Research Institutions

German Aerospace Center (DLR) - Earth Observation Center (EOC)

The Earth Observation Center (EOC) - that consists of the German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD) and the Remote Sensing Technology Institute (IMF) - is the core institute of DLR’s earth observation activities. The German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD) is engaged in research, product development and providing services based on earth observation data from aircraft and satellite platforms. Results of this work support geo-scientific and environmental research and applications as well as commercial customers and civil security needs. Research projects focus on developing methodologies for generating customized data products as well as on the assimilation of data in models. The major fields of application are land use, the environment, civil security, climate and atmosphere, and geographic information systems.

Contact DLR-DFD:

Dr. Andreas Dietz & Celia Baumhoer
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR)
Earth Observation Center (EOC), German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD)
82234 Weßling (Oberpfaffenhofen)
Email: Dr. Andreas Dietz
www.dlr.de/eoc

Contact DLR-IMF:

Prof. Dr. Xiaoxiang Zhu, Lichao Mou & Konrad Heidler
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR)
Earth Observation Center (EOC), Institut für Methodik der Fernerkundung (IMF)
82234 Weßling (Oberpfaffenhofen)
Email: Prof. Dr. Xiaoxiang Zhu
www.dlr.de/eoc

Contact DLR-HR:

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Irena Hajnsek
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR)
Microwaves and Radar Institute (HR), Department Radar Concepts
82234 Weßling (Oberpfaffenhofen)
Email: Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Irena Hajnsek
www.dlr.de/eoc

The Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI)

The Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz-Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) is one of the internationally leading institutions for research in polar regions and oceans of temperate and high latitudes. AWI is structured three research departments: Geosciences, Biosciences and Climate Sciences, as well as Infrastructure divisions comprising the Computing Centre. The partners in AI-CORE are the Glaciology, Permafrost Research and the Computing Centre sections. Research projects in the Glaciology Section focus on the dynamics of glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica, quantifying and projecting change as mass loss and acceleration of ice sheets. To this end we combine satellite and airborne remote sensing with numerical modelling. Within AI-CORE, Glaciologists are working on assembling remote sensing based calving front position into simulations of the entire Greenland ice sheet using the level set method, simulating the stress response. In permafrost research AI-CORE focusses on the automated detection of permafrost landscape features, which are highly dynamic in space and time and which are an indicator of permafrost degradation and disturbance. We will combine satellite observations in high spatial and temporal resolution with latest AI-based object detection algorithms to effectively quantify rapid permafrost landscape dynamics on regional to continental scales in relation to the rapidly evolving climate change in the Arctic.

Contact AWI Bremerhaven:

Prof. Dr. Angelika Humbert & Prof. Dr. Stephan Frickenhaus
Alfred Wegener Institute
Am Alten Hafen 26
27568 Bremerhaven
Email: Angelika.Humbert [at] awi.de
Phone: +49(471)4831-1834
www.awi.de

Contact AWI Potsdam:

Prof. Dr. Guido Grosse & Dr. Ingmar Nitze
Alfred Wegener Institute
Telegrafenberg A45
14473 Potsdam
Email: Ingmar.Nitze [at] awi.de & guido.grosse [at] awi.de
Phone: +49(331)288-20105
www.awi.de

Technische Universität Dresden (TUD)

TU Dresden is one of the larges universities of technology and one of eleven universities of excellence in Germany. Currently (2019/2020), TU Dresden has about 32,000 students and 8,300 employees. At five schools with altogether 18 faculties more than 120 study courses are offered, and a wide spectrum of research is covered, comprising medicine, bio-engineering, material sciences, information technology and micro-electronics, energy and environment, as well as culture and social sciences. The Professorship of Geodetic Earth System Research belongs to the Department of Geosciences and is contributing teaching expertise to Bachelor and Master courses in geodesy and geoinformation. Our group has a strong commitment to geodetic and geodynamic research with focus on polar and ice-covered regions. We aim to combine satellite-based methods with ground-based in-situ measurements to investigate processes that interlink ice sheets and glaciers with solid earth and sea level. Thus, a great number of expeditions and observation campaigns has been realized over the course of the years, namely to west and northeast Greenland, to various regions in Antarctica and to the Patagonian Icefields. In this project, we start from our expertise in satellite remote sensing, namely using Landsat optical imagery to solve for parameters describing the Greenland Ice Sheet and its outlet glaciers.

Contact:

Dr.-Ing. Mirko Scheinert & Erik Loebel
Hülsse-Bau, Westflügel
Helmholtzstraße 10
01069 Dresden
Email: mirko.scheinert [at] tu-dresden.de
Phone: +49 351 463-33683
www.tu-dresden.de