<p>Our understanding of the climate of northern Sweden during the late Holocene is largely dependent on proxy-data series. These datasets remain spatially and temporally sparse and instrumental series are rare prior to the mid 19th century. Nevertheless, the glaciology and paleo-glaciology of the region has a strong potential significance for the exploration of climate change scenarios, past and future. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the 19th and 20th century climate in the northern Swedish mountain range. This provides a good opportunity to analyse the natural variability of the climate before the onset of the industrial epoch. Developing a temporal understanding of fluctuations in glacier front positions and glacier mass balance that is linked to a better understanding of their interaction and relative significance to climate is fundamental in the assessment of past climate.</p><p>I have chosen to investigate previously unexplored temperature data from northern Sweden from between 1802 and 1860 and combined it with a temperature series from a synoptic station in Haparanda, which began operation in 1859, in order to create a reliable long temperature series for the period 1802 to 2002. I have also investigated two different glaciers, Pårteglaciären and Salajekna, which are located in different climatic environments. These glaciers have, from a Swedish perspective, long observational records. Furthermore, I have investigated a recurring jökulhlaup at the glacier Sälkaglaciären in order to analyse glacier-climate relationships with respect to the jökulhlaups. </p><p>A number of datasets are presented, including: glacier frontal changes, in situ and photogrammetric mass balance data, in situ and satellite radar interferometry measurements of surface velocity, radar measurements, ice volume data and a temperature series. All these datasets are analysed in order to investigate the response of the glaciers to climatic stimuli, to attribute specific behaviour to particular climates and to analyse the 19th and 20th century glacier/climate relationships in northern Sweden.</p><p>The 19th century was characterized by cold conditions in northern Sweden, particularly in winter. Significant changes in the amplitude of the annual temperature cycle are evident. Through the 19th century there is a marked decreasing trend in the amplitude of the data, suggesting a change towards a prevalence of maritime (westerly) air masses, something which has characterised the 20th century. The investigations on Salajekna support the conclusion that the major part of the 19th century was cold and dry. The 19th century advance of Salajekna was probably caused by colder climate in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, coupled with a weakening of the westerly airflow. The investigations on Pårteglaciären show that the glacier has a response time of ~200 years. It also suggests that there was a relatively high frequency of easterly winds providing the glacier with winter precipitation during the 19th century.</p><p>Glaciers have very different response times and are sensitive to different climatic parameters. Glaciers in rather continental areas of the Subarctic and Arctic can have very long response times because of mass balance considerations and not primarily the glacier dynamics. This is of vital importance for analyzing Arctic and Subarctic glacier behaviour in a global change perspective. It is far from evident that the behaviour of the glacier fronts today reflects the present climate.</p>

<p>This work is about finding an appropriate modelling complexity for a mass-balance model for phosphorus in Lake Vänern, Sweden. A statistical analysis of 30 years of water quality data shows that epilimnion and hypolimnion have different water quality and should be treated separately in a model. Further vertical division is not motivated. Horizontally, the lake should be divided into the two main basins Värmlandssjön and Dalbosjön. Shallow near shore ares, bays and areas close to point sources have to be considered as specific sub-basins if they are to be modelled correctly.</p><p>These results leads to the use of a model based on ordinary differential equations. The model applied is named LEEDS (Lake Eutrophication Effect Dose Sensitivity) and considers phosphorus and suspended particles. Several modifications were made for the application of the model to Lake Vänern. The two major ones are a revision of the equations governing the outflow of phosphorus and suspended particle through the outflow river, and the inclusion of chemical oxygen demand (COD) into the model, in order to model emissions from pulp and paper mills. The model has also been modified to handle several sub-basins.</p><p>The LEEDS model has been compared to three other eutrophication models applied to Lake Vänern. Two were simple models developed as parts of catchment area models and the third was a lake model with higher resolution than the LEEDS model. The models showed a good fit to calibration and validation data, and were compared in two nutrient emission scenarios and a scenario with increased temperature, corresponding to the green house effect.</p>

In order to improve our knowledge on the current state and variability of the Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance (SMB), a 27-year simulation (1979-2005) has been performed with the coupled atmosphere-snow regional model MAR. This simulation reveals an increase in the main factors of the SMB which are, on the one hand, the snowfall (+ 1.6 ± 1.8 km3 yr-1) in winter and on the other hand, the run-off (+ 4.2 ± 1.9 km3 yr-1) in summer. The net effect of these two competing factors leads to a SMB loss rate of – 2.7 ± 3.0 km3 yr-1, which has a significance of 87%. The melt extent derived from the passive microwave satellite data since 1979 also shows this trend. The melt water supply has increased because the Greenland ice sheet has been warming up by + 0.09 ± 0.04 °C yr-1 since 1979. This warming comes from a uniform increase of downward infra-red radiation which can not be explained by the natural variability. These changes result very likely from the global warming induced by human activities. As a result, it seems that: i) increased melting dominates over increased accumulation in a warming scenario, ii) the Greenland ice sheet has been significantly losing mass since the beginning of the 1980's by an increasing melt water run-off as well as by a probable increase of iceberg discharge into the ocean due to the "Zwally effect" (the melt water-induced ice sheet flow acceleration) and iii) the Greenland ice sheet is projected to continue to lose mass in the future. The Greenland ice sheet melting could have an effect on the stability of the thermohaline circulation (THC) and the global sea level rise. On the one hand, increases in the freshwater flux from the Greenland ice sheet (glacier discharge and run-off) could perturb the THC by reducing the density contrast driving it. On the other hand, the melting of the whole Greenland ice sheet would account for a global mean sea level rise of 7.4 m.

In order to improve our knowledge on the current state and variability of the Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance (SMB), a 27-year simulation (1979-2005) has been performed with the coupled atmosphere-snow regional model MAR. This simulation reveals an increase in the main factors of the SMB which are, on the one hand, the snowfall (+ 1.6 ± 1.8 km3 yr-1) in winter and on the other hand, the run-off (+ 4.2 ± 1.9 km3 yr-1) in summer. The net effect of these two competing factors leads to a SMB loss rate of – 2.7 ± 3.0 km3 yr-1, which has a significance of 87%. The melt extent derived from the passive microwave satellite data since 1979 also shows this trend. The melt water supply has increased because the Greenland ice sheet has been warming up by + 0.09 ± 0.04 °C yr-1 since 1979. This warming comes from a uniform increase of downward infra-red radiation which can not be explained by the natural variability. These changes result very likely from the global warming induced by human activities. As a result, it seems that: i) increased melting dominates over increased accumulation in a warming scenario, ii) the Greenland ice sheet has been significantly losing mass since the beginning of the 1980's by an increasing melt water run-off as well as by a probable increase of iceberg discharge into the ocean due to the "Zwally effect" (the melt water-induced ice sheet flow acceleration) and iii) the Greenland ice sheet is projected to continue to lose mass in the future. The Greenland ice sheet melting could have an effect on the stability of the thermohaline circulation (THC) and the global sea level rise. On the one hand, increases in the freshwater flux from the Greenland ice sheet (glacier discharge and run-off) could perturb the THC by reducing the density contrast driving it. On the other hand, the melting of the whole Greenland ice sheet would account for a global mean sea level rise of 7.4 m.

Traditionally, textiles were dried outdoors with the wind and the sun enhancing the drying process. Tumble dryers offer a fast and convenient way of drying textiles independent of weather conditions. Tumble dryers, however, consume large amounts of electrical energy. Over 4 million tumble dryers are sold each year in Europe and a considerable amount of energy is used for drying of clothes. Increasing energy costs and the awareness about environmental problems related to a large energy use has increased the demand for dryers with better energy efficiency. The aim with this thesis is to show how to improve the energy efficiency of domestic tumble dryers. Two types of tumble dryers are available on the market today: the open cycle dryer and the closed cycle dryer. In the open cycle dryer room air is heated and led into the drying drum. The exhaust air leaves the dryer and is often evacuated outside the building. In the closed cycle dryer an internal airflow is recirculated inside the dryer. When the hot air has passed through the drying drum it is led through a heat exchanger where the water vapour is condensed before the air is heated again and led to the drum. The heat exchanger is cooled with room air. Drying at low temperature has been shown to reduce the specific energy use for an open cycle tumble dryer. In Paper I a correlation between the specific energy use, the drying time and the heat supply was established for a specific load by using the exhaust air temperature. It was shown that the total drying time and specific energy use could be predicted from data during the first hour of the process. This result indicated a possibility to create a control system that makes it possible for the user to choose between low energy use or short drying time. The focus of Paper II is to reduce the energy use for a closed cycle tumble dryer. Energy and mass balances were established in order to determine feasible improvements. Energy and mass flows in the dryer indicated that reducing leakage from the internal system of the dryer gave the largest reduction of specific energy use. Insulation of the back cover of the dryer and opening the internal system during the falling drying rate period also gave positive results on the energy use. In total a feasible reduction of the energy use of approximately 17% was calculated.

Our understanding of the climate of northern Sweden during the late Holocene is largely dependent on proxy-data series. These datasets remain spatially and temporally sparse and instrumental series are rare prior to the mid 19th century. Nevertheless, the glaciology and paleo-glaciology of the region has a strong potential significance for the exploration of climate change scenarios, past and future. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the 19th and 20th century climate in the northern Swedish mountain range. This provides a good opportunity to analyse the natural variability of the climate before the onset of the industrial epoch. Developing a temporal understanding of fluctuations in glacier front positions and glacier mass balance that is linked to a better understanding of their interaction and relative significance to climate is fundamental in the assessment of past climate. I have chosen to investigate previously unexplored temperature data from northern Sweden from between 1802 and 1860 and combined it with a temperature series from a synoptic station in Haparanda, which began operation in 1859, in order to create a reliable long temperature series for the period 1802 to 2002. I have also investigated two different glaciers, Pårteglaciären and Salajekna, which are located in different climatic environments. These glaciers have, from a Swedish perspective, long observational records. Furthermore, I have investigated a recurring jökulhlaup at the glacier Sälkaglaciären in order to analyse glacier-climate relationships with respect to the jökulhlaups. A number of datasets are presented, including: glacier frontal changes, in situ and photogrammetric mass balance data, in situ and satellite radar interferometry measurements of surface velocity, radar measurements, ice volume data and a temperature series. All these datasets are analysed in order to investigate the response of the glaciers to climatic stimuli, to attribute specific behaviour to particular climates and to analyse the 19th and 20th century glacier/climate relationships in northern Sweden. The 19th century was characterized by cold conditions in northern Sweden, particularly in winter. Significant changes in the amplitude of the annual temperature cycle are evident. Through the 19th century there is a marked decreasing trend in the amplitude of the data, suggesting a change towards a prevalence of maritime (westerly) air masses, something which has characterised the 20th century. The investigations on Salajekna support the conclusion that the major part of the 19th century was cold and dry. The 19th century advance of Salajekna was probably caused by colder climate in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, coupled with a weakening of the westerly airflow. The investigations on Pårteglaciären show that the glacier has a response time of ~200 years. It also suggests that there was a relatively high frequency of easterly winds providing the glacier with winter precipitation during the 19th century. Glaciers have very different response times and are sensitive to different climatic parameters. Glaciers in rather continental areas of the Subarctic and Arctic can have very long response times because of mass balance considerations and not primarily the glacier dynamics. This is of vital importance for analyzing Arctic and Subarctic glacier behaviour in a global change perspective. It is far from evident that the behaviour of the glacier fronts today reflects the present climate.

This work is about finding an appropriate modelling complexity for a mass-balance model for phosphorus in Lake Vänern, Sweden. A statistical analysis of 30 years of water quality data shows that epilimnion and hypolimnion have different water quality and should be treated separately in a model. Further vertical division is not motivated. Horizontally, the lake should be divided into the two main basins Värmlandssjön and Dalbosjön. Shallow near shore ares, bays and areas close to point sources have to be considered as specific sub-basins if they are to be modelled correctly. These results leads to the use of a model based on ordinary differential equations. The model applied is named LEEDS (Lake Eutrophication Effect Dose Sensitivity) and considers phosphorus and suspended particles. Several modifications were made for the application of the model to Lake Vänern. The two major ones are a revision of the equations governing the outflow of phosphorus and suspended particle through the outflow river, and the inclusion of chemical oxygen demand (COD) into the model, in order to model emissions from pulp and paper mills. The model has also been modified to handle several sub-basins. The LEEDS model has been compared to three other eutrophication models applied to Lake Vänern. Two were simple models developed as parts of catchment area models and the third was a lake model with higher resolution than the LEEDS model. The models showed a good fit to calibration and validation data, and were compared in two nutrient emission scenarios and a scenario with increased temperature, corresponding to the green house effect.

Threats from man-made radionuclides include waste issues, increasing number of power plants, underground bomb testing, nuclear weapons, and “dirty bombs”. Until recently the ionizing radiation protection system focused on protecting humans with an implied protection of biota. However, goals of sustainable development and precautionary principles for human activity are leading to an inclusion of plant and animal populations in the protection system. From this perspective, the present thesis examines wetlands that function as sinks for the radionuclide 137Cs, and describes calculated and measured radiation doses to residing biota. Also, multi-level effects from exposure to low-dose rate ionizing radiation were studied. Accumulation of 137Cs after the Chernobyl accident fallout was studied in a riparian wetland with a mean activity concentration of 1 200 kBq m-2 in Sweden (paper I). A mass balance budget of 137Cs showed that the sedimentation of new material was balanced by the decay process of 137Cs in parts of the wetland (paper I). Frogs were identified as organisms of concern in this wetland. Internal radiation doses, based on whole body measurements of frogs, were estimated to be lower than external doses based on soil samples (paper II). Current dose models for biota resulted in a wide range of doses depending on different levels of conservatism in the models. Therefore, in situ measurements with frog-phantoms were found to provide valuable dose information (paper III). Measured doses using frog-phantoms were lower than calculated doses using several dose models. Although a dose conversion factor by FASSET was found to be useful for comparison with measurements in the field. A higher dose was measured to the phantom surface in comparison to inner parts, i.e. the sensitive skin of frogs receives the highest dose. Estimated and measured radiation doses to frogs were below suggested dose rate limits. Low-dose rate 137Cs exposure of eggs and tadpoles from three amphibian species, Scaphiopus holbrookii, Bufo terrestris, and Rana catesbeiana, showed no increased levels of strand breaks in red blood cells, and no effects on development, survival or growth up to metamorphosis (paper IV). The ecological factor larval density had a stronger effect on metamorphic traits than low-dose rate radiation. Higher levels of strand breaks were detected after an acute dose in R. catesbeiana than after a chronic dose supporting a dose rate limit for protection of amphibians rather than a dose limit (paper IV). Based on current knowledge, frogs in the contaminated wetland are probably not exposed to radiation doses from 137Cs that are harmful for the population. However, variations in sensitivity between populations and species, and adaptive responses have been shown for amphibians exposed to other stressors. This supports further research on effects of chronic low-dose rates of ionizing radiation on amphibians.

This thesis focuses on the glaciation of the Late Saalian period (160 -140 ka) over Eurasia. The Quaternary Environment of the Eurasian North (QUEEN) project determined that during this period, the Eurasian ice sheet was substantially larger than during the entire Weichselian cycle and especially that of the Last Glacial Maximum (21 ka, LGM). The Late Saalian astronomical forcing was different than during the LGM while greenhouse gas concentrations were similar. To understand how this ice sheet could have grown so large over Eurasia during the Late Saalian, we use an Atmospherical General Circulation Model (AGCM) coupled to an oceanic mixed layer and a vegetation model to explore the influence of regional parameters, sea surface temperatures (SST) and orbital parameters on the surface mass balance (SMB) of the Late Saalian Eurasian ice sheet. At140 ka, proglacial lakes, vegetation and simulated Late Saalian SST cool the Eurasian climate, which reduce the ablation along the southern ice sheet margins. Dust deposition on snow has the opposite effect. The presence of a Canada Basin ice-shelf during MIS6 in the Arctic Ocean, does not affect the mass balance of the ice sheet. According to geological evidence, the Late Saalian Eurasian ice sheet reached its maximum extent before 160 ka. Northern Hemisphere high latitude summer insolation shows a large insolation peak near 150 ka. The simulated climate prior to 140 ka is milder and ablation is larger along the southern margins of the Eurasian ice sheet although the mean annual SMB is positive. The Late Saalian Eurasian ice sheet may have been large enough to generate its own cooling, thus maintaining itself over Eurasia. / Joint PhD Degree between Stockholm University and Université Joseph FourierAt the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 3: Submitted. Paper 4: Submitted. Paper 5: Manuscript.

Studies of Himalayan glacial response to climatic forcing are few and a more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between the two is needed. This has been highlighted by recent controversies over future glacier change in this area. This study has therefore reviewed if there is a connection between glacier mass balance indexes and precipitation pattern in the Everest region. 111 glaciers were mapped in ArcGIS through remote sensing. Glacial total area, accumulation area as well as snowline altitudes and aspect were mapped. From this, the two mass balance indexes Accumulation Area Ratio, AAR and Area-Altitude Balance Ratios, AABR were derived. The intention was to search for patterns. In addition to this, an expedition to parts of the study area was conducted in March to April 2011. Hundreds of photographs of snow stratigraphy, debris cover ice snouts, accumulation etc were taken. The expedition also led to an understanding of the environment and of the glaciers which was helpful for the assessment of the remote sensing results. No pattern in glacier size, ELA, AAR or AABR was found that suggests a connection between mass balance and local precipitation pattern. The glaciers instead appear to be more sensitive to elevation. The largest glaciers and highest AAR and AABR are found at high - although not the highest - elevations.