According to previous studies, the study area of Göta Älv river has high risk of landslides along the river banks due to the water flow. Soil erosion can affect the increase of the landslides in an area with unstable soils caused by the increase rainfall. The Swedish climate is getting more vulnerable thus there is a potential increased risk in erosion and landslides due to unpredictable rainfall intensity. This study aims to calculate soil erosion for the Göta Älv river using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) where a comparison of data from remote sensing and meteorological and geological agencies were completed. Two research questions will be addressed, first if the different calculation of the soil erodibility (K) factor affects RUSLE result, and second how much soil erosion occurs and will potentially occur in the future. Factors including rainfall erosivity (R), soil erodibility (K), slope length and steepness (LS), land cover management (C) and conservation practices (P) were analyzed and used as inputs for the RUSLE model. Moreover, three scenarios were applied for the calculation of K factor in order to show how each one can affect the soil erosion result. The scenarios includes the K-scenario 1, 2 and 3, where the values were derived from a world soil database, a table with literature values and estimated field measurements, respectively. Also, three scenarios for R factor were applied for the periods 2000-2018, 2021-2050 and 2069-2098 (R-scenarios 1, 2 and 3) in order to show how future changes to rainfall patterns could affect soil erosion in the Göta Älv river and if it increases the risk of the landslides. The results suggest that the soil erosion varied between 0 – 0.5 t/ha for all the time periods with mean annual soil loss between 20 – 22 t/ha/yr and maximum soil loss between 2158- 5443 t/ha. The difference between the three K factor scenarios is almost 4%, which is pretty low thus, no influence on the soil erosion results. In conclusion, the different calculations of the K factor affected more the estimated maximum soil loss instead of the mean annual soil loss. The different calculations of R factor showed that more than 90% of the total area was not affected by the soil erosion when the soil loss will not be increased considerably in the future due to the rainfall increase.

Snow cover is a fundamental component of the world’s cryosphere and plays an important role in the hydrological cycle. It is significant as a human water resource but can also be an influencing factor in flood and drought generation. Snow cover shows a great variability and understanding local snow cover and its effect on streamflow is therefore of importance. In this study, the effect of snow-cover area (SCA) change, precipitation and temperature on streamflow and its variability during the season, is studied in Tärnaån drainage basin in northern Sweden with the aim to see whether streamflow levels in Tärnaån drainage basin are mainly controlled by SCA change, precipitation and temperature, or if it is necessary to also consider other influencing factors. This aim will be reached by using MODIS snow-cover data products derived from satellite imagery, meteorological and hydrological data for the drainage basin and by visually analysing SCA changes, streamflow, precipitation and temperature data as well as performing a Pearson moment-product correlation analysis between some of these variables. The results show that the effect of SCA changes, precipitation and temperature on streamflow vary over the studied time period which is also shown by differing correlation coefficients for different sub-periods. The strongest correlations are shown between SCA change and streamflow and between temperature and streamflow during sub-period 2 and sub-period 3 respectively. It is further clear that other variables than SCA change, precipitation and temperature influence streamflow and need to be considered to correctly predict streamflow levels in Tärnaån drainage basin.

No description available.

The purpose of the thesis is to review the effect of ongoing climate change and population growth ongroundwater resources of Katari Basin (Bolivian Andes) and the consequence of reduced groundwaterresources on the quality of water. El Alto city, situated in the Katari basin is most vulnerable to thewater shortage because of climate change and high population growth rate. The expected increase intemperature in Bolivian Andes will decrease the availability of water which will ultimately decreasegroundwater recharge. Decrease in annual precipitation and main rainy season precipitation is alsopredicted by the most stations along the Bolivia/Peru border. The region is undergoing an acceleratedglacier recession and the projected climate change will lead to the disappearance of small glacierswhich will eventually decrease the expected water supplies in the future. The increased water demandby the growing population of El Alto will lead to increased groundwater discharge and the balancebetween recharge and discharge of groundwater resources will be affected severely. Consequently,small reduction in groundwater recharge can severely affect the streamflow. Moreover, thegroundwater in Katari Basin contains high levels of Arsenic, Boron, Antimony, Manganese andsalinity while the surface water is also contaminated by mining activities, agricultural runoff anduntreated sewage water.Change in temperature and precipitation will eventually impact the water demand and if the surfacewater will not be enough to fulfil the increasing demand of water then the dependence on groundwaterwill increase. The decline of glaciers can impact the efficiency of groundwater recharge as thedecrease in snowfall will ultimately lead to the shift from more effective recharge agent (snowfall) toless effective recharge agent (rainfall). Although, groundwater is more resilient to climate change thansnow and glaciers but the water resources are especially vulnerable in cities because of not onlyclimate change but also due to the increase in population. The communities living in mountains areless resilient to local change in water availability because the catchment area of the basin is smaller ascompared to the water resources at the lower elevations which receive water from a larger catchmentarea. The inter-Basin water transfer may resolve the water scarcity issues. The complex topographyand steep climatological gradients of mountain regions are difficult to represent in GCMs therefore theGlobal Climate Models (GCMs) show uncertainties in predicting climate change.

Wetlands are among the most productive ecosystems on earth, in particular when it comes to long- term storage of carbon. Their unique conditions of saturated soils and vegetation cover have resulted in them playing an important role in the regulation of atmospheric greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane. However, wetlands have faced high levels of degradation worldwide, often in the form of conversion into other land types for agricultural or other purposes. This has lead to depletion of their carbon stores and turned many of them into sources of atmospheric CO2 . In light of global efforts to keep global warming to below 2°C, various climate frameworks and goals have been devised both on national and supranational levels. For Sweden, one of these frameworks is the goal of being domestically climate neutral by year 2045. In order to reach this goal, in addition to reduction of CO2 emissions, there is a need for increased uptake of CO2 by natural environments. This study applied various data on carbon sequestration for both natural and restored wetlands to eight selected Swedish counties in order to determine whether a large-scale restoration of these environments could yield results with a notable impact on achieving the neutrality goal. Furthermore, sample financial calculations were made to assess whether this strategy is economically possible and, by some extent, societally acceptable. The study found that the scale to which wetland restoration would have to be implemented for results to have a notable impact on 2045 goals is not achievable financially. The use of wetlands have the potential of being an important tool on a longer timescale due to the time frame needed for wetland restoration and accumulation of soil organic carbon, whereas for increasing uptake of CO2 for the purpose of reaching 2045 goals, they will have a negligible impact. Rather, the study emphasises the need for conservation and management of healthy wetlands, as well as rewetting of drained soils to reduce their CO2 emissions. Keywords: wetland restoration, Swedish climate neutrality goals, soil organic carbon, carbon sequestration.

Paleoglaciological reconstructions based on glacial geological and geomorphological evidence areused to constrain and test numerical models of ice sheet extent and dynamics. The MAGIC-DMLresearch project (“Mapping, Measuring and Modelling Antarctic Geomorphology and Ice Change, inDronning Maud Land”) is trying to reconstruct the timing and pattern of ice surface elevation changessince the mid-Pliocene across western Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica. This reconstructionwill work as the basis for testing and constraining ice sheet numerical models to improve climateunderstanding in Antarctica. This master thesis project contributes to MAGIC-DML by adopting a high-resolution remote sensingbasedmapping of glacial geomorphology and ice sheet surface structures, for a coast-inland transectincluding the Ahlmannryggen, Borgmassivet, and Kirwanveggen nunatak ranges. The primary aimof this study is to investigate the glaciology and paleoglaciology of the study area, in order to mapevidence for a former thicker ice sheet on nunatak slopes and plateaus, and patterns of ice flow of thecurrent ice sheet surface. Meso-scale glacial landforms and ice flow features were identified andmapped using different remote sensing data sets: the LANDSAT Image Mosaic of Antarctica(LIMA), DigitalGlobe Worldview-2 (WV02) and Worldview-3 (WV03) panchromatic andmultispectral images, the Radarsat Antarctica Mapping Project (RAMP) Ice Surface Digital ElevationModel (DEM) version 2, and the Bedmap2 datasets. The satellite imagery was analysed in a multistepprocedure using ArcGIS, including image processing and mosaicking, visual feature recognition,and mapping. The identification of some key landforms required the adoption of assumptions, forexample in order to distinguish till cover from regolith or boulders derived from rock fall from glacialerratics. Present-day ice flow directions were traced according to the distribution of ice surfacefeatures such as blue ice areas, crevasse fields, longitudinal surface structures, and supraglacialmoraines. The occurrence of till cover and erratics above the present-day ice surface on somenunataks slopes and plateaus was considered indicative of a thicker ice sheet in the past. Paleo-iceflow directions were inferred from the proximity of locations to the closest ice streams, since thatlatter have been active since the Oligocene. Geomorphological and ice flow direction maps were obtained and used to infer the paleoglaciologyof the three nunatak ranges. Ice sheet thinning reconstructions reveal a minimum ice surface loweringof ~400–500 m in the Ahlmannryggen and Borgmassivet nunatak ranges, of ~300 m north of theKirwanveggen escarpment and of ~100 m on the edge of Amundsenisen polar plateau. The paleo-icesheet flow pattern probably differed from today, because ice flow has locally been influenced by anincreased topographical complexity, due to the thinning of the ice sheet and the emerging of nunatakoutcrops. According to dating studies conducted elsewhere in DML, the inferred ice surface decreasewas probably initiated in the Late Pliocene/Early Pleistocene, and continued after the Last GlacialMaximum interruption across the coastal sector of the ice sheet. The reliability of derived paleo-icesheet reconstructions, based on the mapping and interpretation of landforms, needs to be verified infuture field studies. This master thesis project has identified 34 well-suited locations for the samplingof erratic boulders and bedrock surfaces for cosmogenic nuclide (CN) surface exposure dating duringthe MAGIC-DML 2017/18 field season. The chronology derived from CN dating and fieldverification of the presented mapping will permit the delineation of ice sheet surface elevations astargets for ice sheet modelling.

Paleoglaciological reconstructions based on glacial geological and geomorphological traces are used to test and constrain numerical models of ice sheet extent and dynamics. MAGIC-DML (“Mapping, Measuring and Modelling Antarctic Geomorphology and Ice Change in Dronning Maud Land”) project is trying to reconstruct the timing and pattern of ice surface elevation changes since the mid-Pliocene across western Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica. The study area has sparse pre-existing field data and considerable ice sheet model uncertainties. A remote sensing-based mapping of glacial geomorphology on nunataks and structures on the ice sheet surface is presented for a coastal-inland transect including Ahlmannryggen, Borgmassivet, and Kirwanveggen using high-resolution WorldView imagery. The primary aim of the study is to map traces of a thicker ice sheet on nunatak slopes that were formerly partly or entirely covered during ice surface highstands. Panchromatic and multispectral images were analysed in a multi-step procedure using ArcGIS, including image processing and mosaicking, visual feature recognition, and mapping. The identification of key landforms (such as till veneers and erratic boulders) required the adoption of some assumptions to differentiate, for example, till from regolith. Where patterned ground was mapped, we infer a presence of till rather than regolith because subglacial erosion is more likely to produce finer material than subaerial weathering. Very large boulders on plateau surfaces are mapped as erratics because they could not have been delivered by slope processes to local highpoints. However, the reliability of derived paleo-ice sheet reconstructions is limited by both the necessary assumptions and the absence of crosscutting relationships between landforms. At face value, the presence of till cover and erratics above the present ice surface on some nunataks indicate thicker ice in the past. According to the geomorphological mapping of the transect, in Kirwanveggen the former ice elevation was at least 100 m higher, in Borgmassivet the ice lowered more than 600 m and in Ahlmannryggen the ice was at least 300 m thicker. Additional mapping of structures on the ice sheet surface is used to yield target field routes for upcoming field season(s) to potential cosmogenic nuclide (CN) sampling locations. The chronology derived from CN dating will permit the delineation of ice sheet surface elevations as targets for ice sheet modeling. / MAGIC DML

The concept of Ecosystem services was developed mainly in the 1980’s, but one of the most important milestones in that process was publication of Millennium Ecosystem Assessment in 2005 which divided ecosystem services into four different types: provisioning, regulating, cultural and supporting. Ecosystem services are being degraded in many cases all over the world. Integrating the concept into the planning process may help to improve this situation. Sweden and Stockholm have long tradition in spatial planning, but there is still a lot to improve when it comes to sustainable management of ecosystem services. One of the reasons is that there is a lack of holistic perspective in planning and systems thinking might be a tool to decrease this deficiency. The aim of the project is to identify the most representative and significant ecosystems in Stockholm County and explain the dynamics within the system of maintenance of ecosystem services on the both regional and local level of planning in Stockholm County. The research has been conducted using literature review as well as semistructured interviews with the most significant stakeholders who are involved in physical planning in Stockholm County both on regional and municipal level. During the interviews five Causal Loop Diagrams (CLDs) where developed. The study concludes that four most representative ecosystems in Stockholm County are: Lake Mälaren, Local green structures, Green wedges and Rural areas. They provide various types of ecosystem services, but the most important and strategic ones seem to be regulating and cultural types since they were the ones easily (and in biggest number listed by the interviewees). The research furthermore concludes that the biggest threats for the identified ecosystems are connected with development of the County, growing population and pressure from the building industry as well as the climate change. Physical planning in Stockholm County has the opportunity to counteract these threats by implementing the concept of ecosystem services planning process and due to collaborative work between municipalities. It is also important to distinguish between ecosystem services per se and what is a requirement for the provision of ecosystem services. In the future this qualitative research could be supplemented with a more detailed/quantitative studies which would contribute to better estimation the results of different planning decisions and include the money factor which have not been researched in this study.

This project attempts to gather more information to link the rise in the topography during the Miocene in Eastern Africa with climate changes that lead to the aridification of the area and ultimately to the split between chimpanzees and hominids. The candidate analysed a series of sensitivity experiments simulated with a climate model EC-Earth by changing the topography in Easter Africa and comparing with control run (pre-industrial-era) to assess the impact of the changes in the superplume in Africa and consequent topography on the climate and environment. The results show that the model data are in accordance with the changes proposed by the literature review which is largely based in paleoclimatological proxies. The evolution in the precipitation regimes in the sensitive experiments follow a parallel evolution with the changes in the topography in the area originated by the African superswell. It is possible to observe in the analysis how the climate has evolved from the Middle-Miocene period to a more arid one in the Pliocene(ultimately represented by the pre-industrial control simulation) and how the changes in the precipitation patterns are related to the main topographic features developed. / <p>The presentation of the thesis was done remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. </p>

Farmers living in the Kenyan highlands are exposed to the risk of being affected by landslides and they are vulnerable because of lack of resources. Vulnerability can be reduced by increasing knowledge and awareness of the risk. This thesis aims to increase knowledge of landslide-related problems. The first objective is to investigate topsoil development and to assess land cover changes in landslide scars over time (paper I). Topsoil samples were taken in previously investigated landslide scars, and analysed for chemical and physical characteristics. The results show that soil has recovered well during the 20-30 years that have passed. However, there are still higher levels of total soil organic carbon in reference topsoil than in scar topsoil. The short time for plants to produce organic material, in combination with low pH, which inhibits decomposing microorganisms, may be the explanation for this. Previous research, including photographs of the landslide scars, forms the basis for comparison over time regarding land cover changes. The results show changes in land cover where forests have been replaced by cultivated land and thereafter by plantations of Eucalyptus sp. trees or cultivation. Secondly, this study investigates the applicability of GIS-based analysis for landslide assessments in this part of the World (paper II). Commonly used data were collected and analysed in ArcGis 10.0. Documentation and field measurements from historical landslides were used as reference. The results show that (1) much information was unavailable, (2) the resolution of the Digital Elevation Model (DEM; 30 m) was too coarse to capture relevant morphometric terrain parameters and (3) land use changes were difficult to map because of low quality historical air photos, and because of lack of information about the precise timing of landslide events. Hence, landslide prone areas could not be recognised. However, we could with reasonable certainty identify sensitive conditions: landslides are most likely to occur in slopes with a gradient of 25° or more, within 80 m from roads, and during the rainy seasons. / Endogena och exogena krafter påverkar varaktigt vårt jordklot och geografiska förhållanden avgör vilken typ av förändring som kan komma att ske. Extrema naturhändelser som påverkar människor negativt kallas naturkatastrofer. I bergig terräng kan massrörelser äga rum och i den här studien behandlas en typ av massrörelse, jordskred. Jordskred sker över hela jorden och beror på försvagade mothållande krafter i förhållande till den gravitation som påverkar material i sluttningar. De vanligaste utlösande faktorerna är jordbävningar eller långvarig nederbörd som gör jorden vattenmättad, vilket leder till minskad skjuvhållfasthet. En ökad befolkning på jorden ökar kravet på matproduktion vilket har lett till att sluttningar i perifera områden har börjat utnyttjas för odling. Detta gäller i allra högsta grad i utvecklingsländer, där befolkningen i flera fall har dubblerats på kort tid. På grund av begränsade ekonomiska tillgångar, på allt från nationell till individuell nivå, påverkas människor i dessa områden hårt om en naturkatastrof inträffar. De har ofta svårt att hantera situationen, att anpassa sig till densamma eller att återhämta sig efteråt vilket gör dessa människor sårbara. Människors sårbarhet kan minskas bland annat genom ökad kunskap, eller genom att öka utsattas medvetenhet om de faror de exponeras för. Det övergripande syftet med den här studien är därför att öka kunskapen kring jordskredsrelaterade problem i ett tätbefolkat tropiskt höglandsområde. Studieområdet är beläget strax söder om ekvatorn i de centrala delarna av Kenya i den sydöstra delen av Aberdare Range. Området, som omfattar delar av Muranga och Nyeri Counties, karaktäriseras av ett undulerande landskap med korta, branta sluttningar som på grund av sina produktiva jordar dessutom är tätbefolkade. Sluttningarna i området bär spår av historiska såväl som nutida jordskredsärr. Artikel 1: För att öka kunskapen kring förändringar i marken efter att ett jordskred skett i området undersöks i den här studien hur återhämtningen i marken skett över längre tid tid, sett ur ett jordbruksperspektiv. Dessutom har marktäckningen i skreden dokumenteras. Studien skall ge svar på följande frågor (1) Hur ser återhämtningen ut i jordar i området efter att ett jordskred skett? (2) Hur har marktäckningen förändrats i skredärren över tid? För att undersöka jordens beskaffenhet togs jordprover i sju jordskredsärr och i anslutande omgivande mark. Kemiska och fysiska parametrar analyserades i laboratorium i Nairobi. Resultaten jämfördes med resultat från tidigare undersökningar i samma skredärr gjorda på 1980- och 1990-talet. Resultaten visar på en varierande positiv och negativ utveckling över tid. Jämfört med referensvärden från omgivande mark är dock skillnaderna efter &gt; 20 år små, utom vad gäller organiskt kol som fortfarande visar lägre värden i skreden än i omgivande mark. Samtal med jordskredsdrabbade bönder i området i februari 2013, litteraturstudier och dokumentation i form av fotografier har gett en bild av hur marktäckningen och vegetationsutvecklingen i skredärren har sett ut över tid. Resultaten visar att markanvändningen har förändrats och att skogsmark ersatts av odlingsmark och därefter återigen planterats med, till stor del, eukalyptusträd. Studien bidrar med ökad kunskap om hur mark i området återhämtar sig efter att ett jordskred skett och hur marktäckningen förändrats över tid. Artikel 2: I andra delar av världen har kartor utformats för att visualisera skredkänsliga områden med hjälp av GIS. I Kenya är användningen av GIS fortfarande begränsad, då verktyget är dyrt och kräver data av hög kvalitet. I den här studien undersöks i vilken omfattning GIS är möjligt att använda för bedömning av skredrisk i ett tropiskt höglandsområde. Frågan är om relevanta data finns att tillgå och om data är av tillräckligt hög kvalité för att göra en tillförlitlig analys? Eller kan man på andra sätt identifiera de viktigaste orsakerna till jordskred och därmed medvetandegöra människor om riskabla faktorer? Parametrar som ofta använts i tidigare utförda undersökningar antogs även i denna studie. Data insamlades, dels från myndigheter i Kenya, dels genom fältarbete och dels från kommersiella företag. Vi har erhållit och arbetat med följande data; (1) en digital höjdmodell (30 m upplösning), (2) Google Earth (högupplösta bilder från Digital Globe, 2012), (3) nederbördsdata, (4) flygfoton från 1959, (5) beskrivningar från historiska jordskred från vetenskapliga artiklar, (6) fältobservationer och (7) samtal med bönder och jordbrukskunnig personal från distriktet. Datahanteringen och analyserna genomfördes i ArcGis 10.0. Beräkning av morfometriska faktorer som sluttningsvinklar, sluttningsriktningar, sluttningars konvexitet och konkavitet utfördes med hjälp av höjdmodellen. Markanvändning, vägar och vattendrag karterades i Google Earth och satellitbilder från 2012. Dessutom karterades skog i ett begränsat område utifrån flygbilder från 1959. Avstånden mellan befintliga skredärr och vägar och vattendrag uppmättes i satellitbilden, varvid en bedömning också gjordes av huruvida skreden troligen var orsakade av väg- eller vattendragsrelaterade faktorer. Analyserna jämfördes med uppmätta värden från 36 tidigare dokumenterade skred i området. Jämförelsen visade att höjdmodellen inte var tillräckligt noggrann för att fånga de branta sluttningar, sluttningsriktningar och konkaviteter som de flesta gamla skred utbildats i. Avsaknaden av information om när avskogningen skett och när de gamla skreden ägt rum gör att det inte heller går att använda markanvändningsförändringar som en parameter i vidare analyser av känsliga områden. Utifrån parametrar som kunde karteras i satellitbilder och med hjälp av information som samlades in under fältarbetet kan vi visa att jordskred i undersökningsområdet mest sannolikt sker under regnperioderna på sluttningar med en lutning på ≥ 25°, och som ligger nära en väg. Resultaten ökar dels medvetenheten kring datakvalitet vid analys av jordskredskänsliga områden i tropiska högländer, dels kunskapen om under vilka förhållanden skred kan ske.