03.07.2014: In the frame of the recently established DFG Priority Program „DynamicEarth” the first workshop is taking place at GFZ at the 3rd and 4th of July. During the meeting first project ideas will be presented, to be carried out within the next three years by an interdisciplinary research collaboration. In addition to many presentations of project outlines by researchers of the GFZ, numerous scientists from both universities and non-university institutes in Germany with collaborations to international partners are taking the opportunity to present their project ideas. Representatives of DFG and ESA will report on framework conditions of the DFG Priority Program and about the status of the Swarm mission. Professor Hermann Lühr and Professor Claudia Stolle from GFZ, German Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam are coordinating this National Priority Program of the German Research Foundation (DFG).

In the frame of the new Priority Program „Study of Earth System Dynamics with a Constellation of Potential Field Missions” Swarm data will be utilized to study the Earth system. Swarm provides the data to evaluate and quantify fundamental changes of the Earth’s magnetic field, gravity field and changes in near-Earth space as well as the driving processes. In this context the experience of the German research community gained during earlier successful missions such as CHAMP, Ørsted, GRACE, and GOCE is very helpful. The complementary set of Swarm observations provides essential datasets to explore the geomagnetic field, Earth’s gravity field and the upper atmosphere and monitor the global changes. The release of Swarm data started in May 2014. First scientific results were presented at ESA’s 3rd Swarm Science Meeting June 19/20 in Copenhagen.