Scientific focus

The SMHI air quality research group develops and applies models that describe the emission, dispersion, fate and impact of air pollutants, covering the hemispheric, regional, urban and local scales. The overreaching goal is to contribute with information that leads to improved air quality and reduced impact in Sweden and globally.

The research involves the areas of boundary layer meteorology, atmospheric chemistry, atmospheric optics, aerosol dynamics, cloud physics, emission and deposition processes, which can be categorized within three major research areas: 

aerosol lighter
Aerosols and radiation
  • Aerosol-climate interaction
  • Satellite observations of aerosols, data assimilation, and inverse modelling
  • Aerosol optics
  • Wind-blown dust, volcanic ash, and wildfires
  • Aerosol dynamics
smoke lighter
Regional and hemispheric air quality and its impact on the environment
  • Particles and ozone
  • Deposition
  • Short-lived climate pollutants (SLCP)
  • Emergency preparedness
  • Air quality forecasts
  • Mapping of the past and present state
  • Future scenarios
  • Environmental impacts
  • Focus areas
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Urban air quality and climate
  • High resolution downscaling of urban climate
  • Dynamical downscaling of air pollution to the urban scale
  • Emission and dispersion modelling of regulated air pollutants at the microscale
  • Microscale simulation of urban fluxes
aerosol lighter
Aerosols and radiation
  • Aerosol-climate interaction
  • Satellite observations of aerosols, data assimilation, and inverse modelling
  • Aerosol optics
  • Wind-blown dust, volcanic ash, and wildfires
  • Aerosol dynamics
smoke lighter
Regional and hemispheric air quality and its impact on the environment
  • Particles and ozone
  • Deposition
  • Short-lived climate pollutants (SLCP)
  • Emergency preparedness
  • Air quality forecasts
  • Mapping of the past and present state
  • Future scenarios
  • Environmental impacts
  • Focus areas
city lighter
Urban air quality and climate
  • High resolution downscaling of urban climate
  • Dynamical downscaling of air pollution to the urban scale
  • Emission and dispersion modelling of regulated air pollutants at the microscale
  • Microscale simulation of urban fluxes