MERGE-funded research

As a strategic research area, MERGE not only provides a networking platform for its researchers, but also the possibility to apply for funds within the subject areas of MERGE. These funds comes mainly in the form of short projects.

Listed below you will find information about current and finished MERGE-funded projects in the following order:

Current short projects
Current projects
Finalized projects

Current MERGE short projects

Short project members

Erik Swietlicki - portal.research.lu.se

Lovisa Nilsson - portal.research.lu.se

More information about the research in Lund University Research Portal

MERGE SP: ARTofMELT Arctic Ocean icebreaker expedition 2023 — Lund University

Short project members

Wenxin Zhang - portal.research.lu.se

Minchao Wu - portal.research.lu.se

More information about the research in Lund University Research Portal

MERGE SP: Using the regional Earth system model RCA-GUESS to quantify vegetation-atmosphere feedback on a hotspot of CO2 flux variability - Australia — Lund University

Current MERGE projects

Project members:

Annemieke Gärdenäs

Deliang Chen

Lasse Tarvainen

More information about the research in Lund University Research Portal

Project members:

Cheng Wu

David Simpson

Johan Uddling

About the project:

Forests are the largest sources of biogenic VOCs (BVOCs), which, though amounting to only a small fraction of the global carbon exchange, have a big impact on climate by providing tiny air particles that act as building blocks for clouds. These particles reflect sunlight back into space, cooling the lower atmosphere. Globally, the tropics contribute more than 70% of the total BVOC emissions. The emissions from tropical forests are dominated by isoprene (C5H8) and include also a large fraction of monoterpenes (C10H16). The role of climate change for future BVOC emissions and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation is unclear. Given that many BVOCs are emitted in greater quantities at warmer temperatures, more BVOCs may be emitted if the climate warms and more particles will thus be formed. However, if intense and elongated heat waves lead plants out of their optimal living conditions, it is projected that such extreme conditions will impose stress and disturb the functioning, growth, and survival of plants, thus reduce the emissions. Previous studies by the team of Uddling et al. in African tropical forests have shown that tree species differ greatly in heat response and the capacity to acclimate photosynthesis and growth to warming, and this variation is linked to species successional strategy and elevation of origin. So far, no climate modeling has been attempted to quantify the implication of these effects on forest BVOC emissions and further on the aerosol formation.
With this project we aim to address the connection between future temperature changes and physiological processes, including VOC emissions, in Central-East African tropical forests and how it influences the SOA formation. By combing field experiments in Rwanda with modelling work, we will test how future global temperature changes will affect the amount and chemical makeup of VOCs from tropical forests and how could these then feed back into the climate system. Specifically, we will:
1. Improve the BVOC-SOA module and develop a new heat tolerance scheme in the EMEP chemical transport model for a better simulation of aerosol formation from BVOCs under heat stress.
2. Update model inputs using field experiments in Rwanda and assess how the scenarios of future emissions will influence the SOA formation in tropical region.