Master's thesis topics

Your Master's thesis is the culminating project for the MSc degree, which you will plan and complete independently.

The extent of the Master's thesis is 30 credits (ECTS) and it aims to demonstrate your:

  • familiarity with scientific methodology
  • ability to carry out a demanding project
  • mastery of the conventions of written scientific presentation

You will need to agree upon the topic of your thesis in consultation with a professor of the programme. The topic is usually related to research problems of one of the research groups within the Programme; commonly the group is part of the Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR). 

Below is a list of recent MSc theses of the degree programme. You can find them in the University of Helsinki's  by searching with the name of the author.

Recent MSc thesis
2025
Meteorology Lindfors, Mimosa: Assessing Carbon Balances in Sodankylä with Ecosystem Model and Remote Sensing Supervisors: Tea Thum, Tiina Markkanen
Aerosol Physics Whiffen, Aslak: Ion properties of artificially and naturally charged aerosols in a DMPS setup Supervisors: Juha Kangasluoma
Aerosol Physics Mustonen, Linnea: Measuring Arctic Ice-Nucleating Particle Concentrations from Preserved Filters Supervisors: Zoé Brasseur, Ana Álvarez Piedehierro
Biosphere-Atmosphere Cycles Croos, Shalini: A Longitudinal Study of CO₂ Fluxes in Helsinki 2006 to 2023  
Biosphere-Atmosphere Cycles Vaittinen, Aarni: New particle formation and precursor vapours at an Arctic site: Ny-Ålesund Supervisors: Mikko Sipilä, Nina Sarnela, Lauriane Quéléver
Meteorology Orttenvuori, Suvi: Evaluating snow dynamics in JSBACH land surface model and Crocus snowpack model at a northern peatland Supervisor: Tuula Aalto
Meteorology Rantala, Oskari: Atmospheric conditions favoring derecho formation and the frequency of these conditions in Finland Supervisors: Marja Bister, Jouni Räisänen
Meteorology Putkinen, Kalle: Sademäärän riippuvuus tuulen suunnasta pääkaupunkiseudulla  
Meteorology Rauhamäki, Pinja: Medium and extended range wind power forecast using the ECMWF 100-meter wind data in Finland Supervisors: Alexey Karpechko, Anders Lindfors
Meteorology Sulkava, Henri: Effect of peatland restoration on methane and carbon dioxide balance in Europe Supervisors: Tiina Markkanen, Tuula Aalto
Meteorology Zhang, Xinyi: Assessment of High-Resolution Simulation in Reproducing Surface Wind over Alps Supervisor: Lauri Tuppi
2024

Turunen, Tarja: Quantifying environmental thresholds for increased Norway spruce mortality in Finland. Supervisor: Samuli Junttila

Maalampi, Panu: Studying the effect of a new aerosol option on HARMONIE-AROME sea fog forecasts. Supervisors: Laura Rontu, Victoria Sinclair, Ekaterina Kurzeneva

Kiema, Sarai: Kansalaisten Netatmo-kesäsadehavaintojen laatuanalyysi. Supervisors: Kaisa Ylinen, Jouni Räisänen, Marja Bister

Kaltiainen, Aino: The effect of large-scale circulation pattern variability in the northern Atlantic-European region on the boundary layer characteristics in Helsinki, Finland. Supervisor: Sasu Karttunen

Lohtander, Aleksi: Changes in diurnal temperature range in Finland between 1961–1990 and 1991–2020. Supervisor: Jouni Räisänen 

Pekkala, Minttu: Comparison of Surface Albedo and Top of Atmosphere Albedo in the Arctic. Supervisors: Aku Riihelä, Petteri Uotila

Forsbacka, Amy:  Analyzing Volatile Organic Compounds from the Baltic Sea using Vocus PTR-TOF-MS. Supervisors: Mikael Ehn, Roseline Thakur, Maija Peltola, Yuanyuan Luo

Leskinen, Juha: Effect of forest management on carbon and energy budgets on mineral soil, in pine forests in Finland. Supervisors: Leif Backman, Tiina Markkanen

van den Broek, Daan: Proximity Sounding Analysis of Supercell Environments in Finland. Supervisors: Jenni Rauhala, Marja Bister

Djupsjöbacka, Jemina: Oribatid mite and testate amoeba communities as environmental and carbon flux proxies on two subarctic peatlands. Supervisor:Minna Väliranta

Li, Delun: Decades of Light-Absorbing Aerosol Particles: Analysis of Equivalent Black Carbon Concentrations in Joensuu. Supervisors: Tuukka Petäjä, Ari Virkkula

Toropainen, Antti: Lorenz energy cycle of a baroclinic wave simulation. Supervisor: Victoria Sinclair

Vinkvist, Netta: Influence of temperature on gas-phase oxidation of cyclohexene and limonene. Supervisors: Matti Rissanen, Mikael Ehn, Theo Kurten

Yu, Ping: Validation of XCO2 retrieval in high latitudes from OCO-2 version 10 product using ground-based TCCON measurements: Hannakaisa Lindqvist, Dmitri Moisseev

Landon, Kaisa: Suomen lumivyöryennusteiden tila ja tulevaisuus osana eurooppalaista lumivyöryvaroituspalvelua (EAWS). Supervisors: Jouni Räisänen, Alberto Blanco Sequeiros

Huynh, Vinh Loc: Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) in Solid-State Weather Radars. Supervisors: Dmitri Moisseev, Juha Salmivaara

Tahvonen, Sara: Impact of warming sea surface temperature on anticyclonic Rossby wave breaking during Northern Hemisphere winter and summer. Supervisor: Victoria Sinclair

Lindroos, Hanna: Maaperän jään mallinnus routajäristysten ennakoinnissa. Supervisors: Ekaterina Ezhova, Jarkko Okkonen

Salminen, Jenna: Pilvet eksoplaneettojen kaasukehässä: vaikutukset elinkelpoisuuteen ja transmissiospektriin. Supervisors: Mikko Tuomi, Jouni Räisänen

Hu, Yiling: Reproducing Large-Eddy Simulation of Pollutant Concentration Using Machine Learning. Supervisors: Martha Zaidan, Leena Järvi

Widenius, Jyrki: Description and characterization of a novel Coughing Head Aerosol Generator. Supervisors: Topi Rönkkö, Paavo Heikkilä

Bengs, Anna: Resolving oxygenated organic molecules in a boreal forest using a MION-Orbitrap mass  spectrometer. Supervisors: Runlong Vai, Juha Kangasluoma

2023

Aerosol Physics:    
Kemppainen, Deniz: Observations of atmospheric iodic acid over the one-year-long MOSAiC expedition in the central Arctic
Zhang, Jiangyi: Ozone formation sensitivity indicated by highly oxygenated organic molecules
Feng, Weihang: On-road emission inventory and its potential impact on secondary pollutant in China
Tu, Jingyi: Determining emitted particle number size distributions in Helsinki from ambient measurements
Holm, Sebastian: Manipulating the charger ion distribution towards fixed properties

Geophysics of the Hydrosphere:    
Murakami, Margaret: Water Mass Transformations Within Prydz Bay Coastal Polynyas from Clustered Drifters
Haapaniemi, Veera: Aallokko-meri -mallikytkennän vaikutukset meren pintakerroksen dynamiikkaan Itämerellä
Korhonen, Vesa Aarne: Modelling heat transfer in permafrost with COMSOL
Karvo, Sara: Using acoustic current measurements in zooplankton research in the Baltic Sea
Berg, Hanna: Alueelliset muutokset Itämeren jääpeitteessä

Atmospheric Chemistry and Analysis:
Franzon, Lauri: Formation of ROR dimers from Peroxy Radical Recombination Reactions
Kuusisto, Minttu: Haihtuvien orgaanisten yhdisteiden mittaaminen vedestä – uudentyyppisen maaperäilmaisimen karakterisointi

Meteorology:    
Cornér, Joona: Optimising an inverse modelling system for local peatland methane emissions
Koskentausta, Juho: The impact of Arctic sea ice loss on Eurasian winter surface air temperatures
Köhler, Daniel: Impact of model parameter optimisation on the properties of ensemble forecasts
Koivula, Kalle-Matti: Utilisation of drones in wind measurements: an analysis of wind data gathered with a drone-bound ultrasonic anemometer
Suikkari, Riikka: Lumensyvyyden muutos osana ilmastonmuutosta ERA5-Land-aineistossa
Hamberg, Sanna: Voimakkaiden tuulien suunta- ja vuodenaikajakaumat Suomessa 2010-luvulla
Rimo, Eetu: Convective wind gust cases in Finland during summer season
Mom, Bernd: Kinematic properties of mesoscale convective systems over the equatorial Pacific
Juurikkala, Kasper: Modeling ice nucleation in cirrus clouds: parameterization intercomparison using UCLALES-SALSA
Soininen, Jesse: Estimating urban carbon uptake using carbonyl sulfide fluxes as a tracer
Hyvärinen, Sara: Methane emissions on the northern high latitude wetlands during spring soil thawing season
Karvonen, Anni: Variability in carbon dioxide and heat fluxes in Minneapolis determined using land surface modelling