NERSC has 74 employees from 28 nations and has taken the initiative to start Nansen Centers in 6 countries (Russia, China, India, South Africa and Bangladesh). The vision of the Center is “to pioneer understanding of the Earth system and science-based innovation for society”. The Center conducts multidisciplinary sciences with focus on marine, cryosphere and atmospheric research with integration and links to innovation and service development.
The remote sensing of high latitudes and the Arctic have historically been central issues to NERSC, who has participated to the SMOS mission requirements as early as 2002. NERSC has been a leading contributor to data assimilation techniques since the introduction of the Ensemble Kalman Filter. NERSC leads the Arctic Monitoring and Forecasting Center of the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Services (CMEMS) and participates to the Sea Ice Thematic Assembly Center until March 2021. NERSC will strive to provide the best possible forecast and reanalysis of the Arctic and will make optimal use of SMOS salinity data to reach that goal.