GFZ
The GFZ is Germany’s national research center for solid Earth Sciences. It covers research from space to deep Earth with clear focus on the deep Earth. Earth Observation and Remote sensing are key elements of the GFZ activities in the Helmholtz Research Programme “Changing Earth - Sustaining our Future”. Remote Sensing provides manyfold scientific key contributions to the research topics with GFZ involvement, which are “The Atmosphere in Global Change”, “Ocean and Cryosphere in Climate“, “Living on a Restless Earth: Towards Forecasting Geohazards”, “Landscapes of the Future” and “Georesources for the Energy Transition and a High-Tech society”. GFZ was co-initiating the CARF (Cooperations Across Research Fields) Remote Sensing (RS), which is seen as excellent networking tool not exclusively to bridge the research fields Earth and Environment with Aeronautics, Space and Transport (German Aerospace Center). It also stimulates GFZ internal cross-topic, but also Helmholtz cross-center networking. Selected main GFZ CARF activities are recently:
EnMAP satellite mission
EnMap is a German hyperspectral satellite misson, which was launched April 1, 2022. It supports manifold contributions to all the CARF RS clusters ATMO, MARE, TERRA and CRYO. GFZ coordinates the scientific EnMAP applications with Prof. Chabrillat as chair of the EnMAP Science Advisory Group. GFZ works with several partners to bring the EnMAP to good scientific use, operate a global calibration/validation effort and prepares for the more operational uptake of hyperspectral data worldwide as part of the Copernicus CHIME mission.
GNSS Remote Sensing
GNSS Remote sensing is GFZ’s key activity in the Helmholtz research topic “The Atmosphere in Global Change”. GNSS Observations from huge regional and global ground networks and low Earth Orbiting satellites (e.g. TerrSAR-X, TanDEM-X, GRACE-FO) are used to derive key properties of the neutral atmosphere, ionosphere and Earth surface, as, e.g. temperature, water vapor, electron density, wind speed over oceans and soil moisture over land. The data are used to improve operational weather forecasts and to support climate change related scientific investigations.
RACE-FO Satellite Mission
The GRACE-FO (Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment Follow-on) twin satellite mission was launched on May 22, 2018. It continues the successful monitoring of temporal variations in the Earth´s gravity field initiated by GRACE (2002-2017). Both missions have enabled monitoring of the terrestrial water cycle, ice sheet and glacier mass balance, sea level change and ocean bottom pressure variations, as well as understanding responses to changes in the global climate system.