It also operated the last remaining weather ship in the world, MS Polarfront, stationed in the North Atlantic, until it was discontinued due to budgetary issues on 1 January 2010 and replaced with satellite and buoy data.

The institute is also partner to a number of international research and monitoring projects including EMEP, MyOcean, MyWave and the North West Shelf Operational Oceanographic System (NOOS).

Marine forecasts of sea state parameters are issued both commercially to oil companies and more generally for the public.

[citation needed] The institute also provides data for the free online service yr.no, launched in 2007, which provides weather forecasts for some 7 million places in the world.

The marine observations of wave height and other oceanographic parameters gathered by petroleum platforms in Norwegian waters are also archived by the institute.