The research comprises development and validation of modelling of ocean circulation, sea ice dynamics and the marine ecosystem. Advanced data assimilation methods, based on the Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF) and originally introduced at Nansen Center, are applied to realistic forecasts of ocean and sea-ice state variables. The main research activities relates to the development, validation and interpretation of the ToPAZ ocean forecasting system (http://topaz.nersc.no) covering the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans.

The ToPAZ ocean modelling system are transferable to other oceans and has also been implemented for Barents, Norwegian and Greenland Seas, the Indian Ocean, the Agulhas Current and the Southern Ocean, South China Sea and Gulf of Mexico.

The Nansen Center is co-organizing the yearly international EnKF workshop together with Uni Centre for Integrated Petroleum Research (CIPR) and International Research Institute of Stavanger (IRIS).