Exciting results in climate and environmental research

In the first half of 2023, the foundation was able to share many exciting results from climate and environment-related research in Bergen on social media. On the occasion of World Environment Day, the foundation presents an overview of articles and awards and congratulates all the authors and award winners.

TMS Starting Grant winner Willem van der Bilt at the Department of Earth Sciences UiB has published an article in the renowned journal Nature communications. Together with colleagues, he used computed tomography (CT) scanning from medical diagnostics as a new tool in the geosciences to obtain better estimates of the size of historical volcanic eruptions on the seabed. Willem particularly appreciates that Nature communications is read by academics from many disciplines and hopes that historians and economists will also read more about historical volcanic eruptions.

Former TMS Starting Grant winner Kjetil Våge from the Geophysical institute also published a study in Nature communications. He and his team have studied the deep ocean circulation in the Norwegian Sea and its impact on the overturning circulation in the Atlantic Ocean, which is important for the entire globe. Most climate models today assume that the overturning circulation in the Atlantic will weaken in a warmer climate, but Våge’s research now shows that this can possibly be balanced with a stronger current in the Norwegian Sea.

Together with a group of international co-authors, TMS Starting Grant winner Suzette Flantua from the Department of Biological sciences was part of a researcher team who wrote an overview article for the renowned journal Science, which was published in January 2023. The researchers show that human-induced rapid changes in the Amazon region may be too great for the ecosystem to adapt. In the article the researchers have made several recommendations to preserve the ecosystem.

Another TMS Starting Grant winner from the Department of Biological Sciences, Selina Våge, has published a video visualizing her research about how different organisms can live in the same ecosystem without going extinct. Different microorganisms help to keep some species in check. The video was made in collaboration with Science Diffusion.

Former TMS Starting Grant winner Bjarte Hannisdal and a team of colleagues from the Department of Earth Sciences, UiB were awarded the Education Quality Award for higher education 2023 during the learning festival in Trondheim on 8th May. The jury highlighted the work with student active learning and innovative thinking around the assessment of students in a bachelor’s course in geobiology. The prize is awarded annually by the Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills. The award was 1 million NOK.