Åke Sundborg (15 October 1921 – 23 May 2007) was a Swedish geographer and

geomorphologist Geomorphology (from Ancient Greek: , ', "earth"; , ', "form"; and , ', "study") is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features created by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or n ...

known for his contributions to the hydrology and geomorphological dynamics of rivers. He was active at Uppsala University where he studied under the supervision of

Filip Hjulström Henning Filip Hjulström (6 October 1902 – 26 March 1982) was a Swedish geographer. Hjulström was professor of geography at Uppsala University from 1944, and in 1949, when the subject of geography was split, he became professor of Physical ...

eventually succeeding him on the chair of physical geography. Besides his studies of rivers Sundborg made contributions on the climate of cities, the distribution of

loess Loess (, ; from german: Löss ) is a clastic, predominantly silt-sized sediment that is formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. Ten percent of Earth's land area is covered by loess or similar deposits. Loess is a periglacial or aeolian ...

and the sedimentation of reservoirs and lakes. He studied rivers in Sweden as well as various large rivers in Africa and Asia.

Academic career

Sundborg's ''filosofie licentiat'' thesis had as subject the city climate of Uppsala. The thesis came to be internationally recognized with climatologist Helmut Landsberg praising it for containing one of the first theories on the climate of cities. Åke Sundborg was drawn to the charismatic Filip Hjulström who influenced him to shift his field of study and pursue Ph.D. studies on fluvial

geomorphology Geomorphology (from Ancient Greek: , ', "earth"; , ', "form"; and , ', "study") is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features created by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or n ...

under his tutelage. Sundborg's 1956 Ph.D. thesis explored the link between

and hydrology in the meanders of the lower course of Klarälven in his native Värmland. The thesis came to be considered a reference work for similar studies. By 1956 Åke Sundborg had greatly improved the Hjulström curve diagram adding lines and a higher level of detail. Subsequently, he was employed by the Uppsala University where he directed the construction of the geomorphological laboratory. Over time this laboratory attracted numerous visiting scholars and Ph.D. students. Together with the other Ph.D. students of Hjulström, Anders Rapp,

Valter Axelsson Axel Gunnar Valter Axelsson (born 30 May 1924) was a Swedish geomorphologist and educator who made significant contributions to the understanding of the delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet ...

and

John O. Norrman John Olof Norrman (29 July 1929 – 14 December 2013) was a Swedish geographer and geomorphologist known for his contributions to the coastal dynamics. Together with the other Ph.D. students of Filip Hjulström; Anders Rapp, Valter Axelsson a ...

, Sundborg was part of what came to be known as the

Uppsala School of Physical Geography Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Located north of the c ...

. Beginning in the 1960s Sundborg begun a series of river studies outside Sweden, both as researcher and as foreign advisor. As such he studied the Mississippi,

Rufiji Rufiji may refer to: * Rufiji Delta, a region in Tanzania * Rufiji District, in the Pwani Region of Tanzania * Rufiji River The Rufiji River lies entirely within Tanzania. It is also the largest and longest river in the country. The river is fo ...

, the Nile, Ganges,

Brahmaputra The Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river which flows through Tibet, northeast India, and Bangladesh. It is also known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibetan, the Siang/Dihang River in Arunachali, Luit in Assamese, and Jamuna River in Bangla. It ...

, the Red River and the Yellow River. In the 1960s Sundborg studied the consequences of the damming of the

Euphrates The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers'') ...

prior to the building of the Tabqa Dam in

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. Sundborg estimated the amounts of sediments that would enter the new lake (that in the 1970s originated Lake Assad) and made a mathematical modell on how a new river delta would develop in it. Later upstream dam-building in Turkey however diminished greatly the sediments carried into Lake Assad. Sundborg succeeded Hjulström as professor of physical geography at Uppsala University in 1969 and held that position until 1986.http://www.uu.se/digitalAssets/81/81150_Profinst2011-web.pdf He was elected member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special ...

in 1973.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sundborg, Ake Swedish geographers Sedimentologists 1921 births 2007 deaths Process geomorphologists Swedish geomorphologists Swedish hydrologists Uppsala University alumni Academic staff of Uppsala University 20th-century geographers Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences