Head of department: Dr. Andreas Fix
The department “Lidar” develops ground-based, airborne and spaceborne lidar systems and applies them for active remote sensing of key meteorological parameters and atmospheric trace gases to facilitate research in weather and climate as well as in air traffic safety.
With their renowned lidar systems, the department takes part in national and international airborne field campaigns dedicated to atmospheric and climate research and contributes to the investigation of the atmosphere from the ground up to the lower thermosphere.
The department has a strong focus on the three European lidar space missions Aeolus, EarthCARE and MERLIN. The department provides the Co-Principle Investigator for MERLIN, and supports lidar missions of the European Space Agency (ESA) through airborne demonstrator experiments, algorithm developments, feasibility studies, and validation after launch.
The European lidar missions Aeolus (left), EarthCARE (middle) and MERLIN (right).
Research areas are:
Major instruments in operation or development are the following: