Ongoing research projects

Adapting to temperature extremes in a changing climate: Past trends and future scenarios (ADATES)

Termometer marking 40 degrees

Taking Sweden as a case-in-point, this project aims to address the following questions, of key relevance for ensuring a socially just adaptation to future temperatures: (1) which groups are most vulnerable to non-optimal and extreme temperatures? (2) what is the interplay between environmental drivers, societal processes, adaptation strategies and the resulting health impacts? and (3) how can adaptation strategies mitigate the health impacts of plausible future temperatures?

Description of the project 

Aim 1: Past climate variability and vulnerability. To study the acclimatization process to different levels of warming across space and vulnerability to non-optimal and extreme temperatures in Sweden.
Aim 2: Past and ongoing adaptation. To study the interplay between adaptation to non-optimal and extreme temperatures and societal processes leveraging the comparison between Sweden and Spain, a North and a South European country.
Aim 3: Future scenarios of adaptation to temperatures. To develop scenarios of socio-sanitary impacts from plausible future temperatures in Sweden, accounting for societal and adaptation processes.​

Leap in Swedish freshwater monitoring for water supply risk mitigation

Water cart in a medow

This project, led by researchers from Lund University in collaboration with Stockholm University, focuses on climate-related risks to water supply in southern Sweden and aims to: (i) Identify areas exposed to increased risk of climate impacts on water resources and water supply, ii) Develop new techniques for detailed monitoring of groundwater and surface water, and iii) developing a decision support system for artificial groundwater recharge to inform current and future water supply management.

TRANSCEND (Transformational and Robust AdaptatioN to water Scarcity and ClimatE chaNge under Deep uncertainty)

A tap unused for such a long period of time that a spider web created around it

Worldwide, water resources management is increasingly challenged by water scarcity and climate change, which can trigger and aggravate other ecological (e.g. pests) and socioeconomic threats (e.g. commodity price fluctuations) via feedback loops and cascading impacts across systems. In this context, planning for the future is rife with uncertainties for which conventional decision-making methods and policies are inadequate. The objective of TRANSCEND is to identify and catalyze the adoption of Transformational Adaptation Policies (TAP) to water scarcity, including innovative allocation systems and economic instruments, that are robust and adaptable to uncertainty and change, while simultaneously achieving equitable and sustainable economic growth and welfare.

To this end, TRANSCEND will develop a groundbreaking ecosystem of innovation that combines three key pillars: (i) a knowledge network for stakeholder engagement and knowledge sharing, (ii) an actionable modeling suite that integrates interdisciplinary socio-ecological science and ensemble forecasting to guide TAP design, and (iii) an accounting and monitoring toolbox that supports implementation and enforcement of TAP in practice.

This project is coordinated by the University of Salamanca (Spain) and involves 15 partner organizations from 13 different countries. Giuliano Di Baldassarre will be leading WP3. Along with his research team at UU, he will develop socio-hydrological models and methods for assessing water policies in several cases studies around the world.

  • Duration of the project: 2023-2026
  • Funding: 5.3 million EUR (602,000 EUR to the Department of Earth Sciences at Uppsala university).
  • People involved: Giuliano Di Baldassarre (UU) and Sina Khatami (UU). 

More information in the EU website

Extreme temperatures, adverse health effects and future scenarios

Woman on a bench with a fan

Anthropogenically driven climate change is increasing the frequency of temperature extremes. This project aims to uncover how societal processes influence adaptation to non-optimal and extreme temperatures leveraging historical data and building future scenarios. This will support practitioners and stakeholders in developing recommendations and adaptation strategies. This project will contribute to data acquisition and will be carried out in collaboration with Karolinska Institutet.

  • Duration of the project: 2023-2024
  • Funding: 200,000 SEK
  • People involved: Elena Raffetti (UU)

 More information on Karolinska Institutet's website

Living as a Survivor: A Study of the Political, Social and Economic Integration of Tsunami Survivors

How are we affected by traumatic experiences and sudden grief? Why do some people go through life with an ability to recover from such experiences while others do not?
 
This project aims to unravel the mystery of what makes us resilient to traumatic experiences and sudden grief. If we can understand how we are affected by traumatic events and sudden grief, and what makes us resilient to such events, then we can also understand what possible measures can lead to increased welfare after trauma and grief. If we can develop such measures as society, it can be of great benefit. This project gives us the prospects to do just that.
 
The project works with anonymized data from existing registers. The main data source is data on the approximately 16,030 Swedish survivors of the tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia in 2004, as well as data on the relatives of those who perished (approximately 530 Swedes). We link this data to administrative data from the National Board of Health and Welfare and the population register at Statistics Sweden, and combine it with a survey. The combination of data sources, and a real large-scale crisis as an event, allows us to study the short- and long-term effects of the tsunami on a wide range of social, health, economic and political outcomes. This unique opportunity opens up for identifying what makes us resilient.
 
The aim is to understand how the surviving Swedes have fared as a group, and why some have fared better than others. We also want to understand how the relatives of those who perished have fared as a group, as these individuals were exposed to sudden grief.
 
The project provides research of high scientific quality and has good possibilities to be of use in the design of measures that lead to increased welfare after trauma and grief.
 
In summary, the knowledge from this project can contribute to increased resilience to traumatic events that affect the individual, but also to sudden large-scale crises that affect us as a society. By understanding what makes us resilient to traumatic events, we simply have the opportunity to better prepare for future crises. In the future, this knowledge may contribute to increased preparedness and security for the civilian population by offering relevant measures when the crisis comes. In this way, the project intends to contribute with important knowledge for a multifaceted crisis preparedness and a strengthened civil defense.
  • Duration of the project: 2022 - 2026
  • Funding: 5 Million SEK (The Swedish Research Council)
  • People involved: Lina M. Eriksson (PI, UU), post doctor Kalle Ekholm (UU), collaborating researcher Kåre Vernby (UU-SU).

SPARC: Stakeholder participation for climate adaptation – data crowdsourcing for improved urban flood risk management

Urban flooding (Danube)

SPARC is a 4-year research project funded by FORMAS on cloudburst flood risk and its management. The project involves a trans-disciplinary project group including Karlstad University, Lund University, Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, City of Malmö, Karlstad municipality, and City of Gothenburg.

The objectives of the project are:

  • To develop systematic management of crowdsourced data for rain and flood characteristics, and to enhance resolution and accuracy of existing official rain data from SMHI and Swedish municipalities.
  • To validate the significance of high-resolution input data on the performance of two hydraulic models: LISFLOOD and HEC-RAS.
  • To increase the knowledge of flood damage to the built environment and to establish a method for systematic and secure damage data collection.
  • To assess and communicate the use of small-scale flood adaptation measures as a way for property owners to be part of a space-for-water approach to reduce flood risk for themselves and their communities.

I-CISK

A tree in a lamp

The I-CISK project will innovate existing climate services by integrating the local data and knowledge, perceptions and preferences of users with research based scientific knowledge. I-CISK will develop next-generation climate services that follow a social and behaviourally informed approach for co-producing climate services that meet the climate information needs of citizens, decision makers and stakeholders at the spatial and temporal scale relevant to them. Thus, I-CISK will contribute towards a sustainable European economy, lifestyle, environmental protection and resource use, resilient to climate change and compatible with achieving climate neutrality.

Development of risk assessment methods for cloudburst damages

In the field of disaster risk management, risks are often seen as a combination of hazard and vulnerabilities. Applied on cloudbursts, the hazard is represented by rainfall amount, its intensity and the resulting water level, while the vulnerability is determined by the assets in the area affected by the cloudburst, such as buildings and infrastructure. Geographical factors such as the shape of the terrain play a role because the topography determines where and how fast the water flows. Prior research on rainfall damages in Sweden mainly focused on the hazard but in this project the vulnerabilities of the built environment will be in focus.

The proposed project aims to develop methods for assessment of damages and costs caused by cloudbursts in Sweden and its results can be used as support in decision-making processes on risk reducing and climate adaptation measures.

When it rains it pours: Biogeophysical drivers and societal responses to compound natural hazard events in Sweden

Cloud burst

Climate change increases the risk of extreme natural hazard events, such as wildfires, extreme precipitation events and floods. Society is generally well prepared to effectively respond to single natural hazard events, but less is known about the ability to cope with compound natural hazard events, that is, several events occurring simultaneously or sequentially. This project aims to: (i) develop an integrated map of natural hazard events in Sweden, (ii) explore causal chains of compound events, and assess social vulnerabilities in exposed areas, and (iii) assess collective capacities to achieve effective collaboration in planning and response to mitigate the effects of these compound events.

  • Duration of the project: 2021-2023
  • Funding: 3.4 Million SEK (The Kamprad Family Foundation for Entrepreneurship, Research & Charity)
  • People involved: Johanna Mård (PI, UU), Daniel Nohrstedt (UU), Örjan Bodin (SRC)

Method for prioritizing and assessing the benefits of climate adaptation measures – the right action in the right place and in the right order

Today's transport system needs to be adapted to the increased risks related to weather related events already seen today, and not least expected risks due to climate change. Adaptation is needed both in short, medium and long-term perspectives. Reliable impact relationships about climate-related risks are crucial both in the planning of new installations and in the adaptation of existing installations.
 
Recently a pre-study was conducted by Andersson-Sköld et al. (2019) including a review of potential methods and models that could be used to identify, assess, and evaluate climate-related risks and risk mitigation measures. At that time, there was no method that could be used for the whole process required from risk identification to prioritization of actions. Therefore, as a first step, a conceptual approach was developed, including the cause effect chain from hazard identification to evaluation of possible measures.
The aim of the current project is to concretize, validate and develop the conceptual approach into a GIS-compliant approach for the identification and assessment of risks, measures and for prioritization of mitigation measures. This is done through case studies.
The results of the analyses shall be used to prioritize risk mitigation measures, i.e. to assess the relevance of implementing a measure, when in time it should be implemented and to assess which action is most relevant to implement. The result will be a framework for application to prioritization of climate adaptation within the STA as well as adaptable and applicable also in other sectors.
  • Duration of the project: 2020-2023
  • Funding: 3 M SEK (Trafikverket (Planera)
  • People involved: Yvonne Andersson-Sköld, Lina Nordin, Erik Nyberg, Khaldoon Mourad and more at VTI and a reference group including experts at Trafikverket, SGI, and Chalmers Geotechnic, that will be expanded through the course of the project.

Magmatic processes and pre-eruptive magma storage conditions at volcanoes

Illustration of the processes occurring in magma pockets

We seek to understand the processes occurring in magma pockets, depth of magma storage or emplacement and the conditions that trigger volcanic eruptions. These petrological, geochemical and structural aspects of magmatic systems contribute to interpreting volcano deformation and volcanic seismicity that are employed for monitoring of volcanic hazards. Our main field areas include Cape Verde, where Fogo volcano is active and erupted in 2014-2015, La Palma, Canary Islands, which erupted in 2021, and Iceland, where regular volcanic activity occurs.

Duration: 2018-2025
Funding: CNDS, VR, Wallenberg, faculty funding
People involved: Abigail Barker, Steffi Burchardt

High pressure microfluidics for environmental analyses

Microscope - close view

High pressure analytical chemistry is used for detecting chemical hazards in environmental chemistry. Today, such analyses are made at central laboratories and personnel needs to taker sample, administrate them and wait for results from the central laboratory. We intend to build technology that enables portable analytical systems suitable for environmental monitoring. This will ease decision making, allow for more samples to be tested and reduced samples to be validated at central laboratories. Examples of use are leaching of heavy metals and arsenide from deposits or contaminated grounds in flooding.

ERC Project HydroSocialExtremes: Unraveling the mutual shaping of hydrological extremes and society

Droughts and floods affect more than 100 million people per year, and cause thousands fatalities and dramatic losses. Humans respond and adapt to the impacts of floods and droughts, while influencing (deliberately or not) their frequency, magnitude and spatial distribution. The dynamics resulting from this interplay, i.e. both response and influence, remain still poorly understood, and current risk assessment methods do not explicitly account for them. Thus, while risk reduction strategies built on these methods can work in the short-term, they can generate unintended consequences in the long-term. HydroSocialExtremes aims to unravel the mutual shaping of society and hydrological extremes, and develop new methods for planning risk reduction measures.

Last modified: 2023-04-19
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