Our topics

Water makes Earth remarkable. The water in the atmosphere is a relatively small fraction of the atmosphere‘s composition, but it is still essential.
Atmospheric water sustains life on land through precipitation. Water vapour and clouds are primary forces in the planet's climate system. In our research, we study several components of the atmospheric water cycle and its impact on our weather and climate. For example, we produce and assess global datasets on precipitation and clouds, model the interplay between clouds and aerosols on the local and global scale, study how atmospheric rivers transport water.
Another direction of the research is to introduce new satellite observation techniques, for example new observations of ice clouds for better weather and climate forecasts.

GEO Arctic Clouds 1920

Forests assume a profound role in the hydrological, carbon, and energy processes that govern Earth's systems. Their pivotal functions encompass carbon assimilation and water transpiration. These phenomena are challenging to measure on a global scale, leading to large uncertainties in meteorological and climatic forecasts.
Forests are also greatly impacted by climate change, especially at northern latitudes, resulting in higher susceptibility to fires and insect infestations. Central to these mechanisms is water, which strongly reflects radar signals. Harnessing the potential of radar measurements across a broad spectrum of spatial and temporal scales, we not only develop a better understanding of forest-environment interplay but also investigate how radar observations can be used to estimate crucial parameters such as biomass, water content and evapotranspiration on a global scale with fine resolution.
Our broad expertise covers all from the design of experimental radar systems to the exploitation of geophysical data, allowing innovative radar approaches for tackling complex environmental questions.

GEO Radar Bs2.1920

Current environmental problems, including climate change, ozone depletion, air pollution or the transport of hazardous substances are originated from the emission of several species from natural or anthropogenic sources. Accurate measurement of the location and strength of these emissions is necessary to identify sources and to estimate their effect on the environment. In certain cases, such as the emission of gases from active volcanoes, these measurements are important to understand the state of the system and predict its future behavior.
We study these problems through the development and application of different remote sensing techniques and the design of measurement strategies adapted to the requirements of each problem. One example is the quantification of emissions of greenhouse gases from the transport and energy industries using Solar Occultation Flux (SOF) from ground or in-situ measurements from UAVs and ground-based stations. Another is research since 1994 on surveillance of the ozone layer and other stratospheric species using high-resolution Solar FTIR. Work on transport include surveillance of emissions from shipping using remote sensing and stationary “sniffer” methods.
We also study emissions from natural sources such as volcanoes through a global network of scanning-DOAS instrument.

GEO Optisk Vulkan1 1920X1080

More than 70% of Earth’s surface is covered by oceans and around 9% of the oceans are covered by sea ice during at least part of the year. Ocean currents, waves, wind and sea ice have a great influence on the exchange of energy and mass between different regions on Earth and between the ocean and the atmosphere.
We develop methods to observe and monitor sea ice, currents, waves and wind at the ocean surface with radar, in most cases high resolution synthetic aperture radar from polar orbiting satellites. We have worked with sea ice since the late 1980’s and are currently focusing on sea ice dynamics, including drift, stability and deformation of sea ice, distribution and break-up of ice floes, formation of ice ridges and opening of leads. For open water in coastal seas, continental shelf seas and marginal ice zones we focus on observations of small scale ocean surface dynamics based on along track interferometry and Doppler centroid anomaly techniques.
We are actively involved in scientific studies in preparation for the Earth explorer candidate mission SEASTAR and the Sentinel expansion mission ROSE-L.

GEO Arctic Ice1920x1080

Active Galactic Nuclei

Astrochemistry

Evolved stars

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Plasma Physics and Fusion Energy

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Space, Earth and Environment

Our topics

Water in the atmosphere and its role for weather and climate

Forest biomass and water dynamics

Air pollution, greenhouse gases and emissions

Ocean and land water