The Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research (BCCR) combines observations with theoretical and modeling studies of past, present and future climates. The affiliated researchers have leading expertise within climate understanding, climate modeling and scenarios for climate changes and quantification of climate changes.
The overall aim of the Bjerknes Centre is to understand and quantify the climate system for the benefit of society.
BCCR focuses mainly on northern Europe and the polar regions, and is a key provider of first-rate knowledge on climate change to policy makers, industry, and the general public.
The research is organised into four research teams, each with specific goals, objectives and implementation plans.
Our researchers are employed at one of our partnerinstitutions:
- University of Bergen (UoB)
- Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Centre (NERSC)
- The Institute of Marine Research (IMR)
- The Norwegian Research Centre (NORCE)
Nordic Centre of Excellence
The Bjerknes Centre was founded in 2000 by the four partnerinstitutions UoB, IMR, NERSC and NORCE.
The BCCR was labeled a National Centre of Excellence (CoE) from 2003 - 2012. The funding and acknowledgement from the Norwegian Research Council made it possible for various research groups and disciplines in Bergen to work together. This multidisciplinary collaboration has enhanced the level of climate research on a national scale, and continues to do so today.
After five years as a CoE the centre went through a midway evaluation by an international committee, on behalf of the Research Council of Norway. The overall grading of achievements from the committee was “exceptionally good”:
“BCCR has produced outstanding research results and is on the forefront of development in their field. The evaluation remarks that the centre is on the way to become one of the leading centers worldwide and has an excellent reputation at the national and international levels. The cooperation among various disciplines is considered as exemplary” - CoE evaluation.
Today, the activities of the Bjerkens Centre are partially funded by a grant to the Centre for Climate Dynamics (SKD) from the Ministry of Education and Research for the period 2010-2026.
Visionary Scientists
The Centre is named in honour of the visionary scientists Vilhelm and Jacob Bjerknes.
Vilhelm Bjerknes (1862-1951) laid the foundations of modern meteorology and weather forecasting through the "Bergen School of Meteorology" at the Geophysical Institute in Bergen. His Son Jacob (1897-1975) carried out pioneer research on climate change and the role of the ocean in the climate system. Read more about Vilhelm Bjerknes' career here.
The spiral in our logo is taken from Bjerknes' original drawings of the circulation around a low pressure system.