Since its inception in 2018, InSAR Norway has emerged as a pivotal tool in addressing geological hazards and advancing scientific research in Norway. Utilizing the C-band data from Sentinel-1, it provides annual comprehensive ground movement updates crucial for understanding and mitigating natural disasters and ensuring infrastructure stability across Norway's complex terrain. The service's impact is particularly pronounced in landslide mapping and permafrost studies, areas of critical importance given Norway's climatic and geological vulnerability.InSAR Norway has been instrumental in detecting and monitoring landslide-prone areas, providing data essential for early warning systems and risk assessment. Detailed morpho-kinematic inventories have been updated nationwide to include previously undetected movements. By classifying slope movements and providing velocity data, InSAR Norway has significantly contributed to understanding the kinematics of landslides, enabling more cost-effective monitoring solutions. A recent study leveraging InSAR Norway data has statistically explored the link between permafrost and displacement rates of large unstable rock slopes (LURSs), revealing that permafrost presence significantly influences these rates and that complete thawing of permafrost can reduce or halt displacement, indicating the nuanced role of permafrost in geological hazard scenarios.InSAR Norway's data has also shed light on the dynamics of rock glaciers and permafrost creep. Studies utilizing this data have revealed the impact of permafrost thawing on rock glacier velocities and the broader implications for landscape stability and hydrology. By providing detailed movement profiles of rock glaciers in transition from active to relict stages, InSAR Norway has offered insights into the effects of climate change on cold region dynamics.The service's free and open data policy has been central to its success, catalyzing a wide range of research and operational applications by providing unrestricted access to high-quality, high-resolution data. This policy has facilitated a collaborative environment where academics, government agencies, and industry can innovate and develop solutions to shared challenges.With the impending integration of L-band data from the NISAR satellite mission, InSAR Norway is poised for significant enhancements. NISAR data will augment the service's ability to monitor ground movements, particularly in vegetated areas and through seasonal changes. This integration reflects our commitment to adopting cutting-edge technology to improve the accuracy, timeliness, and applicability of geohazard monitoring and research. By fusing the strengths of C-band and L-band data, InSAR Norway will provide a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of ground deformation processes, supporting safer, more informed decision-making in the face of Norway's dynamic and often harsh environmental conditions. InSAR Norway will continue its legacy of pioneering satellite-based monitoring, safeguarding communities, and advancing scientific understanding of geohazards.

The hygrothermal performance of highly insulated, prefabricated wooden roof structures is likely to deteriorate due to the low heat flux to the ventilation cavity. This article evaluates the possibility to improve the moisture safety of such roofs in a Nordic climate by using different control methods for the ventilation rate of the roof and by using thermal insulation above the roof sheathing. The results support the use of adaptive roof ventilation as it decreases the probability of mould growth in the roof. The use of thermal insulation above roof sheathing decreases the probability of mould growth only slightly in a roof with elevated amount of built-in moisture.

Highway investment appraisals usually do not account for land use changes triggered by the investment. However, previous studies argue that new highways promote sprawling land use development associated with greater car dependency and increased motorized transport demand. This paper aims to increase the knowledge of how land use changes resulting from new highways impact transport demand. We model induced transport demand from seven highway investments, assuming both fixed and dynamic land use between the build and the no build scenarios. When land use is allowed to change, relocation of population is estimated with a regression model building on existing dynamics between population density and job accessibility. Our results indicate that land use changes resulting from highway investments impact induced transport demand. Highways that provide substantial travel time savings near urban areas are found to generate most induced transport demand from land use changes. However, induced demand from land use changes constitute a modest proportion of total induced demand resulting from the highways.

Abstract This paper presents a study of the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the Norwegian public sector. The study focused particularly on projects involving personal data, which adds a risk of discriminating against individuals and social groups. The study included a survey of 200 public sector organizations and 19 interviews with representatives for AI projects involving personal data. The findings suggest that AI development in the public sector is still immature, and few projects involving personal data have reached the stage of production. Political pressure to use AI in the sector is significant. Limited knowledge and focus on AI development among managements has made individuals and units with the resources and interest in experimenting with AI an important driving force. The study found that the journey from idea to production of AI in the public sector presents many challenges, which often leads to projects being temporarily halted or terminated. While AI can contribute to the streamlining and improvement of public services, it also involves risks and challenges, including the risk of producing incorrect or discriminatory results affecting individuals and groups when personal data is involved. The risk of discrimination was, however, not a significant concern in the public sector AI projects. Instead, other concepts such as ethics, fairness, and transparency took precedence in most of the project surveyed here.

This chapter is about media-consumption among 60 Norwegian citizens with immigrant backgrounds during the pandemic (March 2020 – July 2021). Through qualitative in-depth interviews, and a structured questionnaire the study explores access to and consumption of different sources of media among the informants during the pandemic. The study investigates ways informants employed various media to orient themselves regarding the pandemic and sought out information about COVID-19 and infection control. The study further looks at what the target group focused on in terms of information and how overall information about the virus impacted their everyday lives. Firstly, a review of the aggregated data reveals a significant multi-consumption of media among the informants, including Norwegian and international media, as well as media from the country of origin. This finding is further confirmation of the marked multi-consumption of media among “immigrants” a number of other studies refer to. Secondly, the study reveals the informants’ relatively strong trust in Norwegian media, while they consider “non-Norwegian” media as less credible and reliable. This finding stands in contrast to studies in which immigrants consider media in their host country to be sources of exclusion and marginalization. Thirdly, the study reveals the relatively significant role that “resource persons”, in form of friends, neighbors, colleagues, etc., played in the informants’ search for relevant information about COVID-19.

Regional and national strategies targeting climate change are a driver for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Municipalities play an important role towards a sustainable society and in restructuring needed to reach the 2030 European Climate targets. They often require that new buildings shall be zero emission and that the building’s carbon footprint shall be reduced compared to a reference building, starting with public buildings. To reach low or zero emission buildings, the production of renewable energy must equal or outweigh the CO2-emissions associated with the building. The energy consumption of the building should be decreased before designing on-site renewable energy generation systems. This is ensured by following a holistic energy design approach: energy conservation, reducing electrical energy, efficient energy management and producing renewable energy. Although Norway has had a focus on low and zero emission buildings, there is a limited number of low CO2-emission schools. These are designed and constructed by various actors. Therefore, the practical experience and knowledge in the industry is scattered and still in development. This paper aims to summarize practical strategies for low CO2-emission schools in Norway. Several case studies were analyzed to identify common traits and interviews were conducted to identify opportunities, challenges and strategies.

Improving the energy efficiency of buildings is one of the main strategies to reach the European target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As most of the future building stock is already built, retrofitting existing buildings will play a significant role in reaching this goal. In Norway, buildings that undergo full retrofitting must fulfil the same energy efficiency requirements as new buildings. This is challenging, especially in the case of historic buildings. Improvements should not damage or change the existing structure. As it is often challenging to retrofit historic buildings, this paper aims to provide practical guidelines for building envelope retrofitting as well as identify key points that need to be taken into consideration in the design phase. First, retrofitting measures recommended in historic case study buildings in Norway are analyzed. Second, an overview of typical challenges for retrofitting historic buildings is given. These are identified from literature review and from experiences during the design phase. Interviews with public building owners, contractors, consultants and architects were conducted to discuss challenges from different perspectives. Finally, findings from the literature, interviews and case studies are discussed to identify similarities.

Abstract High‐Alpine regions are prone to a large variety of geohazards, among which earthquakes have the strongest impact on landscape and local population. Historic records indicate a moderate to high seismic activity in the northern, south‐western and central parts of Switzerland. In contrast, south‐eastern Switzerland has less historic earthquake chronicles due to the low population density, resulting in a poorly constrained seismic event catalogue. The aim of this study is to evaluate the palaeoseismic activity for south‐eastern Switzerland by using the sedimentary record of Lake Silvaplana in the Engadine Valley. A dense grid of high‐resolution two‐dimensional seismic profiles, high‐resolution bathymetry and a 10 m long sediment core from the deepest basin were used to investigate the stratigraphy of the lake sediments. The bathymetry reveals a flat basin, flanked by steep slopes to the north‐west and south‐east. The acoustic basement consists of four ridges, and gently‐dipping fans to the south‐west and north‐east. Expressions of slope failure can be identified in all domains of the lake floor and the subsurface data. Multiple coevally‐triggered chaotic mass‐flow deposits, overlain by megaturbidites with a coarse‐sand base, have been detected along ten horizons in the seismic data. The four most recent of these deposits are cored and radiocarbon dated to approximately 230, 310, 960 and 1330 cal yr bp, indicating four over‐regional seismic events that triggered large slope failures in Lake Silvaplana in the last 1400 years. Correlation with sediments of Lake Sils, Lake Como, Lake Iseo and Lake Ledro indicate within radiocarbon uncertainties a large earthquake around 1330 cal yr bp. Within their age ranges, the postulated earthquake at 310 cal yr bp (1640 ce) further correlates with a moment magnitude Mw ca 5.4 event in Ftan in 1622 ce, and the 960 cal yr bp (990 ce) earthquake correlates with a Mw ca 5.2 earthquake in Brescia in 1065 ce. Six mass‐movement deposits, also suggested to be caused by earthquakes, were not reached by the sediment core and have suggested ages between 7800 and 11 300 cal yr bp. Thus, Lake Silvaplana sediments provide the first reliable record of seismic activity for the mid and Late Holocene in this region, likely related to the neotectonic activity of the Engadine Line, a major fault zone running along the main valley.

Rockfall simulations are often performed at various levels of detail depending on the required safety margins of rockfall-hazard-related assessments. As a pseudo benchmark, the simulation results from different models can be put side-by-side and compared with reconstructed rockfall trajectories, and mapped deposited block fragments from real events. This allows for assessing the objectivity, predictability, and sensitivity of the models. For this exercise, mapped data of past events from the Mel de la Niva site are used in this paper for a qualitative comparison with simulation results obtained from early calibration stages of the Flow-R 2.0.9, Rockyfor3D 5.2.15 and RAMMS::ROCKFALL 1.6.70 software. The large block fragments, reaching hundreds of megajoules during their fall, greatly exceed the rockfall energies of the empirical databases used for the development of most rockfall models. The comparison for this challenging site shows that the models could be improved and that combining the use of software programs with different behaviors could be a workaround in the interim. The findings also highlight the inconvenient importance of calibrating the simulations on a per-site basis from onsite observations. To complement this process, a back calculation tool is briefly described and provided. This work also emphasizes the need to better understand rockfall dynamics to help improve rebound models.