Our history
Below are some of the milestones from NORSAR's over 50 year long history.
1968NORSAR is founded
A Government-to-Government agreement comes into effect between Norway and the USA.
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1970NTNF
NORSAR becomes a project under The Royal Norwegian Council for Industrial and Scientific Research.
1970NOA seismic array
The NOA seismic array near Hamar in southeast Norway is completed.
1973ARPANET
NORSAR becomes the first non-US node on ARPANET, the predecessor to today's Internet.
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1975Seismic risk analysis
NORSAR executes the first seismic risk research project.
1978Seismic modelling
NORSAR establishes seismic modelling as a new research area.
1984NORES seismic array
NORSAR's second seismic array is completed near Hamar in southeastern Norway.
1985Seismic hazard
NORSAR experiences a major increase in seismic hazard research and consultancy activities.
1987ARCES seismic array
The ARCES seismic array near Karasjok in Finnmark, northern Norway is completed.
1988Commercial software
Commercial software development within seismic modelling is started.
1992SPITS seismic array
The SPITS seismic array near Longyearbyen, Svalbard is completed.
1992NORSAR-2D
First release of NORSAR-2D, NORSAR's first seismic modelling software package.
1996NORSAR-3D
First release of NORSAR-3D, NORSAR's second seismic modelling software package.
1996Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty
The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).
1999Norway ratifies the CTBT
The Norwegian Government ratifies the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). NORSAR is appointed National Data Centre.
1999Independent research foundation
NORSAR becomes an independent research foundation on July 1st.
2000NOA seismic array
The NOA seismic array (PS27) near Hamar is formally certified within the CTBT International Monitoring System.
2001ARCES seismic array
The ARCES seismic array (PS28) near Karasjok is formally certified as an IMS station after a major upgrade.
2003ICG
NORSAR becomes a partner of the ICG - International Centre of Geohazards.
2003RN49 radionuclide station
RN49 radionuclide station near Longyearbyen, Svalbard is formally certified as an IMS station.
2005Åknes geophone network
A geophone network is installed at the unstable Åknes rock slide near Stranda, western Norway.
2005NORSAR Innovation
NORSAR Innovation AS is established to market and sell NORSAR's commercial software solutions.
2006JMIC seismic station
Seismic station AS73 on Jan Mayen is formally certified as an IMS station.
2007SeisRoX
The software package SeisRoX™ is launched.
2007SPITS seismic array
SPITS seismic array near Longyearbyen, Svalbard is certified as an IMS station.
2011CO2 storage monitoring
NORSAR executes our first major microseismic monitoring project CO2 storage in In Salah, Algeria.
2011Geothermal system
NORSAR executes our first real-time microseismic monitoring project on geothermal stimulation in Australia.
2012Antarctic seismic station
NORSAR installs a seismic station at the Norwegian research base Troll in Antarctica.
2014IS37 infrasound array
NORSAR's infrasound station IS37 (IMS station I37NO) at Bardufoss in northern Norway is officially opened.
2016NORSAR-3D on Windows
NORSAR releases the first MS Windows version of the NORSAR-3D software package.
2019Bjørnøya seismic station
NORSAR installs the seismic array station BEAR at Bjørnøya island south of Svalbard.
2022HSPA seismic array
The HSPA seismic array near Hornsund, Svalbard is completed.
2023NORFOX fibre optic array
NORSAR's first research site for testing fibre-optic distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) technology in Løten, Norway is completed.