NORWEGIAN WATER RESOURCES AND ENERGY DIRECTORATE (NVE)

KEY METRICS

No. of Researchers 11

No. of Technical/Admin. positions 9

Research Groups GRADE

1. Hydrology, glaciology and sediment research 3/5

The Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) is a directorate under the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and is responsible for the management of Norway’s water and energy resources. It is organised into five departments of which only the Hydrology Department is considered in this evaluation.

The NVE 2010-2014 strategic plan emphasises research which is relevant to society in the areas of energy, water resources, floods, avalanches and the effects of climate change. NVE has a mandate to ensure that the utilisation of water resources in Norway is both

environmentally friendly and beneficial to Norwegian society.

NVE has framework agreements with the Norwegian Meteorological Institute and with the Geological Survey of Norway (NGU). It is an associated partner in the Oslo CIENS centre (Centre for Interdisciplinary Environmental and Social Research). There are strong links with similar institutions in Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and Denmark, and a wide range of national collaborations with the universities of Oslo, Bergen, UNIS, NTNU, Norwegian University of Life Sciences and NGU, CICERO (Centre for International and Climate Research), the Norwegian Polar Institute and the Norwegian Computing Centre.

Internationally they have a good network of collaborations within the Netherlands, USA, UK, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, China and Russia.

Through its hydrological observation network NVE is responsible for climate change monitoring and provides advice on the measures required for adaptation to climate change and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. They participate in the Climate21 programme established by RCN to develop a climate research strategy in Norway.

5.2.1 Department of Hydrology

The Department of Hydrology has a history going back more than 200 years. It maintains long time-series of hydrological data and is the national centre for hydrological and glaciological monitoring.

The main focus of their research is on understanding processes in the hydrological cycle with an emphasis on water balance, the cryosphere and erosion/sedimentation, based on

observations, experiments and modelling.

OVERVIEWASSESSMENT

As the national centre for hydrology, the Department benefits from a strong base funding from the government; consequently, its infrastructure is good. By virtue of the nature of the organisation, much of the research conducted has a highly operational focus in which high quality monitoring and data analysis inevitably have a greater priority than basic research.

The day-to-day demands for producing data and information clearly have the potential to undermine longer-term research goals.

5.1.1.1 Hydrology, Glaciology and Sediment research group

The Hydrology, Glaciology and Sediment research group, evaluated here, comprises 11 scientists from three different sections in the Hydrology Department, supported by 28 technical staff and administrative staff members from the other sections. Each section has a Head of Section who, together with the Director of the Hydrology Department, are members of the Department management team. The Head of Section role is largely administrative. All research projects have individual project managers.

Research scientist positions were first introduced in the 1990s. Research activity accounts for between 20 and 90% of their time. There is a good balance of female staff in the group (more than 50%). As with many scientific organisations in Norway, it is becoming difficult to recruit Norwegian scientists.

Research staff are provided with opportunities to spend time in other national/international organisations; however, not many staff take advantage of these. The Department does, however, host a number of international visitors and also Masters and PhD students from the universities of Oslo and Freiburg (Germany). Currently, staff are contributing to the

supervision of 8 doctoral students.

Research funding is obtained directly from the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and therefore external funding is not a prerequisite. Applications are, however, encouraged for research grants from RCN, the EU, the European Space Agency (ESA) and other Nordic programmes; NVE have several projects with such funding.

Infrastructure is generally very good. Since the early 1990s NVE has owned and operated the Svartisen Subglacial Laboratory – a unique facility worldwide, capable of enabling leading-edge research into processes operating at the base of glaciers. This appears to be significantly under-utilised at present but has the potential to be developed into a world-class facility for Norway.

NVE has established a useful web portal to provide public access to the results of their research and to historical data on climate and snow.

Although the quality of their hydrological research work is of a high standard, publication rates are low, in relatively low profile journals, and citation rates are also low; outputs have, however, recently started to improve. There does not seem to be a strong culture of

publishing their research in international journals and the work of the Department does not obviously have a strong academic focus. The Evaluation Committee notes that although the bibliometric analysis was presented for the research group as a whole, the quality of the outputs appears to be very uneven, with much of the hydrological modeling at international levels of excellence, whereas research outputs in other areas are significantly weaker. This is reflected in the final grading.

OVERALLGRADE:3/5 RECOMMENDATIONS

It seems clear that the researchers in the group would like to participate in more externally funded projects and to increase their involvement in PhD student training in collaboration with university partners. This should be encouraged within the overall strategic framework of NVE. Improving their publications is an important part of this process, in order to raise their profile, both nationally and internationally. In addition, it is recommended that the NVE hydrology group strengthens its collaboration with the met.no and the University of Oslo hydrology research groups, to improve modelling aimed at operational hydro-meteorological forecasting and sustainable water resources planning and management under climate change.

The Svartisen laboratory is, from an international perspective, a truly unique facility.

Logistically and safety-wise it is a very challenging operation. It has, thus far, been run in a fairly low-key mode, on a minimum budget. The facility offers unparalleled possibilities to directly study and measure processes in the subglacial environment, e.g., flow velocity, basal drag, water pressure etc., on artificial purpose-built bed sections of relevant geological materials. They have good collaborations with some leading US glaciologists, but mostly with the NVE scientists in a supportive role. The Svartisen laboratory is a 5-star national asset, but if NVE is to scientifically gain maximum benefit from having it, they need to strengthen the glaciology staff. In the self-evaluation only one scientist was listed as performing Svartisen-related research.

Work at the Svartisen laboratory has the potential to change the current knowledge base on the controls on glacier flow. This would have significant implications for ice-sheet modeling and the whole issue of ice-sheet stability under a changing climate. There is thus a potential for considerable scientific breakthroughs. If NVE wants to be part of this development, it has to go far beyond the role of supplying the infrastructure. A secure base-level of funding for the laboratory, a permanent laboratory manager, and two additional glaciologists (in theoretical ice dynamics and basal interface processes, respectively) are probably the minimum requirements for NVE to fully utilize the scientific potential of the laboratory.