-04-15

Published 20 January 2023 SMHI, the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, is one of the partners in MERGE with many active scientists. SMHI has recently released a podcast that guides the listener through the interesting subject of climate research in practice. In the public debate, we often here the that we need to listen to the climate scientists. But what do climate scientists actu

https://www.merge.lu.se/article/new-podcast-smhi-klimatforskarna - 2025-04-15

By cheryl [dot] sjostrom [at] cec [dot] lu [dot] se (Cheryl Sjöström) - published 8 February 2023 Photo: Cheryl Sjöström With a rainy and blustery Lund as backdrop outside the windows of the Elite Hotel Ideon, the ClimBEco winter meeting 2023 offered a warm and welcoming atmosphere for one and a half days this January. The main focus of this meeting was to learn more about the ongoing research of

https://www.merge.lu.se/article/climbeco-winter-meeting-2023-summary - 2025-04-15

Published 14 March 2023 Emissions from shipping traffic are monitored using physical/chemical analysis through a “sniffer” on the Great Belt Bridge in Denmark. The photo shows the sniffer intake. Photo: Jörg Beecken. Within the activities of the EU HORIZON 2020 project SCIPPER, recordings of NOx (nitrogen oxides) emissions from vessels were remotely collected and analysed. The data originated from

https://www.merge.lu.se/article/half-ships-well-above-emission-limits-nitrogen-oxide - 2025-04-15

Published 20 March 2023 The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released a synthesis report summarizing the reports of recent years. Markku Rummukainen, Sweden's contact person for the IPCC and also Professor of Climatology at the Center for Environmental and Climate Science at Lund University and a member of MERGE, answers five question about the new report. What does the ne

https://www.merge.lu.se/article/markku-rummukainen-new-ipcc-report-near-term-action-crucial - 2025-04-15

Published 27 March 2023 Not all air pollution are created by humans. As the global average temperature rises, harmful emissions from plants increase and more desert dust is dispersed in the atmosphere. Researchers from the University of Gothenburg ande MERGE-members, among others, warn that this leads to increased health risks. Climate change does not only mean that the global average temperature

https://www.merge.lu.se/article/deteriorating-air-quality-warmer-world - 2025-04-15

Published 19 April 2023 Photo: Mattias Hallquist Dense urban areas amplify the effects of higher temperatures, due to the phenomenon of heat islands in cities. Large investments in the electricity network will be necessary to cool us down during heatwaves and keep us warm during cold snaps, according to a new study by researchers from the University of Gothenburg and Lund University. The study pre

https://www.merge.lu.se/article/cities-will-need-more-resilient-electricity-networks-cope-extreme-weather - 2025-04-15

By therese [dot] ek [at] cec [dot] lu [dot] se (Therese Ek) - published 1 June 2023 Luisa Ickes with a colleague on the first days of the expedition. As the ice-breaker Odin set sail on the 7th of May, MERGE-researchers Luisa Ickes, Lovisa Nilsson and Nicolas Faure were on it! The purpose of the expedition is to get to the Arctic Ocean at the beginning of the melting season. The researchers within

https://www.merge.lu.se/article/greetings-polar-expedition-artofmelt-2023 - 2025-04-15

Published 19 May 2014 Professor Torben R. Christensen has a comment published in the international top science journal Nature. In the comment, he looks back at the scientific work in the field of methane flux research since more than 20 years, and worries about the fact that Arctic methane emissions remain almost as uncertain as they were then, and points out that the research on methane fluxes ne

https://www.merge.lu.se/article/torben-r-christensen-comments-nature - 2025-04-15

Published 31 August 2023 The vegetation in Europe has not always looked like it does today. Just as the ice sheet retreated in northern Europe and the population increased, man began to affect the landscape to a greater extent by deforestation. At first on a small scale to facilitate hunting, for example, and then more systematically to make way for agriculture. A new study shows that one of the c

https://www.merge.lu.se/article/deforestation-changed-climate-europe-during-bronze-age - 2025-04-15

Published 18 September 2023 Polar bears followed the expedition in the Arctic. Photo: Julia Asplund Ice sheets, snow and the ocean as far as the eye can see. No shipping vessels or people in sight, and only polar bears for company. The icebreaker Oden sails between Svalbard and Greenland, and this spring, doctoral student Lovisa Nilsson, and a member of MERGE, joined the ship to study the transiti

https://www.merge.lu.se/article/research-trip-arctic-was-followed-polar-bears - 2025-04-15

By cheryl [dot] sjostrom [at] cec [dot] lu [dot] se (Cheryl Sjöström) - published 2 October 2023 Kristineberg marine center. Photo: Cheryl Sjöström. In September 13-15, 2023 the ClimBEco summer meeting entitled “Double up and double down: linking the global climate and biodiversity crises to bring about fast, fair and transformative change” was held. My research background is not in marine science

https://www.merge.lu.se/article/reflections-climbeco-summer-meeting-2023 - 2025-04-15

Published 16 June 2014 ClimBEco is a research school funded by the strategic research areas MERGE and BECC, as well as the Faculty of Science in Lund. In ClimBEco 22 PhD-students was accepted for the years 2013-2015 and for the next period 2014-2016 starting in August they are 22. The annual summer meeting will take place at Falsterbo Kursgård 27-28 August. On day one, special focus will be placed

https://www.merge.lu.se/article/climbeco-graduate-research-school-summer-status - 2025-04-15

Published 10 October 2023 All particles that reach the atmosphere cause different chemical reactions. Particles come partly from natural sources such as volcanic eruptions and forest fires, and partly from pollution and emissions. Aerosol researcher Johan Friberg studies particles at high altitudes. He fears that the global increase in forest fires could have a significant impact on the ozone laye

https://www.merge.lu.se/article/increase-forest-fires-may-damage-crucial-ozone-layer - 2025-04-15

By anna_maria [dot] erling [at] cec [dot] lu [dot] se (Anna Maria Erling) - published 30 October 2023 Vad är på gång i Sverige och omvärlden inom miljö- och klimatområdet och hur påverkar det myndigheter, företag, intresseorganisationer och forskning? Vilket behov av kunskap finns det och vilka framtidsfrågor behöver adresseras? Det var temat när forskare och koordinatorer från forskningsmiljöerna

https://www.merge.lu.se/article/arligt-mote-och-omvarldsspaning-med-merges-och-beccs-referensgrupp - 2025-04-15

By therese [dot] ek [at] cec [dot] lu [dot] se (Therese Ek) - published 20 November 2023 On 15-17 May 2024, SMHI, the strategic research areas MERGE and BECC, and the Bolin Centre for Climate Research invite you to the second Swedish Climate Symposium in Norrköping. A symposium for increased scientific understanding of climate change and its environmental and societal consequences. Climate change

https://www.merge.lu.se/article/now-you-can-submit-your-contribution-swedish-climate-symposium - 2025-04-15

Published 13 December 2023 More equitable solutions for climate adaptation and resilience strategies for the most vulnerable are needed, says new climate report. Image: Future Earth Human mobility in climate risk areas is increasing. The loss of mountain glaciers is accelerating. Reforming food systems can contribute to more equitable climate action. These are some of the latest insights from clim

https://www.merge.lu.se/article/ten-new-insights-climate-science - 2025-04-15

Published 9 January 2024 MERGE-member Deliang Chen, world leading climate researcher and Professor of Physical Meteorology at the University of Gothenburg, has been elected International Science Council Fellow. It is the highest honor awarded by the ISC to those championing science in and for society. – I am deeply honored to be recognized by the ISC as a global voice for science. It is humbling t

https://www.merge.lu.se/article/deliang-chen-new-isc-fellow-recognized-promoting-public-impact-science - 2025-04-15