Den allmänna fysiska aktiviteten har stadigt minskat i stora delar av världen. Aktiva skoltransporter, till vilka gång och cykel räknas, visar på en liknande trend. Samtidigt kan fysisk aktivitet bland annat motverka olika former av cancer, hjärt- och kärlsjukdomar samt fetma och övervikt. Det har visats att det finns ett samband mellan socioekonomiska variabler och grad av fysisk aktivitet. Socioekonomi kan således vara en viktig påverkande faktor i frågan om hälsa och välbefinnande, både för vuxna och barn. Statistiska analyser, i kombination med geografisk metodik och rumslig analys är användbart när ojämlikhet studeras då socioekonomiska skillnader ofta är platsbunden och hänger samman med den byggda miljön. Studien visar att en nätverksanalys tillsammans med en friktionsekvation kan användas i arbetet med förändringar av den fysiska miljön för att skapa säkrare vägar där barn och vuxna vill gå och cykla till skola, arbete och fritidsaktiviteter. Verktyget som arbetats fram i studien kan exempelvis vara användbart för kommuner, länsstyrelser och stadsplanerare i arbetet för att främja en mer aktiv livsstil. Fokus ligger i första hand på att underlätta samhällsplaneringsarbete i syfte att gynna användandet av aktiva transportsätt för barn och ungdomar. Vidare visar studien att barn från familjer med högre inkomst tenderar att transportera sig med bil framför aktiva transportsätt. Även gällande vårdnadshavarnas födelseland och utbildningsnivå syns skillnader i val av transportsätt. Rörande utbildningsnivå finns indikationer på att aktiva transportsätt väljs bort när utbildningsnivån ökar. Angående födelseland verkar barn vars vårdnadshavare är födda utanför Europa välja bort bilen och istället använda sig av aktiva transportsätt, vilket är det motsatta gällande barn vars vårdnadshavare är födda i Sverige. Kopplingen mellan socioekonomiska faktorer och transportsätt förefaller vara förknippad till resurser i Stockholms kommun. Studien visar på hur en harmonisering mellan olika aktörer såsom forskare, myndigheter och kommuner skulle kunna leda till förbättrade förutsättningar för aktiva transporter och i förlängningen till ett mer hållbart samhälle ur ett socialt, ekonomiskt och miljömässigt perspektiv. / General physical activity has steadily declined in large parts of the world, concurrently active school transport, e.g. walking and cycling, shows a similar trend. The decrease in the amount of physical activity is urgent since it can counteract various forms of cancer, cardiovascular disease as well as obesity. It has been shown that there is a relationship between socioeconomic variables and degree of physical activity. Socioeconomics can thus be an important influencing factor regarding health and well-being, both for adults and children. Statistical analysis, in combination with geographical methodology and spatial analysis, is useful when studying inequality as socio-economic differences often are local and related to the built environment. The study shows that a network analysis together with a friction equation can be used in the work of changing the physical environment to create safer roads where children and adults want to walk and cycle to school, work and leisure activities. The tool developed in the study can be useful for municipalities, county councils and city planners in their work to promote a more active lifestyle. The focus is primarily on facilitating community planning work with the aim of promoting the use of active modes of transport for children and adolescents. Furthermore, the study shows that children from families with higher incomes tend to transport themselves by car over active modes of transport. Differences in the choice of mode of transport are also apparent regarding the country of birth and the level of education. Regarding education level there are indications that active modes of transport are neglected when the education level increases. Concerning the country of birth, children whose guardians are born outside Europe appear not to use the car as a mode of transport, and instead use active modes of transport. On the contrary, children whose guardians are born in Sweden tend to have the car as their primary mode of transport. The connection between socio-economic factors and modes of transport seems to be linked to resources in Stockholm municipality. Moreover, this study shows how a harmonization between different actors such as researchers, authorities and municipalities could lead to improved conditions for active transport and, by extension, to a more sustainable society from a social, economic and environmental perspective.

The dramatic landscape of Norway has a long history of different events during the Phanerozoic. During the Caledonian orogeny, the basement became fractured, and during the warm climate in the Mesozoic, the fractures became deeply weathered. These fracture systems later became eroded, forming the main structures for valleys. The landscape today is characterized by an elevated plateau with deeply incised valleys. Several theories discuss when and how the landscape became elevated. The main theory for this suggests uplift events of the plateau during the Tertiary. The uplifts resulted in a later elevated landscape with erosional plateaux in different distinct levels. This often referred to as the Palaeic relief. The uplift events also followed formation of incised fluvial valleys. During the Quaternary, glaciers partly reshaped these valleys. This study aims to investigate the shape of these valleys, and how much they have been reshaped during the glaciations. The study further aims to investigates if the identified shapes within the valleys can be connected to pre-glacial landforms. To investigate this, satellite images and topographic maps have been studied. A digital terrain model (10 m resolution) were used to create topographic cross sections across eight valleys in southern Norway. This study identifies possible pre-glacial forms and fluvial generations within five of the investigated valleys. Three of the valleys show a gradual transition from a broad, glacial, U-shape near the coast to become a narrower, V-shaped, fluvial valley further inland. The analysis also shows that the joints and fractures affect the width of the valleys which has affected the amount of glacial erosion. The results of this study clearly show that old fluvial valley remains is common, even within these major glacial valleys of southern Norway.

We are currently speeding towards significant changes in the climate of the earth which, if ignored, will lead to severely altered climatic conditions with serious consequences for several species and ecosystems. The polar regions especially are very sensitive to climate changes, and the changes these regions undergo affect the climate on a global scale. To slow the global warming, it is crucial that we understand earth’s climatic and environmental history, and how it responds to changes in the climate. Palaeoclimatic archives hold much information of past climate variations stored in proxies that can be analysed to understand past environments. This study focuses on loess as one such proxy to analyse grain sizes, carbon storage and organic matter in a sequence from Adventdalen, Svalbard. The study has been conducted using grain size analysis and loss on ignition (LOI) as main methods to reconstruct late Holocene climate changes in the region. The results have provided an overview of temperature oscillations, many of which coincide with main climatic events of the past, and have been used to estimate the depositional ages of the different layers of the sequence. / Dagens klimatförändringar går allt snabbare mot en framtid med svårt omkastade klimatförhållanden som medför allvarliga konsekvenser för flera arter och ekosystem. Polarområdena är särskilt känsliga för klimatförändringar, och de förändringar som sker här påverkar klimatet på global nivå. En avgörande faktor för att bromsa den globala uppvärmningen är att vi förstår jordens klimathistoria och hur jorden reagerar på förändringar i klimatet. Paleoklimatiska arkiv innehåller mycket information om klimatvariationer förr. Sådan information finns lagrad i material som kan analyseras för att vidare förstå miljöer från förr. Den här studien fokuserar på lössjord som ett sådant material för att analysera kornstorlekar och organiskt material i en lössekvens från Adventdalen i Svalbard. Studien har genomförts genom att använda en kornstorleksanalysator och loss on ignition (LOI) som huvudsakliga metoder för att rekonstruera klimatförändringar under yngre Holocen i området. Resultaten har givit en överblick av temperaturförändringar, av vilka flera sammanfaller med större förflutna klimathändelser, och har använts för att göra en uppskattning av åldrar på de olika lagren av sekvensen.

The investigation to understand the subsurface and its features has long been asubject of interest for various fields, including fields such as archaeology and infras-tructure projects. However, traditional excavation methods are often costly and time-consuming. In their place, alternative techniques such as borehole drilling, which isitself expensive, and ground-penetrating radar (GPR), which produces a good butdistorted image, have gained popularity. Nonetheless, the limitations of each methodimpede them from meeting the requirements of subsurface exploration. This Mas-ter’s thesis introduces an approach combining these two methods to overcome theirlimitations and enhance their accuracy to understand the subsurface.This thesis aims to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of integratingborehole drilling and GPR for subsurface exploration. Specifically, the integrationof borehole with GPR-profiles will be examined to enhance their practicality andaccuracy, meaning that this thesis will investigate the utilization of borehole datato update and adjust GPR-profiles, thereby providing more precise and informativedata for further analysis.The findings of this work indicate that combining borehole drilling and GPR-profiling to improve and update the accuracy of the GPR-profiles is entirely feasibleand results in a substantially improved subsurface exploration capability. Further,the outcomes of this thesis suggest that the integrated approach can generate amore precise representation of the underground structure. Ultimately, the proposedintegration of borehole drilling and GPR-profiling presents a promising approach toenhance the accuracy and efficiency of subsurface exploration and has the potentialto be valuable in a wide range of fields.i

The seasonal retreat of sea ice in the austral spring and summer around Antarctica has a significant effect on phytoplankton activity, mainly due to light availability, meltwater input of dissolved iron, and surface water stratification. Phytoplankton produce dimethylsulfoniopropionate, the precursor to the climate-cooling gas dimethyl sulphide, which is ventilated to the atmosphere and oxidised to methane sulphonic acid (MSA). MSA is preserved in firn and ice cores from both the Arctic and Antarctica. Attempts to reconstruct sea ice conditions in different regions of Antarctica with the help of MSA records from ice cores have had varying success, highlighting the often-regional relationship between ice core MSA and sea ice. This study uses MSA records from three firn cores and one ice core drilled on Fimbul Ice Shelf in Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica, to investigate the relationship to satellite-derived sea ice extent (SIE) in five sectors of the Southern Ocean. Chlorophyll-a concentrations, serving as a measure of phytoplankton biomass, are correlated to the MSA records to further test the MSA – SIE relationship. The firn cores are named after the ice rise where they were drilled: Kupol Ciolkovskogo (KC), Kupol Moskovskij (KM), and Blåskimen Island (BI). The ice core is named S100. The results show that there is a significant, yet weak positive correlation between summer MSA in the KM core and winter SIE in the Weddell Sea Sector. There is also a significant, weak positive correlation between summer MSA in the BI core and summer chlorophyll-a concentrations in the Weddell Sea Sector. There are no significant correlations between MSA in the low-accumulation KC or S100 cores and SIE or chlorophyll-a concentrations. Furthermore, the two high-accumulation core sites in this study, BI and KM, do not display the same relationship between MSA and SIE or MSA and chlorophyll-a, which is likely due to very local wind patterns. Surface winds on Fimbul Ice Shelf are easterly or north-easterly which results in a more coastal influence at the KM site compared to the BI site, likely introducing the differences observed when comparing the two MSA records. More research aimed at evaluating the meteorological conditions that prevail at the core sites is needed to further assess the use of the MSA records from the high-accumulation ice rise cores BI and KM as proxies for SIE in the Weddell Sea region, but in their current state these MSA records are not suitable to use for sea ice reconstruction. / Havsisen kring Antarktis smälter årligen under vår- och sommarmånaderna, vilket har en betydande inverkan på fytoplankton eftersom isen reglerar tillgången till solljus, det viktiga näringsämnet järn samt vattenkolumnens stabilitet. Fytoplankton producerar ämnet dimetylsulfid som oxideras till metansulfonsyra (MSA) i atmosfären. MSA kan sedan transporteras till Antarktis där det avsätts och bevaras i snön. Genom att borra upp iskärnor kan man erhålla ett daterat MSA-arkiv, som i flera fall har använts för att försöka rekonstruera havsisens utbredning. Dessa försök har haft varierande framgång, vilket beror på att förhållandet mellan MSA och havsis ofta är regionalt betingat. I den här studien har MSA-arkiven från tre firnkärnor och en iskärna tagna från Fimbulisen i Dronning Maud Land, Östra Antarktis, använts för att undersöka förhållandet till havsisutbredning i Antarktiska Oceanen. Dessutom har klorofyll-a, ett sätt att mäta fytoplanktonens biomassa i havet, också korrelerats till MSA-arkiven för att ytterligare testa förhållandet mellan MSA och havsis. Firnkärnorna är döpta efter platsen de borrades på: Kupol Ciolkovskogo (KC), Kupol Moskovskij (KM) och Blåskimen Island (BI). Iskärnan kallas S100. Resultaten av korrelationsberäkningarna påvisar en signifikant men svagt positiv korrelation mellan sommar-MSA i KM-kärnan och havsisutbredning under vintern i Weddellhavet. Dessutom finns det en signifikant, svag korrelation mellan sommar-MSA i BI-kärnan och klorofyll-a under sommaren i Weddellhavet. Inga signifikanta korrelationer mellan MSA i KC- eller S100-kärnorna och havsis eller klorofyll-a kan påvisas. Det faktum att MSA-arkiven från BI- och KM-kärnorna inte uppvisar samma förhållande till havsisutbredning eller klorofyll-a kan förklaras av de lokala vind- och transportmönstren som är aktiva på olika delar av Fimbulisen. Marknära vindar är ostliga eller nordostliga i det här området vilket resulterar i ett högre inflytande av kustliga vindar vid KM jämfört med vid BI. Detta är förmodligen tillräckligt för att påverka MSA-arkiven att uppvisa olika korrelationsmönster till havsis och klorofyll-a. För att fortsatt utreda lämpligheten av MSA-arkiven från KM och BI för att rekonstruera havsisutbredning i Weddellhavet behövs mer forskning kring de specifika meteorologiska förhållanden som är aktiva på Fimbulisen.

Mars’ climate has undergone many massive changes over the course of it’s lifetime. In order toestablish how Mars lost the vast majority of its water, we must be able to understand how Marsis losing its atmosphere today. By understanding the current escape rates of H and D and theprocesses that control them, we can extrapolate back in time to model the escape rates under pastconditions. By using the Exospheric General Model (EGM) developed by researchers at LATMOS,Sorbonne University, I have simulated the density profiles and escape rates of H, D, related isotopesand particles due to collisions with hot oxygen particles in the Martian exosphere at the currentepoch at mean solar activity. By adding H and D to the model and implementing changes to theprogram between simulations, I have improved the accuracy of the escape rate of these particlesfrom Mars in the EGM. While my results for H, H2 and HD reflect what has been observed fromin-situ Martian Satellite, MAVEN, future work is needed to include the solar wind interaction for Din the model, as it has been shown to be significant and has been left out of this work.

Global warming is caused by the human induced increase of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) in the atmosphere. GHG emissions need to be reduced, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil sources ceased to mitigate global warming. Energy production and use is a main contributor to fossil sourced emissions in Europe. Sweden has a high part renewable power production but not completely, to have a 100% renewable power production by 2040 is a goal set by Swedish government. By 2045 Sweden also plans to have net zero emissions nationwide and afterwards negative emissions of CO2, to reduce global warming and reach the Paris agreement of maximum 1.5°C global warming level it is urgent and vital to create Carbon (C) sinks and to reach neutral and even negative emissions within the energy sector. Negative emissions can be reached in Combined Heat and Power plants (CHP) by Bio Carbon Capture and Storage (Bio-CCS). Demand on wood chips and bio-energy fuel is increasing on the European continent. A local source of biofuel might contribute to shorter transports, a local C-sink, security in supply and a way to meet both the increasing competition of fuel and the environmental political targets. Here we investigate the available land for local production of bioenergy forests in Södertälje and the amount of energy possible to produce from that. Using a detailed biotope database over the municipality, Biotopdatabasen, and a Geographical Information System (GIS) based approach 5 scenarios of potential land areal for planting of energy forests in the municipality have been analysed. Different criteria selections in biotopes, grasslands and historical crop fields, and land use, used or un-used, builds the scenarios; 1. All available grasslands, 1010 ha, 2. All available grasslands on earlier crop fields, 815 ha, 3. Unused available grassland on earlier crop field, 300 ha, 4. Available land on earlier crop fields, including forestry, 1715 ha, 5. Unused available land on earlier crop fields, 366 ha. Gross annual energy yields from energy forest in the scenarios were estimated to; 1. 46,2-65,1 GWh/y, 2. 37,3-52,5 GWh/y, 3. 13,7-19,3 GWh/y, 4. 78,4-110,5 GWh/y, 5. 16,7-23,6 GWh/y. The yield from all these scenarios will, in the expected gross normal yield scenario, match the energy produced today by fossil fuels in the local CHP and heating plant (0.64%, 2020) yields 0.69-3.96% of total energy produced. Scenarios 3 and 5 are considered likely scenarios but the effect on spreading pathways and thereby biodiversity needs to be assessed, using old crop fields lowers the risk of harming important biodiversity and possibly help restore C sink in soils.

Abstract A wildfire is an uncontrollable fire in an area of combustible fuel that occurs in the wild or countryside area. Wildfires are becoming a deadly and frequent event in Europe due to extreme weather conditions. In 2018, wildfires profoundly affected Sweden, Finland, and Norway, which were not big news before. In Norway, although there is well–organized fire detection, warning, and mitigation systems, mapping wildfire risk areas before the fire occurrence with georeferenced spatial information, are not yet well-practiced. At this moment, there are freely available remotely sensed spatial data and there is a good possibility that analysing wildfire hazard areas with geographical information systems together with multicriteria decision analysis (GIS–MCDA) and frequency ratio models in advance so that subsequent wildfire warning, mitigation, organizational and post resilience activities and preparations can be better planned.  This project covers eight counties of Norway: Oslo, Akershus, Østfold, Vestfold, Telemark, Buskerud, Oppland, and Hedmark. These are the counties with the highest wildfire frequency for the last ten years in Norway. In this study, GIS-MCDA integrated with analytic hierarchy process (AHP), and frequency ratio models (FR) were used with selected sixteen–factor criteria based on their relative importance to wildfire ignition, fuel load, and other related characteristics. The produced factor maps were grouped under four main clusters (K): land use (K1), climate (K2), socioeconomic (K3), and topography (K4) for further analysis. The final map was classified into no hazard, low, medium, and high hazard level rates. The comparison result showed that the frequency ratio model with MODIS satellite data had a prediction rate with 72% efficiency, followed by the same model with VIIRS data and 70% efficiency. The GIS-MCDA model result showed 67% efficiency with both MODIS and VIIRS data. Those results were interpreted in accordance with Yesilnacar’s classifications such as the frequency ratio model with MODIS data was considered a good predictor, whereas the GIS-MCDA model was an average predictor. When testing the model on the dependent data set, the frequency ratio model showed 72% with MODIS & VIIRS data, and the GIS-MCDA model showed 67% and 68% performance with MODIS and VIIRS data, respectively. In the hazard maps produced, the frequency ratio models for both MODIS and VIIRS showed that Hedmark and Akershus counties had the largest areas with the highest susceptibility to wildfires, while the GIS-MCDA method resulted to Østfold and Vestfold counties. Through this study, the best independent wildfire predictor criteria were selected from the highest to the lowest of importance; wildfire constraint and criteria maps were produced; wildfire hazard maps with high-resolution georeferenced data using three models were produced and compared; and the best, reliable, robust, and applicable model alternative was selected and recommended. Therefore, the aims and specific objectives of this study should be considered and fulfilled.

The urgent ongoing contemporary climate change is drastically changing the Earth as we know it. In the Arctic, the climate is changing more drastically than the global average, and temperatures are rising significantly more. The phenomenon, known as Arctic amplification, is believed to happen by a combination of albedo reduction, cloud-feedback, and temperature inversion. Another important, but often overlooked, factor in Arctic climate change is dust. Dust does not only cause albedo reduction but has also been found to host syngenetic permafrost in Adventdalen, Svalbard. As permafrost is both a sensitive and important carbon reserve, holding twice as much carbon as currently available in the atmosphere, it is of great importance to understand the carbon storage mechanism of it. This study shows not only a correlation between cryostructures and organic carbon content but presents aeolian sedimentation rate as a possible cause of it. The results show that for syngenetic permafrost in Adventdalen, a high sedimentation rate yields structureless permafrost with low organic content. Inversely, a low sedimentation rate yields well defined cryostructures with high organic content. This shows that aeolian dust activity and loess deposits are vital to understand, in order to properly assess the cryostratigraphy and carbon content. / Den brådskande samtida klimatförändringen omarbetar dramatiskt vår värld. Arktis klimat förändras mer drastiskt än på resten av jorden och temperaturen stiger avsevärt snabbare. Fenomenet kallas förArktis förstärkning, eller Arctic Amplification, och antas ske på grund av synergier mellan minskning av albedo, molnfeedback och temperaturinversion. Damm är en annan viktig, men ofta underskattad faktor i klimatförändrarna i Arktis. Damm bidrar inte bara till en ökad reduktion av albedo utan dammavlagringar i Adventdalen Svalbard fungerar som en viktig grogrund för syngenetisk permafrost. Kolsänkan i permafrost är lika skör som den är viktig, då permafrost förvarar dubbelt så mycket kol som för nuvarande finns i atmosfären, men samtidigt stadigt tinar. Därför är det ytterst viktigt att förstå hur permafrost fungerar, själva mekanismerna bakom förvarandet av organisk kol. Detta arbete visar inte bara ett samband mellan kryostrukturer och organiskt kol i permafrost, utan föreslår att sedimentationshastighet är orsaken till det. Resultaten av LOI (loss on ignition) och kryostratigrafi tyder på att en hög sedimentationshastighet skapar en strukturlös permafrost som endast har låga halter av organisk materia. I det omvända fallet ger en låg sedimentationshastighet välformade kryostrukturer, och en permafrost med hög andel organisk materia. Detta visar på att sedimentationshastighet i loess är en viktig aspekt för att bedöma lagring av kol i permafrost, vilket är en avsevärd kolsänka att förstå i dagens klimatförändringar.

The ongoing trend with urban infill often implicates a conflict with urban green areas, which becomes a problem when green areas in cities are declining and when biodiversity is threatened on a global scale. This case study investigates how green areas and existing biological values are prioritized in an area in Malmö where infill is taking place (Översiktsplan för del av Kirseberg). Specifically, planning process and dialogue, on detailed comprehensive planning level, between the municipality and the landowner is analysed and compared with the policy plan for the area. The methods used are semi-structured interviews combining qualitative and quantitative data.The results show that many of the planning policies regarding green areas are prioritized and considered. However, when it comes to preserving existing vegetation and biological values, these policy goals are prioritized lower than the other policies, which leads to postponed conservation measures. Arguments for planning green areas are about structural concerns and attractivity. Municipal planners are concerned about the low amount of green areas and they find that policies and the planning and building act for green areas give a poor support in the planning process.Vague policy goals for green areas make it difficult for planners to balance between the many policy goals they need to consider. Although the actors have common interests and two-sided compromises are done, profit and a high exploitation level are the priorities of the landowner,which leads to fewer green areas. Landownership therefore limits municipal influence to planfor public interests like green areas. Furthermore, the political focus on high exploitation is another reason for this. Insufficient and outdated policies and planning material are also concerns that affects the planning of green areas.Green areas and biological values are not prioritized enough on the detailed comprehensive planning level neither in the policies of the plan, in the planning process nor in other policies. To change this, both planning laws, policies and political will need to prioritize green areas higher. Many studies state that the planning and building act is insufficient for planning green areas that support ecosystem services on private properties. This seems to apply to this case study as well.