Photo by Mayur Sable: Jaipur (India) at night, pexels.com

The Nansen Center and the Nansen Environmental Research Center – India (NERCI) co-organized a two-day international conference in India addressing the future energy systems in cities in southern Asia.

In the years 1998-2013, Eurasia experienced very cold winters, despite the ongoing global warming trend. Scientists are debating their origin, but we have come closer to finding out.

Researchers from NERSC and colleagues in France, Germany, and Mali have improved how to simulate sea-ice movement in the Arctic. Their sea-ice model neXtSIM with a new and unique rheology is very good at producing accurate sea-ice forecasts and can possibly enhance climate predictions. 

Sea ice in the Arctic. Photo: Espen Storheim/Nansen Center

Indian and Norwegian research institutions have been collaborating for decades. A high-level visit from the Government of Kerala, India to the Nansen Center resulted in concrete plans for extensive collaborations in the future, with a strong focus on climate and environmental research.

The Nansen Center participated at the 31^st NORDUnet conference held in Reykjavik, Iceland 13-15 September 2022. NORDUnet is a Nordic research and education network (REN) enabling scientists, educators, and students to work and share knowledge globally.

The Nansen Center is organizing a symposium in the name of colleague and friend Yongqi Gao who passed away in the summer of 2021. His legacy lives on in many ways, bringing together researchers from China, Norway and elsewhere.

Arendal is a small and quiet coastal city in the southern part of Norway. For five days in mid-August, the population multiplies when 100 000 people gather for the Arendal week (Arendalsuka). This is the largest political gathering in Norway, and the stated mission is to “strengthen the belief in political empowerment and democracy through open debate and involvement”.

The director of the Nansen Center on top of the Glass elevator in Arendal and ready for a long week. Photo: Tore Furevik

The European Space Agency (ESA) arranges the Living Planet Symposium (LPS) every third year. It is the biggest Earth observation conference in the world, and it offers fantastic options to present research findings to scientists and data users and discuss the importance of Earth observations in the future. This year’s topic of LPS was “Taking the pulse of our planet from space”, an objective that overlaps with the Nansen Center’s strategy, as remote sensing is one of the legs we stand on.   

A recent study led by Annette Samuelsen investigated environmental change at deep-sea sponge grounds in the North Atlantic. She and her team were able to establish a baseline for water conditions in four different areas through simulations – over 67 years. Such a baseline is important for future studies. Sponges have far-reaching implications for life both in the ocean and on land, and their wellbeing is dependent on their environment.