Physical and Environmental Geography
The geological and biological processes that have shaped and continue to shape the landscape are vital to public safety, land use, and the environment. We study all Earth´s external processes, including past and current climate changes, water resources, geohazards, and the ongoing nature crisis.
About the research group
We study all past and present external geological and biological processes that are significant for Earth's climate and environment and influence ongoing climate changes crucial for settlement, transportation, land management, food security, energy production, and the environment. This includes access to clean drinking water, geohazards such as avalanches, floods, and storms, sea-level changes, and the declining natural biodiversity.
Research topics
Featured
Projects
Research projects
Publications
2025
Pennos, C., Skoglund, R.Ø., 2025: Cave-PY a QGIS plugin to identify cave levels from geospatially referenced cave surveys. Acta Carsologica, 54(1). (AcademicArticle)
Pennos, Christos; Perraki, Maria; Pechlivanidou, Sofia; Skoglund, Rannveig Øvrevik; Salmas, Christos; Vasileiou, Eleni (2025) Assessing Microplastic Pollution in Atzinolakas caves, Crete: Implications for Remote Karst Aquifers (AcademicArticle)
Andersen, Gidske Leknæs (2025) Sustaining Desert Ecosystems and Conserving Natural Resources: Insights from Coupled Human- Environment Systems of Eastern Sahara (Vitenskapelig foredrag)
Bødtker, Gunhild; Hovland, Beate; Bastesen, Eivind; Andersen, Gidske Leknæs (2025) Plastjord – økologiske konsekvenser av at plast blir en del av naturen (AcademicArticle)
Pennos, Christos; Georgiadis, Fotis; Pechlivanidou, Sofia; Skoglund, Rannveig Øvrevik; Buzjak, Nenad; Lauritzen, Stein Erik (2025) Advancing Cave Survey Methods: High‐Precision Mapping in Drakotrypa Cave, Greece (AcademicArticle)
Bhattarai, Prakash; Vetaas, Ole Reidar; Zhao, Guang (2025) Do water–energy dynamics drive plant species richness patterns on the high alpine Tibetan plateau? (AcademicArticle)
2024
Skoglund, R.Ø., Lauritzen, S.-E., Hestangen, H., Skutlaberg, S., Pennos, C., 2024: Influence of the last (de)glaciation on a complex cave system: Grønli-Seter cave system, Northern Norway. Geomorphology 455
Svein Olaf Dahl; Pål Ringkjøb Nielsen (2024) Early Holocene occurrence of loess in Folldal, east-central southern Norway: Identification, origin and palaeoclimatic significance (AcademicArticle)
Pål Ringkjøb Nielsen; Svein Olaf Dahl; Ingvild Skodvin Prestegård; Kristian Vasskog; Benjamin Aubrey Robson (2024) Intensified Late-Holocene aeolian activity in Vesterålen, northern Norway – increased storminess or human impact? (AcademicArticle)
Kuber Prasad Bhatta; Ondrej Mottl; Vivian Astrup Felde; John-Arvid Grytnes; Triin Reitalu; Hilary Helen Birks; Harry John Betteley Birks; Ole Reidar Vetaas (2024) Latitudinal gradients in the phylogenetic assembly of angiosperms in Asia during the Holocene (AcademicArticle)
Nicholas L Balascio; William J. D'Andrea; Roger C. Creel; Leah Marshall; Moussa Dia; Stephen Kent Wickler; R. Scott Anderson; Jacqueline Austermann; Kristian Vasskog; Pål Ringkjøb Nielsen; Svein Olaf Dahl (2024) Refining Holocene sea-level variations for the Lofoten and Vesterålen archipelagos, northern Norway: implications for prehistoric human–environment interactions (AcademicArticle)
2023
Skoglund, R.Ø., Pennos, C., Perşoiu, A, Sotiriadis, Y., 2023: Karstic aquifers – simple or hybrid systems? Thermal stories from Maaras cave, Greece. Water 15(3)
Anne Christine Lien (2023) Waving the map for national identity: How cartography in Norway and Sweden was used as a nation-building tool in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (AcademicArticle)
Rebecca Navarro,Lars Wirkus,Olena Dubovyk (2023) Spatio-Temporal Assessment of Olive Orchard Intensification in the Saïss Plain (Morocco) Using k-Means and High-Resolution Satellite Data (AcademicArticle)
Henrik Løseth Jansen,Svein Olaf Dahl,Henriette Linge,Jostein Bakke,Pål Ringkjøb Nielsen,Bjørn Christian Kvisvik (2023) Palaeoclimatic and regional implications of Older Dryas and Younger Dryas local glacier activity in the low-Arctic valley Finnkongdalen, Andøya, northern Norway (AcademicLiteratureReview)
Daniel Jack Thomas,Benjamin Aubrey Robson,Adina E. Racoviteanu (2023) An integrated deep learning and object-based image analysis approach for mapping debris-covered glaciers (AcademicArticle)
Frank Weiser,Anna Walentowitz,Esther Baumann,Christopher Shatto,María Guerrero-Campos,Anke Jentsch,Manuel Nogales,Félix Manuel Medina,Ole Reidar Vetaas,Carl Beierkuhnlein (2023) Combining in-situ monitoring and remote sensing to detect spatial patterns of volcanic sulphur impact on pine needles (AcademicArticle)
Carl Beirkuhnlein,Manuel Nogales,Richard Field,Ole Reidar Vetaas,Anna Walentowitz,Frank Weiser,Reinhold Stahlmann,María Guerrero-Campos,Anke Jentsch,Félix M. Medina,Alessandro Chiarucci (2023) Volcanic ash deposition as a selection mechanism towards woodiness (AcademicArticle)
Romilly Harris Stuart,Anne-Katrine Faber,Sonja Wahl,Maria Hörhold,Sepp Kipfstuhl,Kristian Vasskog,Melanie Behrens,Alexandra M. Zuhr,Hans Christian Steen-Larsen (2023) Exploring the role of snow metamorphism on the isotopic composition of the surface snow at EastGRIP (AcademicArticle)
Jason P. Briner,John Inge Svendsen,Jan Mangerud,Henriette Linge,Richard Gyllencreutz,Svein Olaf Dahl,Derek Fabel (2023) Configuration of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet in southwestern Norway during the Younger Dryas (AcademicArticle)
Heidi Iren Saure,Ole Reidar Vetaas,Kristian Hassel,Vigdis Vandvik (2023) Restoring heathlands after afforestation on two islands in western Norway (AcademicArticle)
Simon König,Frank Thonfeld,Michael Förster,Olena Dubovyk,Marco Dietmar Heurich (2023) Assessing Combinations of Landsat, Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-1 Time series for Detecting Bark Beetle Infestations (AcademicArticle)
Roberto Cazzolla Gatti,Piero Zannini,Gianluca Piovesan,Nicola Alessi,Alberto Basset,Carl Beierkuhnlein,Michele Di Musciano,Richard Field,John M. Halley,Samuel Hoffmann,Jacopo Iaria,Athanasios Kallimanis,Gabor L. Lövei,Albert Morera,Antonello Provenzale,Duccio Rocchini,Ole Reidar Vetaas,Alessandro Chiarucci (2023) Analysing the distribution of strictly protected areas toward the EU2030 target (AcademicArticle)
2022
Anne Christine Lien;Anders Lundberg (2022) Lines of Power: The Eighteenth-Century Struggle Over the Norwegian–Swedish Border in Central Scandinavia (AcademicArticle)
Janik Hoffmann;Javier Muro;Olena Dubovyk (2022) Predicting Species and Structural Diversity of Temperate Forests with Satellite Remote Sensing and Deep Learning (AcademicArticle)
Hong Qian;Michael Kessler;Ole Reidar Vetaas (2022) Pteridophyte species richness in the central Himalaya is limited by cold climate extremes at high elevations and rainfall seasonality at low elevations (AcademicArticle)
Helen Gerdeber;Juergen Kusche;Kerstin Schulze;Gohar Ghazaryan;Olena Dubovyk (2022) Revising precipitation – water storages – vegetation signatures with GRACE-based data assimilation (AcademicArticle)
Philipp Marr;Stefan Winkler;Svein Olaf Dahl;Jörg Löffler (2022) Age, origin and palaeoclimatic implications of peri- and paraglacial boulder-dominated landforms in Rondane, South Norway (AcademicArticle)
Dagmar Martina Hanz;Mirela Beloiu;Raja Wipfler;Carl Beierkuhnlein;Richard Field;Anke Jentsch;Ole Reidar Vetaas;Severin David Howard Irl (2022) High species turnover and low intraspecific trait variation in endemic and non-endemic plant species assemblages on an oceanic island (AcademicArticle)
Gidske Leknæs Andersen;Knut Krzywinski;Mohammed Talib;Mohammed A. M. Musa (2022) Endangered Dracaena ombet Population in the Red Sea Hills, Sudan, Recovers After Abrupt Change (AcademicArticle)
Benjamin Aubrey Robson;Daniel Hölbling;Pål Ringkjøb Nielsen;Max Koller (2022) Estimating the volume of the 1978 Rissa quick clay landslide in Central Norway using historical aerial imagery (AcademicArticle)
David Kienle;Anna Walentowitz;Leyla Sungur;Alessandro Chiarucci;Severin D. H. Irl;Anke Jentsch;Ole Reidar Vetaas;Richard Field;Carl Beierkuhnlein (2022) Geodiversity and biodiversity on a volcanic island: The role of scattered phonolites for plant diversity and performance (AcademicArticle)
Javier Muro;Anja Linstädter;Paul Magdon;Stephan Wöllauer;Florian A. Männer;Lisa-Maricia Schwarz;Gohar Ghazaryan;Johannes Schultz;Zbyněk Malenovský;Olena Dubovyk (25.1) Predicting plant biomass and species richness in temperate grasslands across regions, time, and land management with remote sensing and deep learning (AcademicArticle)
Ana Sofia Reboleira;Kasun H. Bodawatta;Nynne M. R. Ravn;Stein Erik Lauritzen;Rannveig Øvrevik Skoglund;Michael Poulsen;Anders Michelsen;Knud Andreas Jønsson (2022) Nutrient-limited subarctic caves harbour more diverse and complex bacterial communities than their surface soil (AcademicArticle)
2020
Olarinoye, T., Gleeson, T., Marx, V. et al. Global karst springs hydrograph dataset for research and management of the world’s fastest-flowing groundwater. Sci Data 7, 59 (2020).
2021
Sailendra Dewan;Bhoj Kumar Acharya;Ole Reidar Vetaas;Sudeep Ghatani (2021) Do sub-groups of butterflies display different elevational distribution patterns in the Eastern Himalaya, India? (AcademicArticle)
Floreana Miesen;Svein Olaf Dahl;Lothar Schrott (2021) Evidence of glacier-permafrost interactions associated with hydro-geomorphological processes and landforms at Snøhetta, Dovrefjell, Norway (AcademicArticle)
Kuber Prasad Bhatta;Benjamin Aubrey Robson;Madan Krishna Suwal;Ole Reidar Vetaas (2021) A pan-Himalayan test of predictions on plant species richness based on primary production and water-energy dynamics (AcademicArticle)
Michele Di Musciano;Piero Zannini;Chiara Ferrara;Lorenzo Spina;Juri Nascimbene;Ole R. Vetaas;Kuber P. Bhatta;Marco d'Agostino;Lorenzo Peruzzi;Angelino Carta;Alessandro Chiarucci (2021) Investigating elevational gradients of species richness in a Mediterranean plant hotspot using a published flora (AcademicArticle)
Eivind Bastesen;Marte Haave;Gidske Leknæs Andersen;Gaute Velle;Gunhild Bødtker;Charlotte Gannefors Krafft (2021) Rapid landscape changes in plastic bays along the Norwegian coastline (AcademicArticle)
Nicolas Waldmann;Kristian Vasskog;Guy Simpson;Emmanuel Chapron;Eivind Wilhelm Nagel Støren;Louise Hansen;Jean-Luc Loizeau;Atle Nesje;Daniel Ariztegui (2021) Anatomy of a Catastrophe: Reconstructing the 1936 Rock Fall and Tsunami Event in Lake Lovatnet, Western Norway (AcademicArticle)
Frank Weiser;Anna Sauer;Daria Gettueva;Richard Field;Severin D. H. Irl;Ole Reidar Vetaas;Alessandro Chiarucci;Samuel Hoffmann;José María Fernández-Palacios;Rüdiger Otto;Anke Jentsch;Antonello Provenzale;Carl Beierkuhnlein (2021) Impacts of forest fire on understory species diversity in canary pine ecosystems on the island of la palma (AcademicArticle)
Marco Cervellini;Michele Di Musciano;Piero Zannini;Simone Fattorini;Borja Jiménez-Alfaro;Emiliano Agrillo;Fabio Attorre;Pierangela Angelini;Carl Beierkuhnlein;Laura Casella;Richard Field;Jan-Christopher Fischer;Piero Genovesi;Samuel Hoffmann;Severin D.H. Irl;Juri Nascimbene;Duccio Rocchini;Manuel Steinbauer;Ole Reidar Vetaas;Alessandro Chiarucci (2021) Diversity of European habitat types is correlated with geography more than climate and human pressure (AcademicArticle)
2013
Skoglund, R.Ø. & Lauritzen, S.-E. 2013: Characterisation of a post-glacial invasion aquifer: the Grønli–Seter karst system, northern Norway. Norwegian Journal of Geology 93, 61–73,
Lauritzen, S.E. & Skoglund, R. Ø., 2013. Glacier Ice-Contact Speleogenesis in Marble Stripe Karst. In: Shroder (Ed. In Chief), Frumkin (ed.) Treatise on Geomorphology. Academic Press, San Diego, CA, vol. 6, Karst Geomorphology, 363-396.
Master's theses
Schuckardt, Jana Sophia (2025) The Influence of Geogenic Nitrogen on Nitrogen Budgets and Nitrogen Cycling in a High Arctic Valley
Gran, Lauritz Skille (2025) Reconstructing Late Glacial Relative Sea Level in Jektvik, Nordland
Fosse, Marthe Emilie (2025) Strandjordgrottesystemet: Aktive karstprosesser i Dunderlandsdalen
Hamre, Sofie Sisselsdatter (2025) Rekonstruksjon av Blåskavlen og paleoklima i Lofoten gjennom senglasial og holocen, med vekt på den "Lille Istid”
Spangen, Maria (2025) The effectiveness of conservation status on plant biodiversity in low alpine areas: A comparative study from Rondane, Norway
Paulsen, Sara (2025) Rekonstruksjon av holocen strandforskyvning i Jektvik, Rødøy
Aasebø, Mireille Ruamklang (2025) The Influence of Climate and Propagule Pressure on the Current Distribution of Cotoneaster bullatus Bois Along the Hardangerfjord, Norway.
Trybusch, Toni Lorenz (2025) Karst landscape analysis in Nordland, North Norway: a combination of field work and GIS based methods
Hatch, Brittany La Fae (2025) Modern glacier mass balance and equilibrium line-altitude variations at Blåskavlen in Lofoten, northern Norway
Doctoral theses
Anne Christine Lien (2024) Sovereignty through cartography : The impact of maps on Norwegian national identity in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
Henrik Løseth Jansen (2017) Late Glacial and Holocene glacier fluctuations and climatic implications in sub-arctic northern Norway
Kjersti Straume (2016) Interpretation-based land cover mapping. Possibilities and challenges for rural land management
Pål Ringkjøb Nielsen (2016) Holocene storminess and climate change in Lofoten and Vesteralen, northern Norway
Benjamin Aubrey Robson (2016) Quantification and Change Assessment of Debris-Covered Glaciers using Remote Sensing
Lila Nath Sharma (2016)
The disturbance-diversity relationship: integrating biodiversity conservation and resource management in anthropogenic landscapes
Siren Therese Sælemyr (2015) Contested Resources. Landscapes of matter, mind and practice in the North Peruvian Andes
Tone Marie Ektvedt (2012) Analyses of the tropical dry forests and responses to human impact and precipitation events, northern Peru
Keshav Paudel (2011) Climatic variability or grazing? Trans Himalayan rangeland dynamics in the context of global changes. Integration of remote sensing/GIS analysis and geographical fieldwork
Andrei Florin Marin (2010) Chasing the rains: Mongolian patoralists' vulnerability and adaptation to climate change in "the age of the market"
Anders Bryn (2009) Vegetation mapping and landscape changes : GIS-modelling and analysis of vegetation transitions, forest limits and expected future forest expansion
Sebastian Eiter (2007) Rethinking Landscape Diversity – Integrating Natural and Cultural Qualities, and Users’ and Experts’ Practices into Protection and Management; Examples from the Stølsheimen Mountains, Western Norway
Anne-Grete Bøe (2006) Late Weichselian ice-sheet dynamics and Holocene river floods inferred from depositional chronologies of glaciofluvial and fluvial sediments in east-central southern Norway
Jostein Bakke (2004) Late Weichselian and Holocene glacier fluctuations along a south-north coastal transect in Norway : climatic and methodological implications
People
Group manager
Svein Olaf Dahl Professor
Group members
Gidske Leknæs Andersen Førsteamanuensis
Oskar Eide Lilienthal Stipendiat
Rannveig Øvrevik Skoglund Førsteamanuensis
Kristian Vasskog Førsteamanuensis
Ole Reidar Vetaas Professor