NERSC News Archive

Unique oceanographic observations - "Jotun Arctic" on survey to East Greenland fjord

Submitted by webadmin on 1. September 2010 - 0:00

During the last three years the Nansen Center has collected unique oceanographic measurements in order to quantify the subsurface fjord melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet. New data were collected in the Sermilik Fjord (SF) and adjacent East Greenland shelf in August 2010 (see map). It was proposed that a submarine melting of a glacier’ ice fronts in Greenland as well as in Antarctica is an important mechanism driving recent curving front’s retreat and glaciers acceleration.

A new insight into localisation methods in ensemble Kalman filter systems

Submitted by webadmin on 31. August 2010 - 0:00

Pavel Sakov and Laurent Bertino conducted a comparative study of two non-adaptive localisation methods popular in operational oceanographic and atmospheric data assimilation systems: covariance localisation (CL) and local analysis (LA). Both methods are applied mainly on empirical basis, and the relation between them remains largely unknown.

The authors conclude that while CL and LA are essentially different methods, in practice they normally produce essentially similar results. Apart from this main conclusion, the study contains a number of interesting theoretical advances.

Five books published in the Nansen Center's Polar series

Submitted by webadmin on 24. August 2010 - 13:27

The Nansen Centers in Bergen and St. Petersburg have published result and knowledge obtained through a wide range of joint Norwegian and Russian scientific research projects starting in 1992 with the foundation of the Nansen International Environmental and Remote Sensing Centre (NIERSC) in St. Petersburg.

Several of these books have been published through Praxis Publishers, UK (http://www.praxis-publishing.co.uk/) and their cooperation with Springer (http://www.springer.com/). These books are covering topics related to environmental, climate and remote sensing topics.

Five books published in the Nansen Center´s Polar series

Submitted by webadmin on 24. August 2010 - 0:00

Several of these books have been published through Praxis Publishers, UK (http://www.praxis-publishing.co.uk/) and their cooperation with Springer (http://www.springer.com/).

Advanced underwater ocean monitoring system deployed in the Fram Strait

Submitted by webadmin on 18. August 2010 - 13:32

In the EU-funded ACOBAR project (Acoustic technology for observing the interior of the Arctic Ocean) an ocean monitoring system for acoustic tomography and navigation is under deployment in the Fram Strait. The system will consist of three acoustic transceivers in a triangle and a receiver array in the middle (see upper part of the Figure - A-B-C are transceivers, D is the receiver). This system will provide acoustic travel times for model validation, assimilation and temperature inversions along 6 tracks in the Fram Strait.

Advanced underwater ocean monitoring system deployed in the Fram Strait

Submitted by webadmin on 18. August 2010 - 0:00

The Petermann Ice Island (2010) is drifting

Submitted by webadmin on 16. August 2010 - 13:39

The Nansen Center continues to monitor faith of the 270 km2 “Petermann Ice Island (2010)” that broke off from the Petermann Glacier on northeast Greenland on August 5th.

According to the attached Landsat image the Petermann Ice Island (2010) has on August 15th drifted about 8.5 km out (north-westward) in the Petermann fjord.

See also initial news story from the Nansen Center:

Link to more info.

The Petermann Ice Island (2010) is drifting

Submitted by webadmin on 16. August 2010 - 0:00

The Nansen Center continues to monitor faith of the 270 km2 “Petermann Ice Island (2010)” that broke off from the Petermann Glacier on northeast Greenland on August 5th.

According to the attached Landsat image the Petermann Ice Island (2010) has on August 15th drifted about 8.5 km out (north-westward) in the Petermann fjord.

See also initial news story from the Nansen Center:

http://www.nersc.no/main/index2.php?display=moreinfo&news_id=322&display...

Professor Ola M. Johannessen utnevt til æresmedlem i Norges Tekniske Vitenskapsakademi

Submitted by webadmin on 10. August 2010 - 0:00

Professor Ola M. Johannessen er tildelt æresmedlemskap i Norges Tekniske Vitenskapsakademi, NTVA. Diplom og medlemskapsnål i gull overleveres ved årets NTVA Teknologiforum i Trondheim 10. september.
Johannessen tildeles æresmedlemskapet både for sin store innsats for norsk polarforskning, for sin rolle som aktiv forsker, gründer og organisator, for sitt brede internasjonale engasjement, og for sitt betydelige bidrag for å etablere NTVAs aktiviteter i Bergen.

NTVA begrunner utnevnelsen som følger: "Ola M. Johannessen er født 2 juli 1938.

The Petermann ice shelf breaks up - ice calving of 28 km from the Petermann floating ice shelf on Greenland, which was 70 km long

Submitted by webadmin on 10. August 2010 - 0:00

Background: The Petermann Glacier (81° N-61° W) extends out in the Petermann Fjord as a 70 km floating ice shelf. Petermann Glacier has a thickness of 900 m when it moves into the fjord thinning along its way out in the fjord with an average speed of 1 km per year to 40 m at the end of the ice shelf (ice front) of which 4 m is above the sea level. Petermann ice shelf is the longest floating ice shelf on the Northern hemisphere. Previous research (A.

Professor Ola M. Johannessen utnevt til æresmedlem i Norges Tekniske Vitenskapsakademi

Submitted by webadmin on 10. August 2010 - 0:00

The Petermann ice shelf breaks up - ice calving of 28 km from the Petermann floating ice shelf on Greenland, which was 70 km long

Submitted by webadmin on 10. August 2010 - 0:00

Two vacant positions at the Nansen Center: Post-doc in Ice-ocean modeling and Programmer

Submitted by webadmin on 4. August 2010 - 0:00

The Nansen Center announces two vacant positions;

POSTDOCTORAL POSITION ON ICE-OCEAN MODELLING

The Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NERSC, Bergen, Norway) has available a Post-doc position on ice-ocean modelling. The main goal is to include the effects of waves-in-ice into the ice-ocean model system in use at NERSC. This work will be realized in collaboration with our partners from New Zealand (University of Otago and NIWA) responsible for waves-in-ice modelling. Data from field experiments and from satellites will be used for validation.

Hvor er satsing på norsk forskning?

Submitted by webadmin on 2. August 2010 - 0:00

Styreformann Prof. Ola M. Johannessen tar opp manglende statlig grunnbevilging til Nansensenteret i et debattinnlegg i Bergens Tidende, se

Link to more info.

Hvor er satsing på norsk forskning?

Submitted by webadmin on 2. August 2010 - 0:00

Styreformann Prof. Ola M. Johannessen tar opp manglende statlig grunnbevilging til Nansensenteret i et debattinnlegg i Bergens Tidende, se

http://www.bt.no/meninger/article1124920.ece

The Nansen Center at the ESA Living Planet symposium in Bergen

Submitted by webadmin on 29. June 2010 - 0:00

ESA’s week-long Living Planet Symposium in Bergen have gathered more than 1200 scientists from around the world. Scientists and the agency share the state-of-the art knowledge within satellite Earth observations technology and applications.

The Nansen Center is heavily involved in the Symposium being hosted here in Bergen. Vice-director Johnny A. Johannessen gave an overview of 20 years of ERS and Envisat achievements during the plenary opening on of the Symposium. Scientist from the Nansen Center in Bergen and St.

Kronikk: Vi tar pulsen på planeten

Submitted by webadmin on 26. June 2010 - 0:00

I forbindelse med at den Europeiske romfartsorganisasjonen ESA arrangerer Living Planet konferansen i Bergen neste uke har Nansensenterets visedirektør Professor Johnny A. Johannessen en kronikk i BT i dag.

Over 1200 jordobervasjonsforskere, teknologer og representanter fra departementer, næringsliv og industri er blant deltakerne.

Norsk Romsenter og Nansensenteret er nasjonale medarrangør for konferansen. Ordfører Gunnar Bakke og næringsminister Trond Giske åpner konferansen mandag.

Søndag 27.

Master thesis; “An inconvenient truth about press coverage on climate change”.

Submitted by webadmin on 23. June 2010 - 0:00

Katherine Duarte has to day defended her master thesis at Department of Information Science and Media Studies, University of Bergen. Her master studies has been performed at the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center and supported with a stipend from the G.C. Rieber Funds and the Nansen Scientific Society.

In her thesis “An inconvenient truth about press coverage on climate change” she has discussed the Norwegian media coverage of climate change from October 2007 to April 2008 in five Norwegian newspaper, i.e. Aftenposten. VG, Dagens Næringsliv, Bergens Tidende and Nordlys.

ESAs Levende Planet konferanse i Bergen

Submitted by webadmin on 21. June 2010 - 0:00

Hvert 3. år arrangerer den Europeiske romfartsorganisasjonen (ESA) en konferanse om jordobservasjonssatellitter - "Levende Planet konferansen". Bergen er valgt som vertskap for den syvende konferansen og etterfølger Cannes, Hamburg, Firenze, Gøteborg, Salzburg og Montreux. Konferansen finner sted i Grieghallen fra mandag 28 juni til fredag 2 juli (for mer detaljert informasjon benytt lenken under).

Norsk Romsenter og Nansensenteret er nasjonale medarrangører for konferansen.

Kalkalger blomstrer i fjord- og kystvannet

Submitted by webadmin on 15. June 2010 - 0:00

Det melkehvite vannet som sees i fjord- og kystvannet på Vestlandet skyldes store forekomster av kalkalger. Denne typer alger er ufarlige for mennesker og dyr, men de er også godt synlige fra verdensrommet. Den europeiske miljøsatellitten Envisat er derfor et nyttig overvåknings-verktøy for å kartlegge utbredelsen av disse algeblomstringene.

Siden 1998 har Nansensenteret daglig overvåket utbredelsen av alger i våre kystfarvann ved bruk av satellittdata (http://HAB.nersc.no).

Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (Bergen, Norway)	Nansen-Bangladesh International Centre for Coastal, Ocean and Climate Studies (Dhaka, Bangladesh)	Nansen International Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (St. Petersburg, Russia)
Nansen Environmental Research Center – India (Cochin, India)	Nansen–Zhu International Research Centre (Beijing, China)	Nansen-Tutu Centre for Marine Environmental Research (Cape Town, South Africa)