Norwegian Meteorological Institute (Norwegian Meteorologisk institutt) is the Norwegian national institute for weather forecasts. The three main offices are located in Oslo, Bergen and Tromsø. The Institute has around 500 employees and keeps around 650 paid observers of various kinds around the country. The Institute operated the last remaining weather ship in the world, M/S "Polarfront", located in the North Atlantic, until it was discontinued due to budgetary issues January 1, 2010 and replaced with existing satellite and buoy data.
The institute produces operational weather forecasts using the Unified Model software for Numerical Weather Prediction assisted by human forecasters.
The Norwegian Meteorological Institute was founded in 1866 with the help of Norwegian astronomer and meteorologist Henrik Mohn who served as director until 1913. He is credited with founding meteorological research in Norway.
The Institute represents Norway in international organizations like the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), and EUMETSAT (Europe an organization for satellite cooperation). Additionally the Institute is a partner to a number of international research and monitoring projects like the North West Shelf Operational Oceanographic System a.o.