Ola M. Johannessen (OMJ) is at present the Executive Chairman of the Board and the Founding Director of the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NERSC) (www.nersc.no). He is also Professor Emeritus at the Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen (UoB). He is the President of the Nansen Scientific Society, the President of the Norwegian Scientific Academy for Polar Research (http://www.polar-academy.com/), the Chairman of the Guardian Board of the Nansen International Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NIERSC) in St. Petersburg, Russia, the Chairman of the Board of the Nansen Center in Cochin, India, the Co-Chairman of the Board of the Nansen-Zhu Center at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) of the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) in Beijing, Co-Chairman of the Board of the Nansen-Tutu Marin Center at University of Cape Town, South Africa and Leader of the Nansen Group.

Since graduating from UoB in 1965 with the degree Cand. Real. in physical oceanography, he has held different faculty and research positions at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil (Visiting Scientist 1966), McGill University in Canada (Assistant/Associate Professor 1966-1970) and the NATO Research Center in Italy (Deputy Group Leader 1970-74), before returning to UoB in 1974 as a tenured Assistant Professor before he was promoted to a tenured Associate Professor in 1975 and to a tenured Professor in 1987. He was an Adjunct Senior Scientist at the Christian Michelsens Institute in Bergen (1980-82) and held the Arctic Chair at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey in USA (1982). He was a guest scientist at MIT in Boston during the autumn of 1985 and a Visiting Professor at Institute of Atmospheric Physics at Chinese Academy of Sciences from June 2005 to May 2009. OMJ was awarded the Visiting Professor for Senior International Scientists of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2009 and appointed as a Guest Professor at Peking University from May 2008 to May 2010.

OMJ is presently involved in the following scientific fields: Arctic climate system, including sea ice and Greenland ice sheet variability, climate teleconnection between low and high latitude and visa versa, operational oceanography, Indian - Bay of Bengal and Southern Ocean circulation and sea level studies and socio-economic impact studies of global change.

Previously he performed studies of fjord and coastal circulation in Norway, sea level and shelf studies off the coast of Brazil and in the Caribbean, ice drift and forecasting in Gulf of St. Laurence, ocean frontal and fine structure including acoustic propagation in the Mediterranean, harmful algae blooms along the Norwegian Coast, global change studies of marine ecosystem in the White Sea, CO₂ uptake and CO₂ injection in the ocean and radioactive spreading in the Arctic and Nordic Seas.

OMJ is the author and co-author of more than 500 publications of which 8 are books (7 Springer- 1 American Geophysical Union) and 148 are in referee journals, books and proceedings, (e.g. 8 in Science - 1 in Nature). The remaining publications are primarily Proceedings, Technical and Special Reports.

OMJ has been the supervisor for more than 40 Master and PhD students. He has received 9 awards for his research and leadership. He was the Laureate of the EU Descartes Prize in Earth Science in 2005 for leading the project: Climate and Environmental Change in the Arctic (CECA). He received the Nansen Foundation (founded in 1896 after F. Nansen with Fram returned to Norway) Fridtjof Nansen Medal for Outstanding Research in 2007 by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. This medal is an official Norwegian decoration. Furthermore His Majesty King Harald V of Norway appointed OMJ to the Royal Norwegian St. Olavs decoration, Knight of First Class, 24 of November 2008. In 2010 he was awarded the honorary membership from the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences, NTVA and received the “Certificate” from the Director-General of the European Space Agency for his contribution to the “High-Level Science Policy Advisory Committee from 2007-2010”. In 2011 he received “The Norwegian Space Center award for his scientific contribution to increase international awareness and understanding of space activities – in particular for Earth observations”.

OMJ has been the leader of large multidisciplinary international programs in different coastal regions and world oceans such as: the Norwegian Remote Sensing Experiment (NORSEX’79); the mega-science Marginal Ice Zone Experiment (MIZEX) 1980-88, with 250 scientists involved; the Seasonal Ice Zone Experiment (SIZEX) 1989-92; CO₂ and Deep Water formation (CARDEEP) 1993-95, the INTAS project on Observation and modelling of transport and dilution of radioactive waste and dissolved pollutants in the Kara Sea 1994-1997; the ESA/Russian Space Agency "ICEWATCH" Program of the Northern Sea Route 1995-1998; The Ice Edge Ecology Study 1997-2000, the EU project on Acoustic Monitoring of the Arctic Ocean Climate (AMOC) 1998-2000, the EU project on Operational altimetry for the offshore industry (OPERALT) 1998-2000 and the INTAS projects on Detection and modelling of greenhouse warming in the Arctic and sub-Arctic 1999-2000, Study of influence of land-based sources of radio nuclides on radioactive contamination of Kara Sea through Ob and Yenisey river system, Developing methods for boreal forest mapping and monitoring by combined using SPOT and SAR satellite data; the EU Arctic ice cover simulation experiment (AICSEX), Simulation scenarios for potential radioactive spreading in the 21^st century from rivers and external sources in the Russian arctic coastal zone (EU-RADARC), Sustainable management of the marine ecosystem and living resources of the White Sea (EU-WHITESEA), Estimation of primary production for fisheries management (EU-PROOF) and Wind energy mapping using synthetic aperture radar (EU-WEMSAR). Furthermore he has coordinated ESA, Norwegian Space Center and Research Council of Norway (RCN) projects, e.g., The Nansen Fellowship Program, a Scientific and Educational Program for Ecological Studies of North Western Russia, the Role of Arctic Sea Ice – Atmosphere processes (RCN-ROLARC a joint project with USA) the Marine Climate and Ecosystems in the Seasonal Ice Zone (RCN-MACESIZ), the EU-IPY Climate of the Arctic and its role for Europe (CARE) project and the Greenland Ice Sheet RCN project. At present he is the leader of the RCN projects Arctic and sub-Arctic climate system and ecological response to the early 20^th century warming (ARCWARM), the Arctic Sea Ice Variability: a comprehensive study using satellite and in-situ observations (ArcticSIV) and the Mohn-Sverdrup Norwegian Sea and Greenland Ice Sheet projects.

OMJ took the initiative to start the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NERSC) (www.nersc.no) in Bergen in 1986, which is project funded from EU, Research Council of Norway, European Space Agency, Norwegian Space Center, industry and private donations. The center employs a staff of 60 from 15 nations including PhD. students.

In 1992 OMJ started a Joint Venture with the Institute of Ecological Safety of the Russian Academy of Science in St. Petersburg by setting up the Nansen International Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NIERSC) (www.niersc.spb.ru) in St. Petersburg, Russia, including partners from the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, the Environmental Research Institute of Michigan and in cooperation with the EU Joint Research Center in Ispra. NIERSC was converted to the Nansen Scientific Foundation in 2001. Partnership was expanded with the St. Petersburg State University, Bergen University Research Foundation and the Northern Water Problems Institute of Russian Academy of Science in Petrozavodsk, Karelia. In 1999 the Nansen Center in India was started with OMJ as Chairman (http://www.nerci.in). In 2003 the Nansen-Zhu Center (http://nzc.iap.ac.cn) was opened after the initiative of OMJ as a joint venture with the Institute of Atmospheric Physic at the Chinese Academy of Science, the Peking University, Bergen University, the Bjerknes Center for Climate Research and the Nansen Center in Bergen. In 2010 the Nansen-Tutu Marine Centre at the University of Cape Town, South Africa was started. At present the Nansen Group with OMJ as the Leader consists of these five institutes, employing more than 200 persons including 75 PhD and Master candidates. In 2006 OMJ took the initiative to start the Nansen Scientific Society which is a foundation to give Nansen Fellowships to international PhD students and young scientists.

OMJ has served on different committees and working groups such as the NASA NIMBUS-7 Team, the ESA EOPAG, EOSTAG, ESAC, DOSTAG Committees, the High-level Science Policy Advisory Committee (HISPAC) and the EU Remote Sensing Review Committee, the NATO Remote Sensing Working Group, chairman of the MIZEX Scientific Committee, Chairman of International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing´s Working Group on Ice, member of the Japanese MOS Team, the Norwegian WOCE Committee, the EU/ESF European Committees on Ocean and Polar Sciences (ECOPS), the Arctic Ocean Science Board, the US/French Topex Poseidon Team the Japanese JERS-1 Team, Chairman of the ESA International Space Year program “Ocean Variability and Climate”, member of INTAS Scientific Council, member of the Advisory Committee of the Ukrainian Centre of Environmental and Water projects in Kiev, member of the Board of EUROGOOS, member of the Norwegian Advisory and Coordination Committee for Earth Observation, member of the Research Council of Norway Fellowship Committee, Norwegian National Polar Committee, member of the Polar Committee of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, member of the steering committee of the WMO Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), member of the editorial board of Earth Observation and Remote Sensing Journal of the Russian Academy of Science and member of the Scientific and Technical Council of the International Risk Governance Council (IRGC) Geneva. Board Member and Chairman of the Bjerknes Climate Center in Bergen and Board Member of the Center for Climate Dynamic at the Bjerkens Climate Center.

At present OMJ is Council member of the European Climate Forum (ECF), member of the editorial board of PRAXIS Publishing Ltd and Co-Chief editor of the journal “Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letter” of the Chinese Academy of Science. Furthermore he is a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Euromediterranean Center for Climate Change, Italy.

OMJ is elected full member of the International Academy of Astronautics, the European Academy of Science and Arts, Finnish Academy of Science and Letters, the Norwegian Academy of Technical Sciences and the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and the Norwegian Scientific Academy for Polar Research.