Fifty Year Climate trends of the Wood Decay Hazard in Sweden

Simon Curling; Dennis Jones; Penny Mesa

Fifty Year Climate trends of the Wood Decay Hazard in Sweden

Simon Curling
, Dennis Jones
, Penny Mesa

BioComposites

Lulea University of Technology

Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper

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Abstract

As climate change proceeds, Europe is becoming on average warmer and wetter. This creates enhanced conditions for wood decay in areas that may traditionally have not had to consider the risk to both construction and heritage assets. Atlantic coast areas of Europe e.g. the United Kingdom (Curling and Ormondroyd 2020) are particularly affected but even in more northern regions, effects will be seen. This paper therefore considers actual historic data from across Sweden to determine the historic risk of wood decay based on the Scheffer climate index (Scheffer 1971). This index is a broad brush approach and does not take into account local microclimates such as in Dose response methods (Marais et al 2021). However, the data is valuable as it uses historic data to assess past hazards and projects forward to highlight risks.

Original language	English
Number of pages	3
Publication status	Published - 14 Sept 2026
Event	22nd Annual Meeting of the Northern European Network for Wood Science and Engineering (WSE) - Riga Technical University, Riga, Latvia Duration: 15 Sept 2026 → 16 Sept 2026 https://sites.google.com/kki.lv/wse2026/?pli=1&authuser=0

Conference

Conference	22nd Annual Meeting of the Northern European Network for Wood Science and Engineering (WSE)
Abbreviated title	WSE
Country/Territory	Latvia
City	Riga
Period	15/09/26 → 16/09/26
Internet address	https://sites.google.com/kki.lv/wse2026/?pli=1&authuser=0

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production
SDG 13 Climate Action

Keywords

Wood Decay
climate change

Access to Document

WSE Riga 2026 Curling et al

Cite this

@conference{669c788e136642039ff801e7207cb892,

title = "Fifty Year Climate trends of the Wood Decay Hazard in Sweden",

abstract = "As climate change proceeds, Europe is becoming on average warmer and wetter. This creates enhanced conditions for wood decay in areas that may traditionally have not had to consider the risk to both construction and heritage assets. Atlantic coast areas of Europe e.g. the United Kingdom (Curling and Ormondroyd 2020) are particularly affected but even in more northern regions, effects will be seen. This paper therefore considers actual historic data from across Sweden to determine the historic risk of wood decay based on the Scheffer climate index (Scheffer 1971). This index is a broad brush approach and does not take into account local microclimates such as in Dose response methods (Marais et al 2021). However, the data is valuable as it uses historic data to assess past hazards and projects forward to highlight risks.",

keywords = "Wood Decay, climate change",

author = "Simon Curling and Dennis Jones and Penny Mesa",

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language = "English",

note = "22nd Annual Meeting of the Northern European Network for Wood Science and Engineering (WSE), WSE ; Conference date: 15-09-2026 Through 16-09-2026",

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TY - CONF

T1 - Fifty Year Climate trends of the Wood Decay Hazard in Sweden

AU - Curling, Simon

AU - Jones, Dennis

AU - Mesa, Penny

PY - 2026/9/14

Y1 - 2026/9/14

N2 - As climate change proceeds, Europe is becoming on average warmer and wetter. This creates enhanced conditions for wood decay in areas that may traditionally have not had to consider the risk to both construction and heritage assets. Atlantic coast areas of Europe e.g. the United Kingdom (Curling and Ormondroyd 2020) are particularly affected but even in more northern regions, effects will be seen. This paper therefore considers actual historic data from across Sweden to determine the historic risk of wood decay based on the Scheffer climate index (Scheffer 1971). This index is a broad brush approach and does not take into account local microclimates such as in Dose response methods (Marais et al 2021). However, the data is valuable as it uses historic data to assess past hazards and projects forward to highlight risks.

AB - As climate change proceeds, Europe is becoming on average warmer and wetter. This creates enhanced conditions for wood decay in areas that may traditionally have not had to consider the risk to both construction and heritage assets. Atlantic coast areas of Europe e.g. the United Kingdom (Curling and Ormondroyd 2020) are particularly affected but even in more northern regions, effects will be seen. This paper therefore considers actual historic data from across Sweden to determine the historic risk of wood decay based on the Scheffer climate index (Scheffer 1971). This index is a broad brush approach and does not take into account local microclimates such as in Dose response methods (Marais et al 2021). However, the data is valuable as it uses historic data to assess past hazards and projects forward to highlight risks.

KW - Wood Decay

KW - climate change

M3 - Paper

T2 - 22nd Annual Meeting of the Northern European Network for Wood Science and Engineering (WSE)

Y2 - 15 September 2026 through 16 September 2026

ER -

Fifty Year Climate trends of the Wood Decay Hazard in Sweden

Abstract

Conference

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

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Cite this