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, Berlin-Adlershof and the Maritime Safety Research Department in Bremen.

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	They're safe here! 17 May 2019 The German Satellite Data Archive (D-SDA) at EOC contains irreplaceable data from current and historic earth observation missions. In order to continue safeguarding these data as well as the data of thousands of users, while at the same time streamlining access to DLR data and services, a new user data management system has been instituted.
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DLR becomes part of the artificial intelligence network HAICU

01 April 2019
With the Helmholtz Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Unit (HAICU ), the Helmholtz Association is building a forward-looking network for applied artificial intelligence (AI). HAICU will develop, implement and disseminate KI methods, for example for the analysis of complex systems in the fields of climate, energy, transport or health.

Karlheinz Busen and Bernd Reuther visit ZKI

01 April 2019
Two members of the German Bundestag, Karlheinz Busen (FDP) and Bernd Reuther (FDP), visited the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Oberpfaffenhofen on 28 March 2019 to hear about activities in the areas of digitisation, agriculture and transportation. They were particularly interested in the subject of "traffic applications" at the Center for Satellite Based Crisis Information (ZKI) of the Earth Observation Center (EOC).

Tropical Cyclone Idai hits Mozambique and Zimbabwe

22 March 2019
The Tropical Cyclone Idai is regarded as one of the worst tropical cyclones on record to affect Africa and the Southern Hemisphere as a whole. The storm caused catastrophic damage in multiple nations, leaving so far more than 600 people dead and hundreds more missing. Idai brought strong winds and caused severe flooding in Madagascar, Mozambique, Malawi, and Zimbabwe.

Successful test for the International Disaster Trial “The Netherlands” in the DRIVER+ Project

28 February 2019
From 18.-22.02.2019 the first technical dry run for the trial "The Netherlands" took place within the framework of the EU-funded FP7 project DRIVER+. DRIVER+ brings together innovative (technical) solutions for crisis management and tests them in Europe-wide demonstrations. DLR is involved in the project with four institutes, including the Earth Observation Center (EOC) with ZKI.

Big Data from space -
seeking a solution for the flood of data from space

20 February 2019
Earth observation satellites supply us with important data so that we can rapidly identify and record processes like environmental and climate change, or the movement or disappearance of glaciers. Up-to-date maps can be produced for emergency relief teams in cases of disasters like floods or earthquakes. However, such information is based on huge mountains of data. The satellites of the European Copernicus programme are among the world's largest data producers.

	GIZ Cooperation: Delegation from Azerbaijan and Georgia visit DFD 14 February 2019 On 11 and 12 February 2019 a Delegation from Azerbaijan and Georgia visited DFD. The occasion was a meeting connected with the GRAZE (Grassland Extent and Condition Mapping in Azerbaijan) project.
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	10 000 000 Gigabyte Sentinel at EOC 12 February 2019 Around five years ago, in April 2014, the first satellite of the European earth observation Copernicus programme was launched, Sentinel-1A. Meanwhile, seven Sentinel satellites are in operation. EOC processes and archives the data recorded by four of them, now amounting to over 10 petabytes.
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	Steffi Lemke visits ZKI 11 February 2019 Steffi Lemke, member of the Bundestag (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen), visited the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Oberpfaffenhofen on 8 February 2019 and was particularly interested in the work of the ZKI.
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	Surf Zone at the Border to Outer Space: Where Air Waves Collapse 11 February 2019 Waves not only influence the dynamics of water in the ocean but also of air in the atmosphere. So-called gravity waves are to be found especially in the upper mesosphere / lower thermosphere at about 80 to 100 kilometres altitude.
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"DLR Humanitarian Technology Days": UN World Food Programme and DLR sign agreement

8 February 2019
Humanitarian aid organisations are increasingly seeking technological support for their work in crisis and disaster areas. New technologies, such as satellite remote sensing, robotics and communications technology, help help aid workers to make the care and rescue of people in need as effective as possible. DLR has initiated a special event to jointly develop solutions: Around 80 scientists, humanitarian actors and sponsors have come together for the "DLR Humanitarian Technology Days", which took place in Oberpfaffenhofen from 6 to 7 February 2019.

	8th NDMC Meeting from 6 to 9 May 2019 Registration until 13 February NDMC (Network for the Detection of Mesospheric Change) is a global programme with the aim of identifying changing climate signals in the mesopause region (80-100 km) at an early stage. The eighth NDMC meeting will take place at DLR's Earth Observation Center in Oberpfaffenhofen.
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Dam Collapse in Brazil

31 January 2019
A dam burst at an iron mine in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais near the village Brumadinho released a wave of red iron waste. Satellite data has already been made available as part of the International Charter "Space and Major Disasters". DLR supports the crisis management activities with RapidEye data and an analysis of pre and post event satellite data.

Will Changes in the Stratosphere Lead to More Extreme Weather Events?

23 January 2019
In the past few weeks cool, moist air masses from the north led to heavy snowfall in the Alps. This would not have been, in principle, an unusual weather situation if it had not persisted so long. In February/March of last year there was also lots of snow in eastern Europe and it was particularly cold as well. The reason for extreme events of this type could be changes in the stratosphere. EOC researchers expect this to be more often the case in the future.

	Extreme Snow conditions in Bavaria - ZKI-DE supports with remote sensing products 16 January 2019 Since January 5, 2019 the whole Alpine foothills are affected by heavy snow falls. Therefore, in five Bavarian districts a state of emergency was declared.
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	Claudia Roth visits the ZKI 21 December 2018 On December 20th, 2018, Mrs Claudia Roth, Vice-President of the German Bundestag, visited the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Oberpfaffenhofen. Special focus was set by the member of the Bundestag on tasks of the Center for Satellite based Crisis Information (ZKI), a user service of the Earth Observation Center (EOC).
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Daily Air Quality Forecasts with Sentinel-5P

10 December 2018
The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) provides for Europe and the rest of the world hourly updated forecasts for trace gases that affect our climate and air quality.
The service now uses data products generated at EOC based on Copernicus Sentinel-5P (S5P) satellite data for its ozone forecasts. Although the ozone layer in the stratosphere provides us with a protective shield, ground-level ozone is a primary ingredient of urban smog, irritates the respiratory tract, and damages vegetation.

Snow Cover in Germany in Winter 2017/2018

10 December 2018
The consequences of climate change on snow coverage are evident worldwide. In addition to tourism, these changes also affect water availability, vegetation, agriculture, animal populations, and the global radiation balance. Based on satellite data available daily at EOC, routine assessment of global snow cover is carried out in order to understand these processes and their relevance for society and the natural environment. The results of such analyses are consolidated in the “Global SnowPack” data set.

	Sentinel-2 Level-2A now at CODE-DE 21 November 2018 Nicely in time for the 2018 National Remote Sensing and Copernicus Forum in Berlin, the CODE-DE service platform makes available throughout Europe rectified and atmospherically corrected Sentinel-2 data (Level-2A). This adds another valuable data set to the existing inventory, which exceeds 1.2 million products.
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Fire disaster in California – DLR supports with FireBIRD data

15 November 2018
A, for the season, unusual drought lead to devastating forest fires in California. So far several hundred thousand people were evacuated and dozen deaths were registered. Butte County, located in Northern California, is especially affected. Satellite data has already been made available as part of the International Charter "Space and Major Disasters".

	Fire disaster in California – DLR supports with FireBIRD data 15 November 2018 A, for the season, unusual drought lead to devastating forest fires in California. So far several hundred thousand people were evacuated und dozen deaths were registered. Butte County, located in Northern California, is especially affected.
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DLR Science Award 2018

07 November 2018
The DLR Science Award 2018 was granted to a joint science team from different DLR institutes. It is an acknowledgement of the work on the generation and performance assessment of the global digital elevation model provided by the TanDEM-X mission. Dr. Birgit Wessel, Dipl.-Ing. Martin Huber and Dr. Thomas Fritz from the Earth Observation Center (EOC) and further scientists from the Microwave and Radar Institute were forming the team.

EOC scientist receives "ASTO Förderpreis"

06 November 2018
For the fifth time the "ASTO Förderpreis" was awarded by the ASTO Group at 24th of October. This year Celia Baumhoer (Department Land Surface Dynamic, DFD) was awarded for her work in the context of her PhD thesis “Glacier front dynamics of Antarctica – Analyzing changes in glacier and ice shelf front positions based on SAR time-series“.

	Pine Island Glacier continues to shrink! 31 October 2018 The Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica fascinates scientists worldwide and is the hotspot for glaciologists and climate researchers who try to understand the melting of the West Antarctic ice sheet. In a study in which scientists from the EOC were also involved, the changes at Pine Island Glacier were examined in more detail.
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	Copernicus Masters 2018 – DLR finalists confirmed 12 October 2018 The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) has selected the best application ideas in the field of Earth observation for the Copernicus Masters. Following a multistage selection process, the three finalists for the DLR Challenge as part of the Copernicus Masters 2018 have now been confirmed.
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	Sentinel-3B operational at EOC 10 October 2018 On 1 October the Processing and Archiving Center (PAC) at EOC began routine operations for handling data from ESA's Sentinel-3B satellite. This date marks the full implementation of the PAC commissioned by ESA.
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	First processed images from DESIS hyperspectral Earth observation instrument 02 October 2018 The German Aerospace Center (DLR), and Teledyne Brown Engineering presented the first images of the DESIS hyperspectral Earth observation instrument at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC). The instrument was mounted to the exterior of the International Space Station on 27 August 2018.
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	The World in 3D to Download Free of Charge 28 September 2018 From today DLR made available to the public the 90 metre resolution global elevation model from the TanDEM-X mission. The data set can now be downloaded free of charge via the new EOC download service.
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	Ms Monika Hohlmeier, Member of the European Parliaments, Visits EOC 25 September 2018 She informed herself about the remote sensing opportunities offered by the WorldView reception and processing systems at EOC.
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	Hurrricane Florence – DLR provides satellite information 18 September 2018 updated 17 September 2018 On 14th 2018, hurricane Florence made landfall on the coast of North Carolina, USA. In the frame of the International Charter Space and Major Disasters, DLR supports the crisis management activities.
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	DLR Earth observer Xiaoxiang Zhu wins prize for her achievements 4 September 2018 Xiaoxiang Zhu of the Remote Sensing Technology Institute at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) has been awarded the 30,000 euro Leopoldina Early Career Award 2018.
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DESIS gets its own spot on the International Space Station

27 August 2018
Its view of Earth will be something special: The DESIS hyperspectral instrument has 235 spectral channels to look at our planet and observe the changes in land and water surfaces. On 27 August 2018 at about 21:00 CEST, the instrument developed by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and equipped with a robotic arm was taken out of the airlock of the International Space Station (ISS) and installed on the MUSES platform located on the space station's exterior. The hyperspectral data obtained from space is expected to deliver information for environmental monitoring, among other uses.

	Federal Minister Peter Altmaier visits EOC 20 August 2018 A tour of EOC was also on the agenda of the visit of the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), Peter Altmaier, to the DLR research center in Oberpfaffenhofen. Minister Altmaier was keenly interested in DLR's satellite technologies and earth observation research activities.
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DLR project VABENE++ supports BRK's new Rapid Deployment Group in situation analyses

27 July 2018
With the new Rapid Response Force, the Bavarian Red Cross is preparing itself for emergency operations in the event of disasters. The assessment of the situation on the ground could in future be supported by researchers from the EOC. Within the framework of VABENE++, remote sensing technologies have already been tested and demonstrated.

	Drought in Northern and Eastern Germany 17 July 2018 Recent weeks of heat and aridity have dried out soil and vegetation in northern and eastern Germany. In some regions the lowest precipitation levels in 50 years have been measured. EOC time series analyses document the extent of the drought.
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FDP Members of Parliament visit DLR in Oberpfaffenhofen

11 July 2018
On 10 July 2018 Dr. Marcus Faber, Olaf in der Beek and Ulrich Lechte paid a visit to DLR in Oberpfaffenhofen. These members of Parliament came for a comprehensive introduction to the pioneering research being undertaken at this DLR location. After words of welcome extended by Oberpfaffenhofen managing director Dr. Reinhold Busen and his deputy Zekeriya Ceyhanli, the FDP politicians acquainted themselves with the most important facts concerning the research centre, followed by a joint tour of the facilities. At EOC the delegates were particularly interested in DLR climate and environmental protection research and in the activities of the Center for Satellite Based Crisis Information (ZKI).

Accurate air pollution measurements – the Sentinel-5P data service commences operations

11 July 2018
Air pollution is one of the biggest threats to health worldwide. Around seven million people die as a result of pollutants every year, as the World Health Organization (WHO) has recently established in a global study. Industrial fumes and exhaust emissions from cars and other vehicles make a significant contribution to the number of deaths, as the particles penetrate deep into people’s airways, lungs and cardiovascular system. There is now a special service that can pinpoint sources of pollution precisely and analyse global pollutant distributions from space.

Hyperspectral Earth observation instrument DESIS sets off for the ISS

03 July 2018
The DLR Earth Sensing Imaging Spectrometer (DESIS) – an environmental and resource monitoring system from the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) – set off for the International Space Station (ISS) at 05:42 EDT (11:42 CEST) on 29 June 2018. The Dragon capsule carrying DESIS launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The hyperspectral instrument will monitor the environment and resources on Earth. The ground segment was developed by the Earth Observation Center.

	Jubilee Congratulations from Space 21 June 2018 The TerraSAR-X satellite sent a very special greeting to mark the 150th anniversary of the Technical University of Munich (TUM).
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Tracking Methane with an Airplane

18 June 2018
As a greenhouse gas methane is 25-times more effective than CO2. Its sources include agriculture, forestry, and mining activities, livestock farming, wastewater treatment plants, and waste-disposal sites, among others. Because of its potent greenhouse effect it is particularly important to identify methane sources. EOC is participating in a large European measurement campaign to test various technologies for detecting and measuring carbon dioxide and methane sources.

Why the tongue of the Pine Island Glacier suddenly shrank

15 June 2018
Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica is not only one of the fastest flowing ice streams on the Southern Hemisphere. In the past eleven years huge icebergs have also broken off four times from its floating ice tongue. The reason for the abrupt retreat of the glacier front has now been clarified with the help of two EOC scientists.

	Andes - Laboratory for Natural Hazards 05 June 2018 Urban agglomerations are growing rapidly worldwide and new megalopolises are emerging. The dense settlement structures with sometimes millions of people are particularly vulnerable to natural hazards. In the RIESGOS project (Spanish: risks), the EOC investigates natural hazards and their interactions in the Andean region.
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1,000 Kilometres Across an Ice Shelf — with TerraSAR-X

22 May 2018
A four-person research group achieved the largest Antarctic expedition since the 1950s. Back then, the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition led by Sir Edmund Hillary and Sir Vivian Fuchs successfully crossed the Antarctic via the South Pole for the first time. During this year’s Antarctic summer a team from Antarctica New Zealand, a government agency, found a way across an unknown section of the Ross ice shelf, an ice region the size of France. Crucial information for determining the route was supplied by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) using data from the TerraSAR-X radar satellite. The successful traverse was part of the "Ross Ice Shelf Project", which is investigating how the ice shelf reacts to global warming.

	Sentinel-5 P: volcanic emissions with unprecedented sharpness 18 May 2018 After several weeks of increasing lava lake levels in the craters Halema'uma'u and Pu'u 'O'o of the Hawaiian shield volcano Kilauea, the crater floor of Pu'u 'O'o’ collapsed on May 1st, causing earthquakes and several fissures opened in the East Rift Zone and erupted
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60 Petabytes for the German Satellite Data Archive D-SDA

16 May 2018
A few days ago a new data library came into operation at the German Satellite Data Archive, D-SDA. The volume of earth observation data is increasing almost exponentially, requiring a 60 petabytes (60 billion megabytes) expansion of D-SDA storage capacity. D-SDA safeguards long-term the data from German and international earth observation missions and makes them available for research.

Launch of Sentinel 3B – twin satellites united in space

26 April 2018
The Sentinel-3 satellite pair, one of the principal components of the European Copernicus programme, is now united in space. On 25 April 2018 at 19:57 CEST (20:57 local time) the Earth observation satellite Sentinel-3B lifted off on a Russian Rockot launcher from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome. "The twin satellites will now monitor Earth together," explains Michael Nyenhuis, responsible for the Sentinel-3 mission at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) Space Administration. "Once Sentinel-3B has been successfully commissioned in orbit, the system will be fully operational and we will receive valuable additional data."

EOC nominated: Blue Compass for Green Roofs!

25 April 2018
Climate change poses enormous challenges for cities. Extra green spaces on rooftops can provide some relief. A technology developed at EOC helps detect green rooftops and those that can be potentially vegetated. Green rooftop mapping has now been nominated for a “Blue Compass” award by the federal environment agency as a contribution to climate protection and adaptation to climate change.

	Hyperspectral instrument DESIS en route to International Space Station in 2018 20. April 2018 The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) and the United States corporation Teledyne Brown Engineering (TBE) are announcing the completion of the development and manufacturing process of the DESIS hardware.
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	Copernicus Masters enters the next round 10 April 2018 In April, the Copernicus Masters competition was launched, in which DLR once again offers an attractive prize. We are looking for innovative applications and ideas that make the most of Copernicus data to improve human well-being, the environment and the use of natural resources.
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	Data Cubes for Easier Access to Earth Observation Data 29 March 2018 The BigDataCube project has the goal of advancing the paradigm of the “data cube” – in other words, ready-to-analyse spatiotemporal raster data – from the status of a science prototype to a pre-competitive earth-observation service.
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Air Pollution and Health: Kick-off for BioClis

22 March 2018
Nitrogen oxides, ozone, sulphur and particulate matter in the air we breathe have moved to the centre of public attention. Increasingly strict threshold values for these pollutants are being exceeded in numerous cities. However, whether and to what extent particular individuals suffer from air pollution depends on additional environmental parameters, as well as on personal disposition. In the recently launched BioClis project EOC is investigating these connections with the goal to inform people about their environmental and health risk.

Virtual Alpine Observatory (VAO): Fourth Symposium in Grenoble, France

19 March 2018
The Fourth Symposium of the Virtual Alpine Observatory, VAO, took place from 13-15 March 2018 in Grenoble, France. It was attended by about one hundred scientists from the Alpine region countries Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Germany and France. Institutions affiliated with VAO in Norway and Georgia were also represented.

Exhibition "The Call of the Mountains" opens at Gasometer Oberhausen

15 March 2018
At 4478 metres the Matterhorn is not one of Earth’s highest mountains—not even the highest mountain in the Alps. But its striking triangular shape makes it unique. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) has measured this rock pyramid with the help of satellite and aircraft overflights and generated from the data a precise terrain model that now brings the mountain to Gasometer Oberhausen as a 3D projection on a 17 metre high reproduction of the Matterhorn. There it floats upside down in the 100 metre high airspace of the Gasometer as the highlight of the exhibition "The Call of the Mountains", opening on 16 March 2018. A mirror on the floor reflects the mountain, enabling a bird’s eye view.

Warming of the Stratosphere Leads to Arctic Temperatures!

02 March 2018
Temperatures in the two-digit minus range dominate the weather these days; a record-breaking seasonal value below -30°C was measured on Mount Zugspitze.
People catch colds, automobiles do not start up, high-tension power lines break. What we are experiencing these days impressively demonstrates how the higher layers of Earth’s atmosphere can influence the weather on the ground – for scientists at EOC a fascinating field of research! ...

Excellence in Earth Observation –
German-French Information Exchange

01 March 2018
France and Germany are the two largest member states in the European Space Agency (ESA). The French Space Agency CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales) and DLR have many common interests in earth observation. On 28 February Dr. Juliette Lambin, head of CNES earth observation programmes, learned about current research and projects at DLR in Oberpfaffenhofen. She was accompanied by Mr. Klaus Schmidt, deputy head of earth observation in the DLR Space Administration Division in Bonn. ...

Tracking Climate Change – at the Border to Outer Space

01 March 2018
Realistic modelling of climate change requires an appropriate description of energy fluxes in the atmosphere. Some of the energy is transported via so-called gravity waves, which progress through the atmosphere similar to the movement of water waves. They can break, thereby releasing energy. An important parameter for determining the energy transported by gravity waves is the so-called Brunt-Väisälä frequency. This value is now available as part of a climatology for every day of the year in the Alpine region. ...

Hot Spots for Climate Change and Evolutionary Survival

26 February 2018
Shorter winters and the decreasing extent of snow cover worldwide threaten the survival of animal species adapted to living in snow. An international research team has identified regions where species can successfully adapt to new climate conditions, partly by adaptive evolution. EOC’s “Global Snow Pack”, a remote sensing product documenting how snow cover is evolving worldwide, was used in this study. ...

PAZ Earth observation satellite successfully launched

23 February 2018
The Spanish Earth observation satellite PAZ was successfully launched on 22 February 2018 at 15:17 CET from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, United States, on board a Falcon 9 rocket. Interestingly, PAZ is being positioned on the same orbit as the German TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X radar satellites. In addition, the PAZ ground segment builds on technologies developed by the DLR Remote Sensing Technology Institute for the twin satellites. A constellation of three satellites will make images available faster in the future. ...

Virtual Alpine Observatory – Symposium 2018

22 February 2018
From 13 to 15 March 2018, the Virtual Alpine Observatory (VAO) will host an international symposium to present its latest findings and encourage networking activities. The symposium will be held in Grenoble, France, and will include presentations about new results from science and technology as well as about new project initiatives. ...

Using Earth Observation Data for Sustainable Development

31 January 2018
At the 13th Ilan Ramon International Space Conference in Tel Aviv on 29 Jan. 2018 the chair of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Prof. Pascale Ehrenfreund, had a discussion with the deputy director of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), P. Kunhikrishnan; the president of the Italian Space Agency ASI (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana), Prof. Roberto Battiston; the director of NASA’s Ames Research Center, Dr. Eugene Tu; and the deputy director of the Russian Space Organisation ROSCOSMOS, Sergey Saveliev. The discussion was moderated by Avi Blasberger, director of the Israel Space Agency (ISA). ...

2017 Third-coldest year since measurements began—in the mesopause

30 January 2018
For Germany, 2017 was the third-coldest year since measurements started in 1987—but that was true only at 87 kilometres altitude.
The temperature development there takes a course opposite to the one at Earth’s surface. This atmospheric region, the upper mesosphere, is at the focus of EOC interest because that is where changes that will take place in the atmosphere underneath can be detected and measured beforehand. ...

	Global Change and Rice Cultivation 29 January 2018 Rice is one of the world’s most important sources of nutrition. A satellite-image-based analysis carried out at EOC shows changes in China's rice acreage. Climate change and urbanisation on the one hand and national subsidy programmes on the other are resulting in a relocation of rice cultivation. ...
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Strong Growth in Aquaculture Threatens Ecosystems

26 January 2018
Aquaculture is the fastest growing sector of the food industry worldwide and meanwhile supplies almost half of all fish that people consume. With methodology developed at EOC this growth can be detected over a wide area. On the Asia coasts the expansion of aquaculture leads to ecosystem destruction, the clearing of mangrove forests, and water pollution. ...

High Forest Loss in Paraguay

23 January 2018
Until 2004 Paraguay’s rates of deforestation were the highest in all of South America. EOC investigations show an annual decrease in the area covered by the Atlantic Forest averaging 2.2 percent between 1999 and 2004. Strictly prohibiting deforestation has considerably slowed down forest clearing activities since 2004, but satellite-based analyses reveal that large sections of the Paraguay forest are still being destroyed. ...

	Snow in the Sahara 10 January 2018 In the night to Sunday, 07 Jan. 2018 an extremely rare weather phenomenon occurred in the Algerian desert: snowfall in the Sahara. Scientists at the Earth Observation Center (EOC) make use of satellite-based snow analyses to show just how seldom this event is. ...
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FireBIRD mission provides data of recent fires in California

19 December 2017
In December 2017, wild fires have been burning in parts of California. On December 12, 2017, DLR’s TET-1 satellite captured major hot spots in the region.
TET-1 is one of the two satellites of the FireBIRD mission. With its spatial resolution of 320 m the system has a much higher spatial resolution than the standard thermal sensors from MODIS or Sentinel 3 SLTSR (1 km). ...

International Charter Receives Pecora Award

08 December 2017
The “International Charter Space and Major Disasters” was awarded this year’s prestigious Pecora Prize for its work. The William Thomas Pecora Award has been conferred annually since 1974 by the US Geological Survey (USGS), to honour outstanding contributions by individuals or teams who decisively advance civilian applications for remote sensing. ...

A better understanding of geo-risks – focusing on the Andes

07 December 2017
More and more people around the world are flocking to cities, creating densely populated regions. This also means that natural disasters pose a threat to a greater number of people, and that risk has been rising for decades worldwide. A catastrophe is rarely an isolated event: flooding can precipitate a landslide; an earthquake may destroy electricity and water supplies, compounding the situation for those affected as well as emergency services on the ground. ...

German-Korean Cooperation

06 December 2017
Since the end of 2016 the DFD antennas in Neustrelitz have been acquiring data from the South Korean earth observation satellites Kompsat 3, Kompsat 3a and Kompsat 5. With this “Overseas Ground Station” in Neustrelitz the Korean space agency KARI expands its network of international ground stations. The data will soon be used also by DLR’s Maritime Safety and Security Lab in Neustrelitz. Acquisition of data from additional Korean earth observation satellites such as Kompsat 6 is planned. Kompsat 6 has an expanded X-band SAR capability based on TerraSAR-X satellite technology. ...

Sentinel-5P - a quantum leap in atmospheric observation

01 December 2017
The first satellite images from the Sentinel-5 precursor were presented at the Earth Observation Center (EOC) of the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) in Oberpfaffenhofen on 1 December 2017. They give a taste of the new data service. Soon, timely information on air quality, ozone and climatic factors will be available – with global coverage and a resolution up to 100 times higher than previously. Sentinel-5P is the most recent fleet member of the European Copernicus Earth observation programme; the atmospheric data and map products gained from this are freely accessible. ...

CODE-DE 2.0:
Update Brings Processing Environment and Optimization

01 December 2017
In the past eight months the German Copernicus Data Portal CODE-DE has been tapped by over 650 users to access Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 products. During this time data in the form of 47,000 products were downloaded via the online server platforms. The continuously updated catalogue already now includes a data volume of 800 TB. ...

UFS Science Report for 2015-2016

17 November 2017
For ten years DLR has been part of the science consortium and a founding member of the "Schneefernerhaus Environmental Research Station, UFS" virtual Institute on Mount Zugspitze. EOC and its neighboring Institute of Atmospheric Physics conduct research at UFS on a variety of subjects relating to atmospheric dynamics, trace gases and aerosols. The UFS science report for 2015-2016 has now been published. ...

EOC Scientist Receives Helmut-Rott Award

14 November 2017
EOC scientist Dr. Wael Abdel Jaber was presented with the Helmut-Rott Award on 19 Oct. 2017. This distinction is awarded every two years for outstanding dissertations in the field of remote sensing of the cryosphere. Dr. Wael Abdel Jaber (at right in the photo) received his doctorate in August 2016 at Munich Technical University (TUM). His dissertation is entitled, “Derivation of mass balance and surface velocity of glaciers by means of high resolution synthetic aperture radar: application to the Patagonian Icefields and Antarctica”. ...

Lake Urmia in Iran – a dying salt lake

10 November 2017
Lake Urmia in Iran—once the world’s second-largest salt lake—was still eight times the size of Germany’s Lake Constance 15 years ago. EOC research shows that the lake has shrunk to a tenth of its original area. This development also threatens the nearby UNESCO biosphere reserve, home to bird populations like flamingos and pelicans. ...

Innovative applications for Earth observation and satellite navigation win European competitions

09 November 2017
Fire detection from space and cyber security: these two ideas have won this year's Special Prize of the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) as part of the 'Copernicus Masters' and the 'European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC)'. The competitions select ideas that demonstrate innovative uses for Earth observation and satellite navigation. ...

The Mesopause in 3D

08 November 2017
As part of a project financed by the Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment and Consumer Protection, EOC has installed an infrared camera (FAIM - Fast Airglow Imager) at Otlica Observatory in Slovenia. Together with its counterpart in Oberpfaffenhofen its purpose is to record in three dimensions processes taking place in the atmospheric boundary layer located at an altitude of 80 to 90 kilometres. ...

EOC concludes Cooperation Agreement with the European Southern Observatory (ESO)

25 October 2017
EOC scientists are setting up measuring equipment in the Atacama Desert, one of Earth’s most arid regions.
Their purpose is to find climate signals and indicators to improve the present tsunami early warning system. The European Southern Observatory (ESO) operates on Cerro Paranal, a mountain in northern Chile, the Very Large Telescope array (VLT), whose infrastructure can be used by EOC for this purpose. On 24 Oct. 2017 a corresponding cooperation agreement was signed at ESO in Garching. ...

Reforestation in China: wooded areas at the Yellow River have increased by 44%

18 October 2017
The catchment area of the Yellow River (Chinese: Huang He) – at 750,000 square kilometres the second largest river drainage basin in China – is the foundation for the livelihood of almost 190 million people. This livelihood is endangered by excessive use. An EOC analysis shows the progress being made thanks to Chinese countermeasures. ...

	Premiere: Copernicus-Satellite Data received at Inuvik Groundstation 17 October 2017 On Monday, 16th of October, the DLR antenna located on the International Satellite Station Facility (ISSF) in Inuvik tracked for the first time a satellite of the European Commission to receive X-band data. ...
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Environmental satellite Sentinel-5P is in space

13 October 2017
In which quantity are trace gases, such as nitrogen dioxide, ozone, formaldehyde, sulphur dioxide, methane and carbon monoxide, present in our atmosphere? How high are the global and regional concentrations of aerosol particles? Which processes induce changes in our environment, and how do they affect our climate, air quality, and therefore our health?
The most recent satellite to join Europe's Copernicus Earth observation programme is designed to provide answers to precisely these questions: on board a Rockot launch vehicle, Sentinel-5P took off from the Plesetsk spaceport in northern Russia at 11:27 CEST on 13 October 2017. ...

Ozone Hole 2017: Seldom so Small

12 October 2017
This year the ozone hole over Antarctica is noticeably small. Scientists at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) have determined that it is the second-smallest ozone hole since the end of the 1980s – since the 1987 Montreal Protocol and its follow-up agreements on protecting the ozone layer. Current measurements show a maximal extent of the ozone hole of some 20 million square kilometres this year. ...

	Larsen C: Antarctic Giant on the Move 10 October 2017 For a while, there was nothing much to say about Larsen C iceberg number A68. After calving in July 2017 with strong media coverage, there is now more news to report. What happened? It moved. It shrank somewhat. Nothing spectacular, but nevertheless worth another blog contribution. ...
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	Bavarian State Ministry visits EOC 29 September 2017 On 27 September Ministry Department Head Dr Manfred Wolter and Ministry Advisor Mr Dietmar Schneyer from the “Innovation, Research, Technology” department of the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Media, Energy and Technology visited the Earth Observation Center (EOC). ...
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	Oil on Greek Beaches: Copernicus Data Reveal Pollution 15 September 2017 On Sunday 10 Sept. 2017 the tanker AGIA ZONI II sank for reasons not yet known off the Greek coast near Athens. While measures to contain and remove the resulting oil slick are underway, the latest satellite images reveal the extent of the pollution. ...
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	Copernicus Strategy for Germany 13 September 2017 On 13 September 2017 the German cabinet approved the "National Strategy for the European Copernicus Programme" that was presented by the Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, thereby setting concrete national goals. ...
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	Launch of Bavarian Climate Week 2017 12 September 2017 On Saturday, 9 September 2017, the Bavarian Minister of the Environment and Consumer Protection, Ms Ulrike Scharf, a member of the state parliament, formally opened this year’s Climate Week in the historic Munich Residence and afterward at the Streetlife Festival on nearby Odeonsplatz. ...
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DLR FireBIRD Satellite Collects Data on Hurricane Irma

08 September 2017
Hurricane Irma has caused severe damage and flooding in the Caribbean over the past few days. With the highest hurricane category, 5, and wind speeds up to some 290 km/h, Irma is among the most powerful tropical storms to have appeared in the Atlantic since the beginning of systematic weather recording. Irma developed end of August near the Cape Verde Islands and started moving westward into the Caribbean. It is now heading toward Florida. ...

	Training in Remote Sensing for WWF Colombia 01 September 2017 From 14-18 August 2017 DFD conducted a remote sensing training course at WWF in Bogota, Colombia. It took place in the framework of the IKI SULU project (Land Use Change in Savannahs and Grasslands), which is being financed by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety. ...
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	Hurricane Harvey - DLR supports Texas with satellite data 30 August 2017 On August 26th, 2017, hurricane Harvey made landfall on the coast of Texas, causing extensive flooding. In the frame of the 'International Charter Space and Major Disasters', DLR supports the crisis management activities. ...
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Focus on Digitalisation and Disaster Management

22 August 2017
On 22 August 2017 Prof. Pascale Ehrenfreund, chair of the executive committee of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), welcomed to DLR in Oberpfaffenhofen State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) and Federal Government Commissioner for Information Technology Klaus Vitt. The focus of the visit was on disaster management, civil security and digitalisation. ...

Tracking changes to the Mekong

28. Juli 2017
Vietnam’s Mekong Delta is not only one of the largest and most densely populated, but also one of the most vulnerable river deltas worldwide.
In a new, two-year collaborative project, “Catch-Mekong”, EOC scientists are cooperating with Vietnamese partners from science institutions and industry to stimulate sustainable development of the land and water resources of the Mekong Delta. ...

Iceberg at the Larsen-C Ice Shelf viewed by TerraSAR-X

25 July 2017
The radar image shows the gigantic iceberg in full size. Since calving ten days ago, it has receded up to five kilometres from the break-off edge.
Also during polar night the German TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X radar satellites can supply high-resolution images of the cracks in the ice, even if they are buried under several metres of snow. ...

	Trackers in the Atmosphere 24 July 2017 Where does the air we breath come from? What is the source of the red dust on our cars? How do increased concentrations of particulate matter, pollen, gases, or even radioactivity get to a local measuring station? A tool available online and developed with EOC assistance helps answer these questions. ...
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	Summer School at EOC 18 July 2017 Nineteen upcoming scientists from 15 countries were guests of EOC in recent weeks. From 3 to 14 July the postgraduate students participated in the Summer School “Airborne Remote Sensing for Monitoring Essential Biodiversity Variables in Forest Ecosystems”. ...
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1,000,000 Visitors View the Largest Earth on Earth

07 July 2017
On 6 July 2017 astronaut-trainee Insa Thiele-Eich welcomed the one millionth visitor to the “Wonders of Nature” exhibition at Gasometer Oberhausen. The highlight of the exhibition is an enormous earth sculpture designed by EOC. Until 30 November visitors have the opportunity to view our planet from the perspective of an astronaut and be amazed at the intelligence of animal and plant life depicted in some 150 large-format photographs by internationally renowned nature photographers. ...

For 26 years a successful ERS/Envisat D-PAF/D-PAC

04 July 2017
After 26 years an era came to end at DLR’s Earth Observation Center (EOC) on 21 June 2017. The endeavour that came to a successful conclusion involved processing and archiving satellite data from the ERS and Envisat missions and was one of EOC’S longest duration projects. The ERS-1/-2 Envisat D-PAF/D-PAC (Processing and Archiving Facility/Center) at DLR, commissioned by ESA, existed continuously since 1991. ...

First EAGLE Midsummer Dialogue

04 July 2017
On the occasion of the first EAGLE Midsummer Dialogue of the Department of Remote Sensing at Würzburg University in cooperation with the German Remote Sensing Data Center, Dr Stefan Dech, full professor of remote sensing, and Jun. Prof. Christopher Conrad, coordinator of the EAGLE graduate programme, welcomed to Oberpfaffenhofen on 23 June over 50 students, instructors and former department staff. ...

Virtual Alpine Observatory: Climate Research for Society, Government and Industry

30 June 2017
Some 150 high-ranking European representatives of government, industry, research and environmental protection bodies met on 29 June 2017 in Brussels to discuss the risks associated with climate change and possible courses of action. In this context the strategy of the "Virtual Alpine Observatory" (VAO) was introduced for the first time to the public. The VAO strategy contains 11 challenges that focus on urgent questions facing scientists in the next ten years. ...

	Excellence in space - 10 years of TerraSAR-X 14 June 2017 Designed to return unique images of the Earth for five years, the German radar satellite TerraSAR-X has outdone itself. The satellite has been in operation for twice that time - and there is still no end in sight to its service. ...
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	When the atmosphere becomes turbulent 07 June 2017 We have all seen it: when walking along some watercourse we occasionally note the sudden appearance of eddies in an otherwise smoothly flowing stream. They move along with the flow for a while, then break down into ever smaller swirls and finally disappear. ...
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Green’s Functions in Classical Physics

31 May 2017
This month Tom Rother, scientist at IMF, published the book “Green’s Functions in Classical Physics” in the book series Lecture Notes in Physics released by Springer. The book presents the Green’s function formalism in a basic way and demonstrates its usefulness for applications to several well-known problems in classical physics which are usually solved not by this formalism but other approaches. ...

Traffic Management: Arial View of the Evangelischer Kirchentag

29 May 2017
Some 120,000 people met for the closing event of the Evangelischer Kirchentag, a Protestant church gathering, on 28 May 2017 in Wittenberg.
Traffic and security management activities for this five-day large-scale event were supported by the German Aerospace Center (DLR). Scientists engaged in the DLR VABENE++ project generated up-to-the-minute aerial images and analysed traffic flow near the site. They made use of a 4k camera system with real-time capabilities specifically developed by the scientists to monitor mass public events. ...

A Hyperspectral View of Soil

24 May 2017
Healthy soil is closely linked to efficient agriculture. Characterising and monitoring Germany’s soils with remote sensing is an important aspect of the cooperative project AGRO-DE. This three year project is supported by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture with the goal of providing on a regular basis for all of Germany key agricultural information based on satellite data. ...

	K2 - Original and Forgery 19 May 2017 A view of K2 from the west. This rare image was photographed by the German extreme moutaineer Ralf Dujmovits from the slopes of Praqpa Ri. On the right is a view of K2 computed from satellite data. ...
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Earth Observation for a Changing World

17 May 2017
Our world is undergoing rapid change and remote sensing technologies are keeping a close watch: they monitor environmental processes, analyse causes, and forecast developments. For that reason, over 550 experts discussed the contribution earth observation can make to adapting to global change at the "International Symposium on Remote Sensing of Environment" ISRSE. ...

	Detecting Changes in the Atmosphere: 7th NDMC Symposium in Grainau (15-18 May 2017) 12 May 2017 Experts from 11 countries are meeting 15.-18.Mai in Grainau for the 7th Symposium of the global Network for the Detection of Mesospheric Change (NDMC). NDMC is coordinated by DFD in partnership with CONICET, which promotes science and technology in Argentina. ...
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	Traffic Assistance from Space 05 May 2017 On 2 May Tobias Miethaner, a department head at the Federal Ministry of Transport, visited EOC. Accompanied by experts from the ministry, Mr. Miethaner was informed about ways satellite- and aircraft-based earth observation can contribute to future ground traffic Systems. ...
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	EOC Innovation at BMW Welt 28 April 2017 EOC demonstrated its innovation project DriveMark, a key technology for self-driving road vehicles, at BMW Welt. This improvement makes possible for the first time highly precise street measurements based on satellite data. ...
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Help from Space: Navigating through Ice with Radar Satellites

18 April 2017
Three weeks ago the research vessel Akademik Tryoshnikov returned from the “Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition”. This campaign took an international research team once around the Antarctic continent. Scientists at the DLR Maritime Safety and Security Lab in Bremen and Neustrelitz were always there. Not on the ship, but in space. ...

Explicit Risk Assessment– EOC Heavy-Rain Zoning Now Operational

13 April 2017
Simbach in Bavaria, Braunsbach in Baden-Württemberg, and Münster in North Rhine-Westphalia – three places that stand for the risk of unanticipated heavy rains with catastrophic consequences. The Earth Observation Center (EOC) of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) has developed a rapid and research-based methodology for classifying built-up areas into risk zones. Up to now the EOC system has been used exclusively by the insurance industry. Now the analyses are available on the open market. ...

Crisis Management Drill in Duisburg – VABENE++ takes part

06 April 2017
Flooding in Duisburg. The water level rises continuously and then the floodgate fails. On 30 March 2017 the crisis management team of the city of Duisburg practiced responding to this scenario in order to be ready for such an emergency. EOC staff participated in the drill as observers and collected information on the disaster response as part of the VABENE++ project. This is because the 4k camera system developed at EOC is designed for use in future emergency situations like this one. ...

Virtual Alpine Observatory (VAO): Climate Change Research in the Alps

04 April 2017
The 4th Symposium of the Virtual Alpine Observatory (VAO) took place from 28 - 31 March in Bozen, Italy. Technological and scientific progress was described in over 50 presentations. Bavarian Minister of the Environment and Consumer Protection, Ulrike Scharf, also attended. She stressed the importance of VAO as an instrument of cross-border research on climate change and its consequences. Bavaria currently contributes about €3 million toward financing VAO. ...

	Gold and Silver for EOC 04 April 2017 After receiving honours in Germany, the limited edition DLR calendar containing scenes provided by EOC was also a successful entrant in a calendar competition in the USA. It received gold and silver awards in various categories. ...

	New Aerial Camera System for Civil Protection 21 March 2017 On 16 March a new 4k camera system with real-time capability developed by the Remote Sensing Technology Institute went aloft for the first time on DLR’s Eurocopter EC 135 research helicopter and is now ready for use. The system provides high-resolution aerial images and is capable of processing and analysing them within seconds. ...
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ZKI at CeBIT

20 March 2017
The ZKI service of the German Remote Sensing Data Center is represented also this year at the CeBIT stand of the Federal Ministry of the Interior. There, DFD staff provide information about ZKI-DE, a ZKI service for federal authorities. Since 2013 the ZKI-DE service has made it possible for public offices to have rapid access to up-to-date geoinformation, including their analysis. This collaboration between the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) provides federal authorities with remote sensing products in emergency situations and for matters involving civil and public security. ...

70 Years of Earth Observation

17 March 2017
Over 70 years ago the first images of Earth could be recorded from space with the help of ballistic long-range rockets. The tests made use of V-2 rockets seized from the Germans by the Americans during World War II. The films, recovered from the rocket debris, showed Earth for the first time from a satellite perspective. In black-and-white, course grained and with poor resolution, they were nevertheless a sensation. Today, 70 years later, satellites continuously supply highly precise images of the state of our planet and they have become an essential instrument for visualising and analysing global interrelationships. ...

Copernicus@work: Largest European Earth Observation Programme is Operational

16 March 2017
Environmental protection, agriculture, urban planning: these are only a few of the areas that will benefit from the earth observation data supplied by the Sentinel satellites of the European Copernicus Programme. Five of these satellites are already now providing a multitude of information about the condition and structure of the earth surface, signaling that the Copernicus system is now operational. The many applications that now become possible are in the focus of the National Forum for Remote Sensing and Copernicus 2017 - "Copernicus@work". ...

CODE-DE – Satellite data free of charge for everyone

09 March 2017
Landscape designers, nature conservation officials, city planners, farmers and foresters, meteorologists—they can all benefit from earth observation, if they have reliable and easy access to the requisite data. Today the “Copernicus Data and Exploitation Platform – Germany”, CODE-DE, was activated for this purpose. The platform was developed together with industrial partners under EOC leadership. ...

	Earth firmly in view – Sentinel-2B satellite successfully launched 07 March 2017 Just two years after its 'twin satellite' was launched on 7 March 2017 at 02:49 CET (6 March at 22:49 local time), the European Earth observation satellite Sentinel-2B set off on its mission on board a Vega rocket from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana. ...
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UFS Schneefernerhaus greets Bundestag Delegation and President Krautzberger of the German Environment Agency

21 February 2017
Thanks to its high-alpine location the Schneefernerhaus Environmental Research Station (UFS) provides unique opportunities for environmental, climate, and high altitude research. On 20 February 2017 a delegation of the budget committee of the German parliament visited this research station on the Zugspitze, Germany’s highest mountain, accompanied by Maria Krautzberger, President of the German Environment Agency. There the visitors were informed about the research activities of the ten consortium partners, including the German Aerospace Center (DLR). ...

	Federal Agencies Visit EOC 17 February 2017 On 15 February 2017 representatives from the Federal Statistical Office of Germany and the Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy were informed at EOC about the potential of earth observation and current developments. ...
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	Unusual Northern European Weather Conditions 16 February 2017 Since early February a distinct reduction in ozone concentration over northern Europe has been observed. This situation is unusual in the Northern Hemisphere. ...
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Fires in Chile

31 January 2017
On January 24, 2017, the International Charter 'Space and Major Disasters' was activated for forest fires in Chile. The DLR/ZKI is responsible for the Project Management of this Charter Call and supports the ‘Chilean National Office of Emergency of the Interior Ministry’ (ONEMI) of Chile with the provision of satellite data and value added disaster information products. ...

DLR/EOC Calendar Awarded Bronze

30 January 2017
The limited-edition 2017 DLR calendar, distributed to representatives of ministries, public authorities, partners, and decision makers in science and industry, once more features EOC topics. And it was again successful in a calendar competition. On 26 January it received a bronze “gregor international calendar award” at the Haus der Wirtschaft in Stuttgart. ...

	Arousing interest in science at an early age: EOC at Augsburg Children‘s University 26 January 2017 At “Augsburg Children‘s University” scientists teach youngsters about current research topics and provide background knowledge. EOC is involved. ...
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	500 Terabyte (TB) compressed into one image – Big Data in Earth Observation 25 January 2017 The European Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 missions will generate a daily data volume in excess of 20 TB by the end of 2017. In view of this large quantity, new processing procedures are called for, like those used by the TimeScan processor developed and successfully tested by EOC. ...
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	Project Launch in Lisbon 24 January 2017 The kick-off meeting for the Horizon2020 project “NextGEOSS” was held 16-18 January in Lisbon. Its goal is to make it possible for geodata that are currently available worldwide to be more easily and efficiently located with the help of intelligent algorithms. ...
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A powerful visitor attraction: “Nature‘s Wonders” the most successful temporary exhibition of 2016

06 January 2017
Orbit Earth like an astronaut and marvel at the earthly splendour of the changing seasons. Since March 2016 visitors to Gasometer Oberhausen have been able to experience this spectacle. Some 750,000 people came in droves last year to this 100 meter high industrial monument and made " Nature‘s Wonders " the most successful single exhibition of 2016 in Germany while at the same time breaking a visitor record at Gasometer Oberhausen. ...