A modeling study of iceberg drift characteristics in the Barents and Kara seas for the period 1987–2005 is presented. Maps of iceberg density and potential locations subject to grounding complement sparse existing oceanographic and aerial field survey campaigns.

The model suggests preferential pathways from the most important calving sources. Icebergs originating from Franz Josef Land have the largest spread over the domain. Simulations confirm the previously observed seasonal cycle of the southernmost extent of the icebergs.

Atmospheric conditions observed during late November and early December last year in Bergen are known as the atmospheric blocking. During days with blocking, easterly and north-easterly weak winds prevail. In Bergen, blocking situations have been frequently observed in January-February 2010 and return now in November. Blocking, as a meteorological phenomenon, causes large public resonance as its persistence over several days and even weeks deteriorate the air quality in some parts of the city.

The scientific opening seminar for the Nansen-Tutu Centre for Marine Environmental Research has during the last days gathered 90 scientist and students in Cape Town, South Africa. The seminar is organized in collaboration with Centre for High Performance Computing in South Africa.

The seminar focus on the research challenges in monitoring and predicting ocean state in the waters surrounding South Africa where strong cold and warm ocean currents interacts, periodic upwelling occurs and with a complex, diverse and vulnerable marine ecosystem.

Professor Ola M. Johannessen, executive chairman of the Board of the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center in Bergen, Norway was appointed ”Visiting Professor for Senior International Scientists of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)” for 2010. The diploma, signed by Prof. Lu Yongxiang, President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was presented to him by Prof. Hui-Jun Wang, Director for ”Institute of Atmospheric Physics of CAS” in Beijing on Tuesday October 26th. Prof. Johannessen delivered then his first guest lecture titled ”Arctic climate, present and future perspectives”.

On September 30 Dr. Vitaly Alexandrov at Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Centre (NIERSC) in St. Petersburg successfully defended his Doctor of Sciences thesis in Oceanography. The title of his thesis is "Satellite radar monitoring of the Arctic sea ice".

The defense was carried out at the Scientific Council of Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, headed by Dr. I. Frolov. The official opponents were Professor G.A. Lebedev (AARI), Professor V.I. Binenko (Center of Ecological Safety of RAS/State Russian Hydrometeorological University), and Professor A.V.

In the middle of September every year the minimum sea ice extent appears in the Arctic Ocean – so also this year. Both the Northeast- and Northwest- passages are ice free and open for ship traffic. According to the ArcticROOS analysis of satellite microwave data the minimum sea ice area occurred on September 8th 2010 with an ice area of 4.12 mill. km2 in the Arctic Ocean. The sea ice area was then 16% larger that the previous minimum observed in 2007.

The ice area during the 2010 minimum ice extent in the Arctic Ocean (Figure 1) is 4.12 mill.

In the September issue of Deep Sea Research Cecilie Hansen, E. Kvaleberg and Annette Samuelsen publish the paper “Anticyclonic eddies in the Norwegian Sea; their generation, evolution and impact on primary production”.

In the paper they use satellite radar altimetry and ocean color observations in combination with a coupled physical-primary production ocean model to investigate anticyclonic eddies at two locations in the Norwegian Sea. Of particular interest are the formation of the anticyclonic eddies, and their influence on primary production.

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.

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/).