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The Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) is an environmental research organisation which researches, monitors, assesses [1] and studies freshwater, [2] coastal and marine environments [3] and environmental technology. [4]
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The Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) is an environmental research organisation which researches, monitors, assesses [1] and studies freshwater, [2] coastal and marine environments [3] and environmental technology. [4]
NIVA's areas of work include environmental contaminants, [5] [6] [7] biodiversity and climate related issues. NIVA's research reports can be accessed through BIBSYS, and all reports from 1956 until 2015 are available for download. Some of the more widely read articles are also made available by Sciencenordic.com and forskning.no (articles in Norwegian only). The institute has twelve sections, led by research managers: Aquaculture, Biodiversity, Innovation, International projects and cooperation, Chemicals, Effects of climate change, Laboratory services, Environmental contaminants, Environmental monitoring, Environmental technology and Measures against pollution.
In 2012 NIVA was in the news after its scientists developed a method of studying drug use in cities though analysis of sewage. [8] [9] [10]
NIVA was founded in 1958 and in 2015 is a non-profit research foundation. Its board is appointed by the Norwegian Ministry of the Environment, the Research Council of Norway and its employees. NIVA's Head Office is at the Oslo Innovation Centre in Oslo, with regional offices in Bergen, Grimstad and Hamar, as well as a large scale research facility in the Oslo Fjord. The organization is certified with ISO9001, and laboratory activities are accredited in accordance with ISO17025.
NIVA has about 200 employees. Two-thirds of these have educational backgrounds in water sciences and more than half work in research.
NIVA has several wholly and partly owned subsidiaries:
Eutrophication is the process by which an entire body of water, or parts of it, becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. It has also been defined as "nutrient-induced increase in phytoplankton productivity". Water bodies with very low nutrient levels are termed oligotrophic and those with moderate nutrient levels are termed mesotrophic. Advanced eutrophication may also be referred to as dystrophic and hypertrophic conditions. Eutrophication can affect freshwater or salt water systems. In freshwater ecosystems it is almost always caused by excess phosphorus. In coastal waters on the other hand, the main contributing nutrient is more likely to be nitrogen, or nitrogen and phosphorus together. This depends on the location and other factors.
Environmental science is an interdisciplinary academic field that integrates physics, biology, and geography to the study of the environment, and the solution of environmental problems. Environmental science emerged from the fields of natural history and medicine during the Enlightenment. Today it provides an integrated, quantitative, and interdisciplinary approach to the study of environmental systems.
Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies, usually as a result of human activities, so that it negatively affects its uses. Water bodies include lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers, reservoirs and groundwater. Water pollution results when contaminants are introduced into these water bodies. Water pollution can be attributed to one of four sources: sewage discharges, industrial activities, agricultural activities, and urban runoff including stormwater. It can be grouped into surface water pollution or groundwater pollution. For example, releasing inadequately treated wastewater into natural waters can lead to degradation of these aquatic ecosystems. Water pollution can also lead to water-borne diseases for people using polluted water for drinking, bathing, washing or irrigation. Water pollution reduces the ability of the body of water to provide the ecosystem services that it would otherwise provide.
Østensjøvannet is a lake located in the Østensjø borough in Oslo, Norway. It is well known for the wide variety of birds and other wildlife that can be found there. It is currently a wildlife preserve, though urban development posed a serious threat to the lake and its environs during the 1980s and early 1990s.
The Norwegian University of Life Sciences is a public university located in Ås, Norway. It is located at Ås in Viken, near Oslo, and at Adamstuen in Oslo and has around 5,200 students.
Environmental technology (envirotech) or green technology (greentech), also known as clean technology (cleantech), is the application of one or more of environmental science, green chemistry, environmental monitoring and electronic devices to monitor, model and conserve the natural environment and resources, and to curb the negative impacts of human involvement. The term is also used to describe sustainable energy generation technologies such as photovoltaics, wind turbines, etc. Sustainable development is the core of environmental technologies. The term environmental technologies is also used to describe a class of electronic devices that can promote sustainable management of resources.
The NILU – Norwegian Institute for Air Research or NILU is one of the leading specialized scientific laboratories in Europe researching issues related to air pollution, climate change and health. It is an independent nonprofit institution, established in 1969, staffed by scientists, engineers and technicians with specialized expertise for working on air pollution problems. The staff do more than two hundred projects annually for research councils, industries, international banks and local, national and international authorities and organizations. Its first director was Brynjulf Ottar.
Marine ecosystems are the largest of Earth's aquatic ecosystems and exist in waters that have a high salt content. These systems contrast with freshwater ecosystems, which have a lower salt content. Marine waters cover more than 70% of the surface of the Earth and account for more than 97% of Earth's water supply and 90% of habitable space on Earth. Seawater has an average salinity of 35 parts per thousand of water. Actual salinity varies among different marine ecosystems. Marine ecosystems can be divided into many zones depending upon water depth and shoreline features. The oceanic zone is the vast open part of the ocean where animals such as whales, sharks, and tuna live. The benthic zone consists of substrates below water where many invertebrates live. The intertidal zone is the area between high and low tides. Other near-shore (neritic) zones can include mudflats, seagrass meadows, mangroves, rocky intertidal systems, salt marshes, coral reefs, lagoons. In the deep water, hydrothermal vents may occur where chemosynthetic sulfur bacteria form the base of the food web.
The North West Shelf Operational Oceanographic System (NOOS) monitors physical, sedimentological and ecological variables for the North Sea area. NOOS is operated by partners from the nine countries bordering the extended North Sea and European North West Shelf; Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and United Kingdom. Working collaboratively to develop and implement ocean observing systems in the area. Near real time and recent history sea levels are available to on their web site in map, graph or table format.
The Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) is one of Europe's leading marine science research organisations, one of the oldest oceanographic organisations in the world and is Scotland's largest and oldest independent marine science organisation.
The CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI) is a research institute created and funded by Government of India. It was established in Nagpur in the year 1958 with focus on water supply, sewage disposal, communicable diseases and to some extent on industrial pollution and occupational diseases found common in post-independent India. NEERI is a pioneer laboratory in the field of environmental science and engineering and part of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). NEERI has five zonal laboratories at Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai. NEERI falls under the Ministry of Science and Technology (India) of the central government. The NEERI is an important partner organisation in India's POPs National Implementation Plan (NIP).
Edward David Goldberg was a marine chemist, known for his studies of pollution in the oceans.
Knut Lehre Seip is professor in environmental management at Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway. Seip obtained his masters in physics at the University of Oslo, UiO, in 1969. He obtained his ph.D at UiO in 1992 with the thesis “Mathematical models of lake ecosystems.” Seip has served at several positions at Center for industrial research, SI / SINTEF. Professor Seip held the first chair in Environmental management in Norway, at Telemark University College 1994-2000, then he became professor and head of Research and Management at Oslo University College. From 2011 he has been professor and vice dean for research and development at the Faculty of technology, arts and design at Oslo and Akershus University College of applied Sciences. He is th son of the Norwegian historian Jens Arup Seip.
Nord University is a state university in the Nordland and Trøndelag counties of Norway. The university has 11,000 students at study locations in Northern and Central Norway, with main campuses in Bodø, the capital of the county of Nordland, and Levanger, a university town located on the south shore of the Trondheim Fjord. Further campuses are located in Mo i Rana, Namsos, Nesna, Sandnessjøen, Steinkjer, Stjørdal, and Vesterålen.
Lindsay Margaret Laird was a British biologist who was influential in the development of the aquaculture of salmon and other fishes through her research, teaching and the books that she produced. She defined the standards for Organic Farmed Salmon, and introduced quality assurance labelling for farmed salmon.
CRIStin is the national research information system of Norway, and is owned by the Royal Ministry of Education and Research. CRIStin documents all scholarly publications by Norwegian researchers, and complements the BIBSYS database, which focuses on storage and retrieval of data pertaining to research, teaching and learning – historically metadata related to library resources. CRIStin is the first database of its kind worldwide.
Cecilie Mauritzen is a Norwegian oceanographer who studies connections between ocean currents and climate change.
Sivasankaran Bijoy Nandan is a Professor at the Department of Marine Biology, Microbiology & Biochemistry, School of Marine Sciences, Cochin University of Science & Technology (CUSAT). He currently holds the office of the Dean, Faculty of Marine Sciences, Cochin University of Science and Technology. He was served as Head of the department, Department of Marine Biology, Microbiology and Biochemistry, CUSAT during 2019-2021 period. He has expertise in teaching, research, and development activities in the broad area of Aquatic Ecosystem Characterisation, Conservation, Restoration and Management, Carbon Dynamics & Community Ecology, Communities Ecology & Biology, Eco-toxicology and Biology of Polar Communities. Recently a new species of deep sea wood boring mollusc collected from eastern Arabian Sea named after Prof. Bijoy Nandan as Xylophaga nandani by team of Researchers from Brazil and India namely, Marcel Velásquez, P.R. Jayachandran & M. Jima.
