Section 1.3: Earth System Modelling

Head of Section: Prof. Dr. Maik Thomas

The many geodetic and geophysical measurements from airplanes, satellites and from terrestrial networks contain comprehensive information about the Earth system. They are, however, only a snapshot of the dynamic status of our planet. Since these measurements reflect the effects of many different, concurrently active processes, they cannot be interpreted without contributions from theory and models. Precisely this is the focus of the work in Section 1.3. We concentrate on the modelling of transfer of mass, momentum and energy in the Earth system. This includes the simulation of the static and time-varying portions of the Earth's gravitational and magnetic fields, the deformation of the Earth's surface, changes in sea level and variations in the Earth's rotation.