The Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center is a private non-profit environmental and climate research foundation affiliated with the University of Bergen. The Nansen Center s vision is to make a significant contribution to the understanding, monitoring and forecasting of the world environment and climate, on both regional and global scales, and as regards their impact on society.

International
Climate and environmental research issues can only be solved through international joint efforts. Accordingly, an extensive international network of cooperation has been developed since its foundation in 1986. This includes also the establishment of the following Nansen Centers worldwide:
The Nansen International Environmental and Remote Sensing Center in St. Petersburg, Russia, established in 1992
The Nansen Environmental Research Centre India in Cochin, Kerala, India, established in 1998
The Nansen-Zhu Center in Beijing, China, established in 2003.

All of these sister organizations are based on close cooperation with academic and university institutions in their home countries. Years of cooperation with Russia in Arctic climate and enviroment research was awarded the EU Descartes prize of excellence in scientific research in 2005.

Strategy
The research strategy of the Nansen Center is based on combined applications of satellite earth observation data with field observations and numerical modelling tools using advanced data assimilation tools. The main scientific research foci are:
Climate understanding, variability and changes
Satellite monitoring of global environment and climate
Developing and utilizing satellite-based methods for marine studies
Global ocean studies and marine forecasting, including operational oceanography
Wind energy resources in coastal regions
Socio-economic impact of global change

Results
The Nansen Group produces high-quality scientific publications, reports, information and products beneficial to research activities, industry, governmental agencies and international conventions.

The extensive knowledge of the group includes the Arctic environment and climate, which is important for the development of research and exploration of this vulnerable part of the world. Recent scientific findings cover natural and antrophogenic variations in the Arctic and Nordic Seas during the 20th century, transformation of the Arctic sea ice cover, modelling of 21st century Arctic climate change and impact studies on oil and gas exploration, fisheries and marine ecosystems.

Satellites observe icebergs near Franz Josef Land and ocean-ice models are used to predict their displacements.