Co-operation across research fields (CARF) Remote Sensing

To strengthen the field of remote sensing within Helmholtz across Programs and to advance the observation-based integrated analysis of the Earth-Atmosphere system, the Program will establish a collaboration with the RF Aeronautics, Space and Transport (DLR) in the field of remote sensing of the atmosphere, the Earth's surface, and Earth’s space environment by satellite-borne, airborne and ground-based instrumentation.

The planned activities build on a long-standing strategic partnership of RF E&E and DLR and address the grand challenge of developing and enhancing observation systems at scales from the local to the regional and global scales. The common field of interest is the characterization and monitoring of Earth system processes. Examples are ultra-high resolution land-use and land-use change as well as crop prediction assessments, photosynthesis studies, the mass balance of ice sheets in the polar region, natural and anthropogenic hazards, impact delineation,space weather, atmospheric dynamics (e.g. gravity waves) and composition, and aerosol/cloud processes. The RF E&E and DLR have already collaboratively developed, and strive to position, large research infrastructures on the national roadmap, all based on a long-standing successful scientific cooperation. In addition, there are joint contributions to ESA’s Earth Explorer missions.

The possible joint activities span a very broad field. In the initial phase, our CARF will limit itself to topics / projects in which we expect particularly great synergies from the collaboration.

All centers in the RF E&E (with focus on T1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8) as well as RF Aeronautics, Space and Transport (DLR).

The partnership builds on atmospheric limb imaging methods providing unprecedented three-dimensional tomographic observations, innovative lidar techniques, optical (including hyperspectral) methods, and synthetic aperture (SAR) techniques of unprecedented resolution and coverage. In the following, we give a more detailed description of the content of the CARF, structured according to the areas ATMO, MARE and TERRA. For some of the measurement techniques there is an overlap between these areas.