Ulrike Scharf, Bavarian State Minister of the Environment and Consumer Protection (StMUV), paid a visit to EOC on 12 Feb. 2015. She was accompanied by Department Head Dr. Christian Barth and members of her ministry. The delegation was received by Prof. Hansjörg Dittus, member of the DLR Executive Board, and by the Director of the German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD), Prof. Stefan Dech.
In her opening words Minister Scharf emphasized the importance of science for politics, as it lays the foundation for important political decisions through knowledge gain. Quoting Minister Scharf, “Together with scientists, politics can achieve more”. In a two-hour tour through the facilities of EOC’s German Remote Sensing Data Center Minister Scharf was informed about current activities by DFD scientists. DFD already cooperates in several projects with the Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment and Consumer Protection. For example, DLR is a partner in the virtual institute "Schneefernerhaus Environmental Research Station", which operates under the aegis of that Ministry, and works on joint research projects along with the ministry’s subsidiary specialist agencies like the State Office of Environmental Affairs (LfU) and the State Office of Forests and Forestry Management (LWF).
Introductory lectures on aspects of atmosphere research like extreme weather and air quality, time series analysis in support of climate change research and ecosystem management, environmental disaster information systems, and the work of the Center for Satellite Based Crisis Information gave Minister Scharf an impression of the diverse application fields for remote sensing. The tour ended with a visit to the German Satellite Data Archive, which illustrated the effort involved in protecting the “wealth” of data from remote sensing missions for future generations and for climate research.
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