DLR - Earth Observation Center

Prof. Dr. Stefan Dech
Director DFD, Weßling

Prof. Dr. Richard Bamler
Director IMF, Weßling

Earth Observation Center – For Earth into Space

EOC conducts research in the field of remote sensing. We seek answers to urgent social questions relating to the environment and climate, mobility and planning, prevention and management of natural catastrophes, and civil security. We operate satellite data receiving stations in Germany and abroad. In the German Satellite Data Archive (D-SDA) we safeguard data and information products long-term and make them available to users. EOC comprises the German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD) and the Remote Sensing Technology Institute (IMF), at work in Oberpfaffenhofen, Neustrelitz and Berlin-Adlershof.

Full article

DLR aerial images reveal extent of flooding

June 06, 2013
DFD’s Center for Satellite Based Crisis Information (ZKI) has generated the first flood maps from data recorded by DLR’s research aircraft. They are available at www.zki.dlr.de. The images were recorded during a four-hour marathon flight by DLR’s Do 228-212 research aircraft. On board was a camera developed by the Remote Sensing Technology Institute (IMF) that provides images of the flooding at a resolution of 24 x 24 cm per pixel, thereby augmenting the satellite images with very precise close-ups.

Research plane took off for to take high-resolution aerial images of flooded regions

June 05, 2013
The Earth Observation Center makes available to rapid response teams up-to-date images of the flood regions. Toward this end, the DLR research airplane Dornier Do 228-212 took off equipped with a camera system and flew over the cities of Passau and Regensburg in Bavaria and the areas around Halle an der Saale and the Mulde reservoir in Sachsen-Anhalt. The collected data were then processed and made available by ZKI (Center for Satellite Based Crisis Information). For this campaign the EOC scientists made use of technologies developed for the traffic research project VABENE (Traffic Management for Major Events and Disasters).

DLR supports rapid-response teams with up-to-date maps based on radar data from space

June 04, 2013
Maps from DFD’s Center for Satellite Based Crisis Information (ZKI) clearly reveal the extent of flooding: in Passau, entire city districts near the confluence of the Inn and Danube rivers are under water; large areas around Elxleben north of Erfurt are flooded. ZKI obtains the information that supports the rapid-response teams in the German flood areas from up-to-date images recorded by the German radar satellite TerraSAR-X.

	Floods in Germany: National Service ZKI-DE activated June 03, 2013 The German Joint Information and Situation Centre (GMLZ) tasked the DFD’s Center for Satellite Based Crisis Information (ZKI) with the creation of satellite and arial image-based situation information covering the regions most affected by the current floods in Thuringia, Saxony, Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg.
More

Harvest forecasts for the business world

March 22, 2013
Three graduates from Würzburg University will be supported by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology’s start-up program, EXIST. In their own company, the former students of the department headed by the director of DFD, Prof. Stefan Dech, intend to produce from satellite data precise harvest forecasts for the agricultural sector. “We are proud of our young colleagues. This step from the science world to independent employment is an excellent idea” is the way Prof. Dech sums up the plan. The business concept is an outgrowth of two doctoral dissertations dealing with sustainable land management, co-supervised by Prof. Christopher Conrad.

1st Mekong Environmental Symposium in Ho Chi Minh City

March 14, 2013
From 5-7 March 2013 over 300 scientists gathered in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, for the 1st Mekong Environmental Symposium. The symposium was organized by DLR‘s German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD) within the framework of the international WISDOM project, which is financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and coordinated by DFD.

Visit of Czech Prime Minister Nečas

February 21, 2013
The European GNSS Agency (GSA) has moved its headquarters from Brussels to Prague. This provided an occasion for Petr Nečas, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, to also visit EOC at DLR in Oberpfaffenhofen on 21 February 2013. DLR Executive Board member Professor Hansjörg Dittus welcomed the delegation, which was complemented by the Bavarian Premier Horst Seehofer and the Bavarian Minister of Economic Affairs, Infrastructure, Transportation and Technology, Martin Zeil.

	German Federal President Joachim Gauck visits DLR February 19, 2013 President Joachim Gauck visited the German Aerospace Center (DLR) on the occasion of his first official visit to Bavaria on 19 February 2013. Accompanied by Bavarian Premier Horst Seehofer and the Bavarian State Minister Martin Zeil he also came to EOC, where Prof. Stefan Dech described the activities of ZKI.
More

	WISDOM – Water Management for the Mekong February 06, 2013 On 5 March 2013 EOC will turn over to Vietnamese authorities a water-related information system for the Mekong Delta. This system was developed as part of the WISDOM project financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. (project film, English, 10 min, 25 MB).
More

Global artist at work

February 04, 2013
Impressing structures can be observed these days when looking at the global stratospheric ozone distribution. Wave like structures, filaments and even filigree patterns are revealed from satellite based data of the stratospheric ozone distribution which are highly variable in space and time. Patterns of the global ozone distributions even remind of fine artwork.

	GEO Secretariat director visits EOC January 29, 2013 The new director of the GEO Secretariat in Geneva, Barbara Ryan, visited EOC in Oberpfaffenhofen on 28 January 2013. Together with earth observation specialists from EOC she discussed DLR’s contribution to the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS).
More

On call: Satellite Data for Emergency Response

January 22, 2013
From the research stage to full operation – The Center for Satellite Based Crisis Information (ZKI) is now on call around the clock. This service facility established in 2004 provides up-to-the minute satellite-based maps for activities related to natural and environmental disasters, humanitarian aid, and civil security worldwide. On 22 January 2013 the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in cooperation with the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) officially launched regular ZKI operations.

EOC obtains a “world receiver”

January 09, 2013
EOC staff recently braved winter weather to install a new antenna on the roof of their building. It has a 7.3 meter diameter antenna reflector and can receive data from earth observation satellites at rates up to 600 megabits per second, 600 times the performance of a standard DSL link. Next-generation data reception—global real-time transmission of earth observation recordings—will be tested with this antenna.

	Mekong Environmental Symposium 2013 November 20, 2012 The Mekong Environmental Symposium 2013 takes place from March 5th to 7th 2013 in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon.
More