About

MET Norway has the national responsibility for producing and disseminating forecasts for the ocean and the atmosphere, and run ocean circulation, surface wave, sea ice and atmospheric models operationally. MET Norway also develops and maintains contingency models for decision-making support, e.g. for search-and-rescue operations and oil spill mitigation. In addition, the institute maintains large data archives and plays a key role in the processing and dissemination of geophysical observations from satellite and land based instrument platforms. Research and development at MET Norway covers all physical aspects of the earth system, and the institute collaborates closely with other research institutes and universities in Norway and abroad on a wide variety of topics such as ecosystem modeling, transport of pollutants and climate change mitigation.

The Division for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology is responsible for the development and maintenance of our operational wave forecasting models (in close collaboration with the Division for Ocean and Sea Ice, ocean.met.no). The models are used for daily forecasting at resolutions from 800 m to 4 km. We also build and maintain climate archives (hindcasts) of the marine wind and wave climate (see NORA3 and NORA10). The forecast models currently consist of a suite of WAM wave models, but we are in the process of phasing in a new suite of WaveWatch III models.

Marine Lagrangian trajectory models are the main tool for our operational contingency models of search and rescue, drifting ships and oil spill mitigation. The OpenDrift model framework is used for both operational forecasting and for research. We develop the OpenDrift model and maintain the operational service in close collaboration with the Forecast Division for Western Norway who operate a 24/7 service for emergency preparedness for Norwegian waters for oil spill, drifting ships and search and rescue.