Organization

The Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center was established in 1986 as a non-profit research foundation. According to its bylaws “The Foundation’s goal is to perform interdisciplinary research and development with focus on remote sensing and modelling with respect to scientific problems within the natural sciences.” The Center is a national environmental research institute with basic funding from the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment.

The Nansen Center generate interdisciplinary scientific expertise in Earth system environmental and climate research, satellite remote sensing, modelling and data assimilation. Its research foci are in Earth sciences, particularly covering topics such as physical and biology oceanography, meteorology, sea ice/cryosphere studies, hydrology and climate studies, including remote sensing in all these themes. The Center has been leading, both at national and international level, in the early developments of satellite oceanography for marine and polar research. Research staffs are members of several scientific advisory groups and committees of the major space agencies and national and international committies.

The Nansen Center is one of four partners in the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research (BCCR) that was awarded the status as a Norwegian Centre of Excellence (SFF) between 2002 to 2012 coordinated by the University of Bergen also in coorperation with the Institute of Marine Research and NORCE. The Bjerknes Centre has also had funding from the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research since 2010. 

Through our co-ownership of Mercator Ocean International (MOi), we participate in the operation of the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS), a part of Copernicus, the European Union’s Earth Observation Programme. 

The Nansen Center has the following organizational structure per 2017;

Organisation chart 2017Organisation chart 2017

The Board

Name Affiliation Position
Gunn Mangerud University of Bergen
Board Leader
Owe Hagesæther GCE Ocean Technology Board Deputy Leader
Annette Samuelsen Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center Representative of the employees
Laurent Bertino Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center Representative of the employees
Lars Smedsrud Geophysical Institute, UiB
Board Member
Siv Remøy-Vangen Maritime Bergen Board Member
Bjart Nygaard GC Rieber Eiendom AS Board Member
Ole Arve Misund Norsk Polarinstitutt Board Member

 

Name

Affiliation Position
Pierre-Yves Traon Ifremer, France Chairman
Bo Anderssen Norwegian Space Centre Council member
Daniela Matei Max Planck Institute for Meteorology Council member
Elling Tveit Norwegian Defence Research Establishment Council member
Kai Riska Total E&P Norge Council member
Lars Anders Breivik Meteorologial institute Council member
Tor Eldevik Univerity of Bergen Council member
Einar Ytredal Rieber Shipping Council member
Nina Winther-Kaland StormGeo Council member
Mette Skern-Mauritzen Institute of Marine Research Council member
Patricia de Rosnay European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Council member
Agnieszka Beszczynska-Möller Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences Council member