On 16. 7. 2022 severe forest wildfires started in the Kras area on the border between Slovenia and Italy. As it is the place of Soča frontline during the first world war there are still a lot of explosives from that time. Within ELME (Ecological Laboratory with Mobile Unit, Civil Protection of RS) dr. Jože Kotnik performed air quality measurements, including mercury, in areas where fires were most intensive.
In an interesting interview, our former colleague Johanna said what she is doing now and many interesting things about herself and life in Slovenia.
Stable water isotopes can help improve the understanding of freshwater resources. They can be used to better evaluate and map pathways of the domestic water supply system, even its interaction with different water bodies.
SLONIP - the Slovenian Network of Isotopes in Precipitation, a research platform comprising isotope data and respective data visualization and analyzing tools is presented.
At the ISSS 2022, 26th International Symposium on Separation Sciences, Taja Verovšek won the prize for the best lecture among young researchers
Volcanoes with accompanying phenomena are main natural source of Hg in the atmosphere that contribute several hundred tonnes of Hg on yearly basis. Within the collaboration with Istituto Nazionale Geofisica e Vulcanologia from Palermo (INGV), Italy, and CNRS, Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography from Marseille (MIO), France, in the last week of May, Asst. Prof. Dr. Jože Kotnik performed measurements of Hg in atmosphere on several locations around active volcano Stromboli over marine surface as well on nearby island Panarea.
Researchers Jan Gačnik and dr. Igor Živković together with colleagues from the Department of Environmental Sciences and the Department of Gaseous Electronics of the "Jožef Stefan" Institute and a colleague from Argentina under the leadership of prof. dr. Milena Horvat developed a new method of producing oxidized mercury (Hg) species in the gas phase.
Congratulations to dr. Lidija Strojnik, dr. Žiga Tkalec and dr. Johanna Amalia Robinson who successfully defended their doctoral theses in May 2022!
Between 18. and 19. 2022 May co-workers of the Department of Environmental Sciences, dr. Jože Kotnik, Stojan Žigon and Ali Saeed, and visitors from University of Brussels, Vincent Perrot and Tianhui Ma, performed sampling of water and sediment around Soča River inflow in the Gulf of Trieste.
The Summer School is organized as part of the H2020 VIDIS project, and it will showcase the most recent research and development activities related to air quality and atmospheric aerosols. VIDIS summer school aims to present innovative methods and tools in air quality and atmospheric aerosols monitoring, modelling and management. The summer school will provide participants with both theoretical knowledge and hands-on experience in relation to low-cost PM sensors, and other sensing technologies for air quality management and control.
Congratulations to all nominees! The award ceremony, which will be traditionally co-organized together with the Public Agency for Research of the Republic of Slovenia (ARRS), will take place on 19 May 2022 from 18:00 to 19:00 in the Hall of prof. dr. Janez Hribar at the Biotechnical Faculty of the University of Ljubljana.
The Department of Environmental Sciences participated in this year's Open Day event of the Jožef Stefan Institute which took place live on Saturday, 26.3.2022.