Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts blog

We are delighted to announce the winner of the NOSA Early Career Scientist Aerosologist Award 2018. Jana Johansson (pictured below) from Stockholm University has been awarded the prize for the best Ph.D. thesis of 2017 by the Nordic Society for Aerosol Research (NOSA).

“I have a MSc in Chemistry and a PhD in Applied Environmental Science, both from Stockholm University. I defended my thesis in June of 2017. Its title is ‘Sources, transport and fate of perfluoroalkyl acids in the atmosphere’. Perfluoroalkyl acids are persistent anthropogenic chemicals present in humans, biota and in the abiotic environment globally. Several potential sources have been proposed to explain the presence of perfluoroalkyl alkyl acids in the atmosphere. My research is focused on increasing our understanding of their relative importance on the global scale. One of the main findings presented in my thesis is that perfluoroalkyl acids are strongly enriched in sea spray aerosol. Consequently, the global oceans may act as an important source of perfluoroalkyl acids to the atmosphere. As a post doc, I am now setting up studies to test this hypothesis as well as studies aimed at determining the importance of sea spray as a vector for ocean-to-atmosphere transport of other anthropogenic and biogenic substances.”

“During my time as a PhD student I noticed that there is quite a big divide between contaminant scientists and aerosol scientists. As a result, our view of the atmospheric transport of pollutants is sometimes overly simplistic. To address some of the questions which have remained unanswered in my field during the last decade, I collaborated with scientists from the atmospheric aerosol unit of the Department of Environmental Science and Analytical Chemistry (Stockholm University). Receiving recognition from the aerosol community has encouraged me to continue this work as part of my post doc”, says Jana Johansson.

Congratulations to Jana on this outstanding achievement. We wish her all the best with her future research on sea spray aerosols.