The Nansen Legacy is a novel and holistic Arctic research project providing integrated scientific knowledge on the rapidly changing marine climate and ecosystem. A new knowledge base is required to facilitate a sustainable management of the northern Barents Sea and adjacent Arctic Basin through the 21st century.

The Nansen Legacy unites about 280 researchers, students, and technicians from ten Norwegian research institutions. The research team includes interdisciplinary arctic marine expertise within physical, chemical, and biological oceanography, as well as geologists, modelers and underwater robotic engineers. Jointly we investigate the past, present and future climate and ecosystem of the northern Barents Sea.

In total, the project has spent over 350 days at sea between 2018 and 2022, using the new Norwegian research icebreaker ‘Kronprins Haakon’ as main research platform. The ship-based sampling is complemented by the use of underwater robotics, year-round moored observing platforms and satellite-based observations. Complementary model tools are used to integrate field-based observations, and to investigate the dynamics of the physical and biological components of the northern Barents Sea climate and ecosystem at present and in the future.

The Nansen Legacy is home to over 70 early career scientists, providing them with a unique collaborative community and supervision across institutions and disciplines. This gives rise to a new generation of holistic thinking Arctic research leaders.

The Nansen Legacy runs for seven years (2018–2024), and is funded by the Research Council of Norway and the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research. They provide 50% of the budget while the participating institutions contribute 50% in-kind. The total budget for the Nansen Legacy project is 740 mill. NOK.