Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen is a marine research facility located in Bergen

Bergen

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. Founded in 1917 by Bjørn Helland-Hansen, the institute studies the field of oceanography

Oceanography

Oceanography , also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean...

 dealing with the variation patterns of the weather in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Norway. Within recent years, focus has been increasing put on geophysics

Geophysics

Geophysics is the physics of the Earth and its environment in space; also the study of the Earth using quantitative physical methods. The term geophysics sometimes refers only to the geological applications: Earth's shape; its gravitational and magnetic fields; its internal structure and...

 and environmental research. The research activities at the Institute spans a wide range of areas from small scale measurement of turbulence up to studies of the large scale ocean currents, from local air and noise pollution up to studies of global scale climate change

Climate change

Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...

.

Specific areas of research focus on the Norwegian Current

Norwegian Current

The Norwegian Current is a water current that flows north-easterly along the Atlantic coast of Norway at depths of between 50 and 100 meters...

, the West Spitsbergen Current

West Spitsbergen Current

The West Spitsbergen Current is a warm, salty current that runs poleward just west of Spitsbergen, , in the Arctic Ocean. The WSC branches off the Norwegian Atlantic Current in the Norwegian Sea. The WSC is of importance because it drives warm and salty Atlantic Water into the interior Arctic...

 and the Norwegian Sea

Norwegian Sea

The Norwegian Sea is a marginal sea in the North Atlantic Ocean, northwest of Norway. It is located between the North Sea and the Greenland Sea and adjoins the North Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Barents Sea to the northeast. In the southwest, it is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a...

. Shifts and fluctuations in these currents are closely monitored, as they are thought to be indicators for an ongoing climate change. Recent research has included sequestration and related matters dealing with Carbon capture and storage

Carbon capture and storage

Carbon capture and storage , alternatively referred to as carbon capture and sequestration, is a technology to prevent large quantities of from being released into the atmosphere from the use of fossil fuel in power generation and other industries. It is often regarded as a means of mitigating...

.The current Director of the institute is Dr. Peter M. Haugan

Peter M. Haugan

Peter Mosby Haugan is a Norwegian Scientist and Director of the Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen. His research includes various aspects of physical oceanography focusing on the North Sea and Arctic Ocean...

.

External links

• "Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen"