The group’s expertise includes the development and use of models, with a strong focus on the sea and on marine ecosystems. The most important model system used – and constantly improved – includes ocean physics, sea ice and the biogeochemistry of the sea. The system is used to produce forecasts about future conditions, and for reanalyses about how the conditions in the North Atlantic and Arctic have been in recent decades.

A large part of the improvement work consists of applying data assimilation techniques to ocean models. In this way, new types of observations and new data sets are included, which make calculations of, among other things, ocean currents and nutrient salinity even more precise. By predicting the future and developing reanalyses of the past, the understanding of how physical ocean processes, sea ice and marine biogeochemical processes affect each other will increase. The group’s research particularly covers the areas of the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean.

The model calculations are used by “Copernicus Marine Service”, an EU-service that monitors and disseminates basic, quality-assured information about the state of the sea. The calculation model is also generally available.