Department 1: Geodesy and Remote Sensing

Acting Director: Prof. Dr. Hermann Kaufmann

To measure in detail the shape and rotation of the Earth, its orientation in space, its gravitational field and its surface are the focus of our work. Our own satellite, Champ, which has been in Earth orbit for nearly 10 years is one of our primary tools for that purpose. We are proposing new Earth science applications for the signals of the American GPS-Satellites. We are also contributing to the development of the new European satellite navigation system Galileo, which will be incorporated into our research. We analyse and interpret data from various international satellites for remote sensing and develop new systems, like EnMAP. Measurements from airplanes, and groundbased geodetic, bio- and geochemical observations, as well as the development and application of corresponding analysis techniques round out the spectrum of our tasks. Finally, we introduce these measurements and observations in computer models in order to simulate and understand the dynamic processes in the Earth’s interior, on its surface and in its atmosphere.
 

The research of Department 1 is organised in five sections:
 

• Section 1.1 GPS/GALILEO Earth Observation
• Section 1.2 Global Geomonitoring and Gravity Field
• Section 1.3 Earth System Modelling
• Section 1.4 Remote Sensing
• Section 1.5 Geoinformatics