Nina Winther-Kaland

Research Director, Bergen

Leads StormGeo’s innovative research and development team. An expert in operational oceanography with a decade of industry knowledge, Nina provides advanced Response Forecasting to clients for safer and more cost-effective offshore operations.

Nina’s Story

“I really enjoy leading StormGeo’s research team. The team has such a broad span of expertise, from PhD’s in meteorology, oceanography, physics and math to information science and deep learning.”

Nina joined the team as StormGeo’s first oceanographer in 2007, specializing in numerical modeling of ocean currents and waves. With an academic background as a researcher at the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center, Nina came on board to put her scientific expertise into practice.

Nina helped pioneer the development of StormGeo’s Response Forecasting, which combines state-of-the-art technologies from meteorology and hydrodynamics to forecast weather-influenced motions in offshore floating units. Nina’s research has provided decision support to customers in offshore operations, helping them to increase up-time and safeguard operations.

Nina has a focus on developing innovative services through direct client interaction, creating tailored solutions that fit the customer’s needs.

“I enjoy solving specific challenges in the industry. It’s rewarding to see our research make a measurable difference to the safety and efficiency of our customers’ operations.”

Nina also volunteers for a project in Norway called ‘Role Models’, where experts in their field visit schools to explain the kinds of scientific work they are involved in.

“It’s a project to get kids interested in science, and not least make them aware of all the possibilities out there! I visit schools in my area and get the opportunity to talk about oceanography/meteorology, StormGeo and climate change. I specially want to be a good role model for all the young girls out there.”

Recent Research

Wave-wind interactions and the implications for offshore wind turbines
Marine operations and rig response forecasting
Integrated real-time environmental monitoring and oil spill forecasting system (IREMOS)

Expertise

Ocean Modeling; Operational Oceanography; Meteorology; Weather Forecasting; Data Science; Offshore O&G; Offshore Wind

Publications

Exploring the gap between ‘best knowledge’ and ‘best practice’ in boundary layer meteorology for offshore wind energy, Kalvig, S., Gudmestad, O.V. and Winther (2014)