Environmental Field Studies

Field studies are vital to monitor the state of the environment and advance the understanding of Earth system compartments and processes. Combining hands-on experience with advanced techniques, this course prepares you to design, plan and execute your own field investigations and draw nuanced interpretations and conclusions from the data.
Stockholms University’s vessel, R/V Electra af Askö.

Stockholms University’s vessel, R/V Electra af Askö. A state-of-the-art research platform designed to explore the world below the surface. Photo: Anna-Karin Landin

In this course, you will get a chance to familiarize yourself with the composition and structure of different environmental compartments such as soil, inland waters, coastal systems and the lower atmosphere. You will learn to plan and execute environmental sampling campaigns from designing the study, collecting samples using a range of approaches, to performing field measurements with state-of-the-art techniques.

Past students have visited the Stockholm archipelago with research vessel Electra to learn shore- and ship-based marine field methods, the Erken Laboratory to learn biological field sampling in lakes, field sites around Stockholm to compare soil profiles, the parameters that shape them and the environmental implications, and the ICOS station Norunda for an introduction to atmospheric and forest ecosystem measurements with e.g. Eddy Covariance, soil flux chambers and a range of meteorological tools.

Course given in English unless all students speak Swedish.



Teaching Format

The teaching focuses on field excursions followed by seminars and exercises where biogeochemical concepts and processes are evaluated.

Lectures will be given where e.g. the principles of planning and conducting field investigations are discussed. Participation in field excursions and any associated integrated instructions is compulsory. Lectures and field excursions will primarily be led by researchers from Stockholm University.


Assessment

Knowledge assessment takes the form of written assignments and a written exam.
 

Rights and responsibilities
Your rights and responsibilities as a student

Examiner

Sofi Jonsson, Sofi.Jonsson@aces.su.se

The schedule will be available no later than one month before the start of the course. We do not recommend print-outs as changes can occur. At the start of the course, your department will advise where you can find your schedule during the course.


Note that the course literature can be changed up to two months before the start of the course.


Course reports are displayed for the three most recent course instances.



Read the article "From simple nets to high tech tools as future environmental specialists sample the sea" that was written during the course in spring 2023.

Field sampling

The students net for amphipods, a group of crustaceans sensitive for environmental stressors, that make them good indicators for the status of the marine environment. Photo: Michaela Lundell





Study counsellors

studeranu@aces.su.se

Department of Environmental Science

Course coordinator

Sofi Jonsson, Sofi.Jonsson@aces.su.se
Department of Environmental Science, Unit Biogeochemistry