To make a significant contribution to environmental, climate and earth sciences research and application in India through local capacity building as well as increased regional and international cooperation.

• Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NERSC), Bergen, Norway
• Nansen International Environmental and Remote Sensing Centre, St. Petersburg, Russia.
• Nansen‐Zhu International Research Centre, Beijing, China.
• Nansen Scientific Society, Bergen, Norway.
• Nansen-Tutu Centre, Cape Town, S.Africa
• Terra Orbit AS – a research company, Bergen, Norway.

NERCI capitalize on the joint expertise of the Nansen Group.

Personnel

Nansen Centre (India) is currently functioned by four scientists with two Associate scientists and two visiting Associate scientists. Two Indian doctoral students conduct research respectively at University of Bergen and NERSC, Norway and Cochin University of Science and Technology, are also affiliated with NERCI.

The NERCI scientific research advisory board was consulted for taking guidance for R&D activities and promotion of education and social interaction with institutes in India and abroad

Doctoral Program

Two Doctoral fellowship studies are currently being implemented at NERCI on:

• Validation of the HYCOM model for the Indian Ocean region and mesoscale ocean studies of the area.
• Synergistic application of Scatterometer and OCM data for the studies of coastal upwelling, southwest coast of India.

These studies are performed respectively at the Mohn‐Sverdrup Centre at NERSC and University of Bergen, funded by Trond Mohn c/o Frank Mohn AS, Norway and at Cochin University of Science and Technology with NERCI funded by SAC‐ISRO.

Three additional Indian doctoral fellowships are at various stages of implementation in cooperation with Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) starting from 2012. The Nansen Scientific Society gratuitously funds exchange visits to NERSC for these Indian students.

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Board of Directors

Prof. Ola M. Johannessen (Chairman)
Executive Chairman of the Board, NERSC, Norway, Professor Emeritus in Remote Sensing/ Oceanography at Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen, Norway.

Lasse H. Pettersson (Vice Chairman)
Director of International cooperation, NERSC, Norway.

Mrs. Bente E. Johannessen (Director of Administration)
NERSC, Norway.

Prof. N.R. Menon (Professor Emeritus)
CUSAT, Kochi, India.

Dr. K. Ajith Joseph (Director)
NERCI

Prof. Ola M. Johannessen, Founding Director of NERSC and Executive Chairman of the NERSC Board. He is the Leader of the Nansen Group consisting of Nansen Centers in Norway, Russia, China, India and South Africa. He is Chairman of the guardian committee of NIERSC, in St. Petersburg, Co-Chairman of the Nansen-Zhu in Beijing, Chairman of NERCI in India and the Nansen-Tutu Centre in South Africa. He is visiting Professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Guest professor at Peking University and presently involved in integrated studies and predictions of the global climate system, including studies of the Indian Ocean. Author and co-author of more than 500 publications of which 8 are books and 134 are refereed papers (8 in Science and 1 in Nature). He received 9 awards for his Arctic research, including EU Descartes Prize Laureate in Earth Science in 2005 and the Fridtjof Nansen Medal for Outstanding Research in 2007 by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. He was appointed to the Royal Norwegian St. Olavs Knight of 1. order decoration in 2008, by the King of Norway. He has been and is leader of many large multi-disciplinary international research programs, including many EU projects. He has a dual position at NERCI as visiting Associate Scientist from 2010. (full CV at: http://www.nersc.no/~olam/).

Bente E. Johannessen, is one of the founding Directors of NERCI and is also the Director of Administration of NERSC, Bergen, Norway.

Lasse H. Pettersson, is Director for marketing and Leading scientist at the NERSC. He is vice-chairman of the board of directors and member the NERCI Board as well as the Vice-President at the Nansen International Center (NIERSC) in St. Petersburg, Russia. He has 27 years of experience with marine ecosystem research and applications of satellite observation data of the marine environment. He has been coordinator of several multi-national research projects and has extensive experience in international scientific cooperation (incl. supervision and organizing summer schools). He has published 54 referee publications, five books and several book contributions, teaching material for Universities and school classes. He has a dual position at NERCI as visiting Associate Scientist from 2010.

Prof. (Dr.) N.R. Menon, is presently the leading scientist, and one of the Board Directors of NERCI. He is also an Emeritus Professor at School of Marine Sciences, Cochin University of Science and Technology, India. His field of expertise is in Taxonomy and Ecology of Marine Foulers; Marine Biodeterioration; Marine Pollution Monitoring; Toxicology Biodiversity and coastal zone management. He has worked in various scientific capacities at different institutes for more than forty years now. He has more than 150 scientific publications. He has worked as a senior scientist in International Indian Ocean Expedition. He was involved in the investigation on the distribution of the Toxic Algal Blooms along the EEZ of India and the distribution of micro and macro benthos along the EEZ of India involving planning the experiments, deployment of suitable scientific personnel, analyses and interpretation of data. He was the main coordinator of the Netherlands MHO programme implemented at Cochin University of Science and Technology from 1999. He was the Principal investigator and Co-ordinator for two multi-institutional projects of the Marine Living Resources Programme sponsored by the Department of Ocean Development, Govt. of India (MLR-DOD). He has worked as Member of National Research Advisory Committee for the MLR- DOD Programme and many other national programmes. Prof. N. R. Menon is the Chairman of RAC of Ecology and Environment Committee. Kerala Govt. Member of the Assessment of Performance Appraisal of Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt of India and Vice President. Marine Biological Association of India.

Dr. K. Ajith Joseph, Doctorate in Physical Oceanography from Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), India in 1998. He joined Nansen Environmental Research Centre - India as Scientist in 2000. He is the Executive Director of NERCI since 2009 after his tenure as Research Director for two years. He is also a member of the Board of Directors. He has more than fourteen years of research and ten years of project management experience with CUSAT and NERCI through various projects

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Scientific Research Advisory Board

Prof. N.R. Menon (Chairman)
Professor Emeritus, School of Marine Sciences, CUSAT, Kochi, India.

Dr. Shailesh Nayak (Secretary)
Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt. of India, New Delhi.

Prof. Ola M. Johannessen (Executive chairman)
of NERSC and Chairman of NERCI Director Board, Bergen, Norway.

Prof. P.V. Joseph (Director (Rtd.)
India Meteorological Department, Kochi, India, Professor Emeritus, CUSA.

Lasse H. Pettersson (Director)
of International cooperation, NERSC, Bergen, Norway.

Dr. Laurent Bertino( Research Director)
Mohn-Sverdrup Center for Global Ocean Studies and Operational Oceanography, NERSC, Bergen, Norway.

Dr. M. Ramalingam( Director)
Institute of Remote Sensing, Anna University, Chennai, India

Dr. K. Ajith Joseph( Director)
NERCI.

Dr. Nandini Menon(Deputy Director)
Member Secretary, NERCI.

HONORARY MEMBERS

Mr. George Mathew( Managing Director)
NORINCO Pvt. Limited, Mumbai, India.

Mr. Thomas Mathew( Advisor)
NORINCO Pvt. Limited, Kochi, India.

Profile of NERCI Scientific Research Advisory Board

The NERCI Scientific Research Advisory Board monitors the research activities of NERCI and gives guidance for R&D activities as well as promotion of education and interaction with institutes in India and abroad.

Prof. (Dr.) N.R. Menon is presently the leading scientist, Chairman of the Scientific Research advisory board and one of the Board Directors of NERCI. He is also an Emeritus Professor at School of Marine Sciences, Cochin University of Science and Technology, India. His field of expertise is in Taxonomy and Ecology of Marine Foulers; Marine Biodeterioration; Marine Pollution Monitoring; Toxicology Biodiversity and coastal zone management. He has worked in various scientific capacities at different institutes for more than forty years now. He has more than 150 scientific publications. He has worked as a senior scientist in International Indian Ocean Expedition. He was involved in the investigation on the distribution of the Toxic Algal Blooms along the EEZ of India and the distribution of micro and macro benthos along the EEZ of India involving planning the experiments, deployment of suitable scientific personnel, analyses and interpretation of data. He was the main coordinator of the Netherlands MHO programme implemented at Cochin University of Science and Technology from 1999. He was the Principal investigator and Co-ordinator for two multi-institutional projects of the Marine Living Resources Programme sponsored by the Department of Ocean Development, Govt. of India (MLR-DOD). He has worked as Member of National Research Advisory Committee for the MLR- DOD Programme and many other national programmes. Prof. N. R. Menon is the Chairman of RAC of Ecology and Environment Committee. Kerala Govt. Member of the Assessment of Performance Appraisal of Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt of India and Vice President. Marine Biological Association of India.

Prof. Ola M. Johannessen Founding Director of NERSC and Executive Chairman of the NERSC Board. He is the Leader of the Nansen Group consisting of Nansen Centers in Norway, Russia, China, India and South Africa. He is Chairman of the guardian committee of NIERSC, in St. Petersburg, Co-Chairman of the Nansen-Zhu in Beijing, Chairman of NERCI in India and the Nansen-Tutu Centre in South Africa. He is visiting Professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Guest professor at Peking University. He is presently involved in integrated studies and predictions of the global climate system, including studies of the Indian Ocean. He is the author and co-author of more than 500 publications of which 8 are books and 134 are refereed papers (8 in Science and 1 in Nature). He received 9 awards for his Arctic research, including EU Descartes Prize Laureate in Earth Science in 2005 and the Fridtjof Nansen Medal for Outstanding Research in 2007 by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. He was appointed to the Royal Norwegian St. Olavs Knight of 1. order decoration in 2008, by the King of Norway. He has been and is leader of many large multi-disciplinary international research programs, including many EU projects. He has a dual position at NERCI as visiting Associate Scientist from 2010. (full CV at: http://www.nersc.no/~olam/).

Lasse H. Pettersson is Director for marketing and Leading scientist at the NERSC. He is vice-chairman of the board of directors and member the NERCI Board as well as the Vice-President at the Nansen International Center (NIERSC) in St. Petersburg, Russia. He has 27 years of experience with marine ecosystem research and applications of satellite observation data of the marine environment. He has been coordinator of several multi-national research projects and has extensive experience in international scientific cooperation (incl. supervision and organizing summer schools). He has published 54 referee publications, five books and several book contributions, teaching material for Universities and school classes. He has a dual position at NERCI as visiting Associate Scientist from 2010.

Prof. P.V. Joseph was for thirty-two years part of the India Meteorological Department, working in Geomagnetism, and in the operational jobs of Weather Prediction, Aviation Meteorology and Cyclone Warning. Served as Director of the Meteorological Training School of IMD at Pune where he taught tropical meteorology and weather prediction at advanced levels. After retiring from IMD in 1989 he took up various assignments in USA and India. Currently Dr. Joseph is Associate Scientist and Group Head at the Monsoon, Ocean variability and Climate change studies at NERCI and also Professor Emeritus at the Department of atmospheric science, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Cochin. Dr. Joseph has done original research for five decades in Tropical Meteorology (Monsoons, Cyclones and Thunderstorms), Climate Change and Ocean-Atmosphere interaction. He has about 60 research publications in reputed Scientific Journals on these subjects. Dr. Joseph is the team leader for the studies of Monsoon and ocean variability, Climate change and sea level variations. Prof. P. V. Joseph is the member of the International Advisory Panel in Meteorology of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India and continued to be Co-Chairman of the STORM Field Experiment's Implementation Committee. He is the elected President of the Ocean Society of India.

Dr. Shailesh Nayak former Director of INCOIS, Hyderabad and presently the Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt. of India. http://dod.nic.in/moessecy.htm

Dr. Laurent Bertino http://www.nersc.no/staff/laurent-bertino Dr. Laurent Bertino is a research director at NERSC, leading the ocean modelling and data assimilation group. He has been responsible for the development of the TOPAZ ocean monitoring and forecasting system since 2003. He is now leading the Arctic Marine Forecasting Center in the European MyOcean GMES project. He has supervised the implementation and validation of the TOPAZ HYCOM model for the Indian Ocean and given several tutorial lectures on ocean modelling and data assimilation in India. He has co-authored 18 peer-reviewed publications in the last 3 years. He is the member of the NERCI Scientific Research Advisory Board since 2007. Dr. M. Ramalingam He is the Director of Institute of Remote Sensing, Anna University, Chennai. http://www.annauniv.edu/ctdt/contents/civil/remote.html

Dr. K. Ajith JosephDoctorate in Physical Oceanography from Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), India in 1998. He joined Nansen Environmental Research Centre - India as Scientist in 2000. He is the Executive Director of NERCI since 2009 after his tenure as Research Director for two years. He is also a member of the Board of Directors. He has more than fourteen years of research and ten years of project management experience with CUSAT and NERCI through various projects. He is also an Associate scientist at NERSC, Bergen, Norway from February 2011. Presently the Principal investigator of UNEP-APFED project on Regional climate change studies and its impact on sealevel and also the co-investigator of SARAL-Altika data utilisation project funded by SAC-ISRO.

Dr. N. Nandini Menon. Doctorate in Marine Biology from Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), India. She joined NERCI as Senior Scientist in 2009 and has fourteen years of post doctoral research experience and thirteen years of teaching experience. Had been working in CUSAT as Ad-hoc lecturer / Research Associate in projects funded by various national agencies like MoEF, DBT, CSIR, DST and MoES before joining NERCI. Also working as Guest faculty for M. Tech programme in Marine Biotechnology of CUSAT and M. Phil programme of Dept. of Chemical Oceanography of CUSAT. Has implemented independent project as PI under the DST –SERC young scientist scheme in CUSAT. She is the member Secretary of the NERCI Scientific Research Advisory Board.

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