Completed projects

NorArgo3

In the third stage of the NorArgo project, "A Norwegian Argo Infrastructure – a contribution to the European and global Argo infrastructure", the focus is on maintenance and further development of the NorArgo infrastructure with high-quality sustainable state-of-the-art ocean observing system with advanced physical and biogeochemical sensors covering the whole water column in the Arctic.

CCI + SSS Extension

How salty the sea surface is has an impact on the global ocean circulation, the water cycle and the climate. The amount of salt can be measured from space with satellites. The project "Climate Change Initiative Extension Phase 2 – Sea Surface Salinity" will produce highly reliable information about salt over the entire sea surface in the period 2010-2024. The data set will support research on e.g., the climate.

ENRICH

The objective of the "Engaging researchers and coastal population in communicating Oceanʼs role on Human Health" (ENRICH) project is to engage researchers and the coastal population to effectively communicate and disseminate research-based knowledge on climate related changes in the ocean and its implications on human health vulnerability.

ChaKe

The main objective of the "Use of satellite imagery for monitoring changes in kelp forests" (ChaKe) project is to explore the potential of using satellite imagery as a tool for mapping and monitoring the spatial and temporal distribution of kelp forests. Sentinel-2 MSI observations and in-situ kelp observations will be used to calibrate machine learning models for mapping kelp coverage in Norwegian coastal waters at 10 m spatial resolution.  

EO4SA

The "Earth Observation for Sustainable Aquaculture" project is investigating applications for aquaculture management and the marine industry. Researchers are developing and demonstrating applications related to, among other things, harmful algal blooms affecting the shellfish farming industry and fish mortality due to salmon lice outbreaks.

ORBITAS

The main objective of the project "Orbit impact on sea-level trend and acceleration stability uncertainty" is to evaluate how a new reference orbit for Sentinel-6 Next Generation will impact the current mean sea level uncertainty.

Ecological status

The main objective of the project “Ecological status assessments for the North Sea, Norwegian Sea, and Barents Sea” is to compile assessments for these seas. The reports will provide updated knowledge to the ministries that are preparing a new white paper for the integrated marine management plans for the Norwegian sea areas (2027-2028). The Nansen Center will contribute data and indicators for the marine environment and plankton, and their status assessments based on satellite data and Copernicus model analyses.

IMPETUS4CHANGE

Adapting society to the changing climate will become even more important in the near future. It is therefore important to know as much as possible about the changes on short time scales such as 1-10 years in the future, especially at local and regional level. The project "Improving near-term climate predictions for societal transformation" aims to improve true climate predictions and to make them more accessible and useful for society.

VIBRIO

In the project “Occurrence and drivers of Vibrio bacteria”, researchers will generate the data to understand how remote sensing can identify predictors for Vibrio blooming, a rapid increase in Vibrio-bacteria in seawater. The abundance of Vibrio and bacterial population structures will be described through cultivation methods from samples coming from both seafood (bivalves) and seawater (main routes for human infections). The observed bacterial data will be mapped against remote sensing observations (e.g., sea surface temperature) with a 1-2 week lag before sampling to analyse whether remote sensing can indicate potential Vibrio blooming.

CryoRad

Observing the Earth at low-frequency passive microwave has been a success with the SMOS and SMAP satellites, providing unique data on the ocean, sea ice and land. But no-one has explored even lower frequencies, which should provide more precise sea ice thickness, ocean salinity in cold waters and brand new observations like sea ice salinity or profiles of ice sheets temperature. ESA thus has selected "CryoRad Earth Explorer 12 Phase 0 Science and Requirements Consolidation Study" and 3 other mission concepts among 17 candidates Earth Explorer for an 18-months assessment study phase. Researchers at the Nansen Center will quantify the potential impact of the sea ice thickness, sea ice salinity and ocean surface salinity on the TOPAZ model system.