The birth of an iceberg 19 December 2019 Pine Island Glacier in the Antarctic is about to calve along its 35 km long front. The latest TerraSAR-X image shows that a tabular iceberg the size of Frank/Main is coming into being.
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Australian ambassador visits EOC 16 December 2019 The Australian ambassador Lynette Wood paid a visit to the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Oberpfaffenhofen on 16 December 2019. She was welcomed by Prof. Hansjörg Dittus, executive board member for space research and technology. For years there have been close ties to science and business in Australia, earth observation being one of the fields that play a large role in this relationship.

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50 years of satellite data reception at DLR's Neustrelitz site 12 December 2019 50 years after the first successful reception of measurement data, Neustrelitz has developed into an important hub in the network of worldwide receiving stations. Today, more than 17,000 passages pass through the site of the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) every year. In 2020, a new antenna will be added to the ground station to make it fit for the future.

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Development of the Patagonian Ice Fields reveals the enormous complexity of physical interactions 10 December 2019 The glaciers and ice fields in the South American region of Patagonia have been in retreat since the Little Ice Age between the early 14th century and the mid-19th century. In recent decades, the loss of ice masses associated with tropospheric warming has accelerated. From 2000 to 2016 the Patagonian Ice Fields contributed approximately six percent to the eustatic sea level rise of 0.74 millimetres per year. This represents the average rise in sea levels due to all of the world's glaciers and ice caps – excluding the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica.

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Copernicus Masters winner selected 10 December 2019 This year's Copernicus Master Prize in the DLR Environment, Energy & Health Challenge was awarded last week to the ajuma company, which was founded by EOC staff member Julian Meyer-Arnek. Ajuma plans to monitor personal UV dosage with the help of a portable sensor and a smartphone app. In addition, data from the Sentinel-5 Copernicus satellite will make it possible to take the UV hazard into account when planning outdoor activities.

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MOSAiC: DLR is providing the world’s largest and longest polar research expedition with sharp radar vision from space 09. Dezember 2019 The Arctic is a vast expanse of ice and snow covering the Earth’s northernmost latitudes. Climate change has a strong, large-scale impact there, with ramifications that extend across the globe. A warming climate affects ice and water, the ocean currents, the atmosphere and the arctic ecosystem as a whole. Using their specialized expertise in sea ice monitoring, researchers at DLR’s Earth Observation Center (EOC) seek to better understand this interconnected system.

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Monthly cloud-free Sentinel-2 mosaics of Germany free-of-charge 06 December 2019 EOC offers access to monthly cloud-free Sentinel-2 mosaics of Germany free-of-charge (Sentinel-2 L3A product). This data product has been consecutively processed since 2017, when Sentinel-2 began operations. A weighted averaging of 46 days of atmospherically corrected individual Sentinel-2 images achieves almost entirely cloud-free coverage.

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Disaster management: testing a multi-risk-system demonstrator 02 December 2019 In recent decades people have become increasingly endangered worldwide by natural disasters – especially in densely settled urban areas. In the collaborative research project RIESGOS an interdisciplinary research team together with business partner is developing methods to assess multi-risk situations and their interactions using the example of the particularly endangered Andes region.

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	FireBIRD monitors fires in Australia 27 November 2019 On November 9 and November 14 it was possible to monitor the fires in New South Wales, Australia using DLR’s BIROS satellite data. The FireBIRD BIROS sensor has with 320 m a much higher spatial resolution than the standard thermal sensors from MODIS or the Sentinel-3 SLSTR (1 km).
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At the focus of climate change 25 November 2019 On 22 November the ERATOSTHENES Centre of Excellence (ECoE) was launched in Limassol, Cyprus. Over the course of the next seven years it is expected to become a leading digital innovation centre (DIH) for earth observation and geodata. Its purpose is to thoroughly investigate the effects of global change on climate, land use, and society in the eastern Mediterranean, Near East and North Africa. Experts from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) are contributing to the centre's establishment.

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	Woodland and forests from space: visit of a Korean delegation 14 November 2019 The diversity of both tree species and ground terrain pose special challenges for the routine mapping of Korea's forests. For that reason, Korea's ambitious earth observation programme is to be expanded by a customized new platform, the Korean Agriculture and Forestry Satellite, KAFoS.
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Energy Minister Christian Pegel visits DLR Neustrelitz 07 November 2019 On 30 October 2019, Christian Pegel (SPD), Minister for Energy, Infrastructure and Digitisation of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, visited the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Neustrelitz. During his tour, Minister Pegel gained an insight into the work of the department of the National Ground Segment. Its core competencies include data reception, the generation and delivery of Earth observation products and the archiving of payload data from national and international remote sensing missions and small scientific satellite missions.

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	WFP PRISM team visit to DLR on 28 October 06 November 2019 The WFP (World Food Programme) travelled to Oberpfaffenhofen on 28 October with various experts from the GIS/Remote Sensing sector to discuss joint projects and cooperation in the context of their initiative to set up their own Platform for Real-time Impact and Situation Monitoring.
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EOC delivers application case for German Cloud Gaia-X 29 Oktober 2019 DLR is one of the first research institutions to participate in the development of a concept for a new European cloud and data infrastructure platform GAIA-X. DLR is providing an exciting application case from Earth observation for such a Hyper Scaler. This was announced by the German government at the Digital Summit 2019 in Dortmund.

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German radar satellites provide valuable environmental data 23 October 2019 Scientific users from all over the world met at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Oberpfaffenhofen to exchange the results obtained from the data at the TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X Science Meetings and to formulate requirements for future remote sensing technologies. More than 100 presentations from 21 to 24 October 2019 revealed the latest state of research.

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DESIS data from the ISS now available for science and research! 18 October 2019 EOC can now supply data from the first German imaging spectrometer on board the International Space Station (ISS). The purpose of the related Announcement of Opportunity is to initiate the use of DESIS data for basic and applied research as well as for the development and demonstration of future operational applications. DLR has a limited data contingent that will be made available until the end of the mission free of charge for use in implementing the short proposals approved within the framework of the Announcement of Opportunity.

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	Anniversary of German Unification 2019 in Kiel - ZKI supports with remote sensing products 09 October 2019 Together with the DLR Institute for Optical Sensor Systems, the Centre for Satellite Based Crisis Information supported the work of the Federal Police and the State Police on German Unification Day. Various remote sensing products were generated and provided to the security authorities.
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Earth observation for environment and climate 09 October 2019 Thorsten Glauber, Bavarian State Minister for the Environment and Consumer Protection, returned enthusiastically from the Schneeferner Haus in April. Climate research literally at the highest level: at 2650 metres just below the Zugspitze. What other areas does the German Aerospace Center (DLR) work in, and what is its focus on global change and climate research? This was the question that the Bavarian Environment Minister put to DLR in Oberpfaffenhofen on 8 October 2019.

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Ministerial Director Dr. Frehse and Dr. Latsch from BMI visit the ZKI 01 October 2019 Ministerial Director Dr. Frehse (Head of Directorate-General H - Community) and Dr. Latsch (Head of Division - Geoinformation) of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community (BMI) visited the ZKI in the German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD) on October 1, 2019 to inform themselves about the ongoing work and the practical application of the research work within the operational ZKI services.

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Free-of-charge access to atmospherically corrected Sentinel-2 data for Germany 19 September 2019 DLR's Earth Observation Center offers users free-of-charge access to atmospherically corrected Sentinel-2 data with spatial coverage of Germany (time span: the past 12 months). The multispectral data indicate light reflectance from Earth's surface ("Bottom of Atmosphere" Reflectance, Level-2A data product), making it possible to characterise ground cover.

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	DRIVER+ Trial "Austria" and IRONORE2019 on 12th to 14th September 2019, Eisenerz/Austria 17 September 2019 To strengthen crisis management, the EU-project DRIVER+ (Driving Innovation in Crisis Management for European Resilience) conducted the fourth Trial, this time in the Eisenerz region (Styria, Austria) from 12 to 14 September 2019.
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The 2019 ozone hole – a sign of recovery? 16 September 2019 September 16 is International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, an occasion to take a look at its present condition. Although chlorofluorocarbons have been internationally prohibited since the Montreal Protocol was signed in 1987, the chemical compounds remaining in the stratospheric ozone layer continue to break down ozone. However, the ozone hole that forms each year over the Antarctic is surprisingly small in 2019.

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DLR presents solutions to protect the population and manage crises 12 September 2019 On 11 September 2019, Prof. Dr Pascale Ehrenfreund, Chairman of the Executive Board of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and Prof Dr Stefan Dech, Director of the German Remote Sensing Data Center of DLR, spoke at a joint information lunch organised by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the German Aerospace Forum (DLR) about DLR's contributions to solving global challenges and protecting the civilian population.

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Explosion of a sulfur plant in Iraq – Sentinel-5P detects strong SO2 emission 26 July 2019 On 27 und 28 June the Sentinel-5P (S5P) satellite detected a very strong SO2 cloud in northern Iraq. The source for this strong emission was an explosion in the al-Mishraq sulphur plant located in Hamam al-Alil, south of Mosul. The plant caught fire in the afternoon of 26 June 2019. The TROPOMI spectrometer aboard S5P detected an emission of more than 14 tons of SO2 in the atmosphere.

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	Exploration of biological diversity from space 24 July 2019 Scientists from 30 countries have been working for five years on remote sensing methods in the Bavarian Forest National Park. With its data, the EOC is helping to establish an extensive data pool.
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	ZKI visits the Bavarian Red Cross (BRK) regional office in Munich 12 July 2019 A very productive working meeting took place on 10.07.2019 between the representatives of the department rescue service/safety research in the Bavarian Red Cross (BRK) and the colleagues of the ZKI.
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DLR at the "Innovation for Crisis Management (I4CM)" 11 July 2019 This year's "Innovation for Crisis Management (I4CM)" event was held on 12 and 13 June 2019 in Copenhagen. The ZKI presented itself at the "Marketplace of Innovative Solutions" and results and innovative products of the Trial “The Netherlands”, which was organized and conducted in May 2019 with the participation of DLR as part of the DRIVER+ project.

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Third EAGLE Summer Dialogue 10 July 2019 On 28 June 2019 the EAGLE Summer Dialogue took place for the third time at the Chair of Remote Sensing at the University of Würzburg. The EAGLE Msc. Program is an international course of studies for applied remote sensing at the University of Würzburg. The program was launched in 2016 in cooperation with the Earth Observation Center (EOC) of the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

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	Sentinel-5 Precursor: One volcano and 1,000,000 data packets 05 July 2019 A cloud stretches over the northern hemisphere for several thousands of kilometres. Raikoke volcano, one of Russia's Kuril Islands, hurled a massive plume of gases and ash more than 10 km up into the atmosphere when it erupted on 22 June.
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Vegetation fires in Germany - ZKI supports with up-to-date location maps 02 July 2019 Also the DLR supports the action force in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. With the help of ZKI-maps the estimation of the recent situation is assisted. Therefore different data sources are used. In addition to several satellite based sensors the Institute of Optical Sensor Systems made aerial photographs of the wild fires near Lübtheen with a special version of an „Modular Aerial Camera System“ (MACS) based on a research aircraft of the Freie Universität Berlin. Additionally, data of the DLR-research satellite mission FireBIRD/TET is used.

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HSM User Conference 2019 – Archiving Big Data 11 June 2019 The 2019 HSM (Hierarchical Storage Management) User Conference took place at Ulrichshusen manor from 5 to 7 June. This event brought over 50 experts from Germany, Austria and the USA to the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte, a lake district in northern Germany, to learn first-hand about special software solutions for managing large data archives.

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DLR-Symposium "Artificial Intelligence - Made in Germany" 07 June 2019 "Artificial intelligence, AI for short. Research institutions and the business sector have high expectations concerning what KI can mean for innovation and competitiveness in many areas. There are countless ideas about what could become possible with AI" stated Prof. Karsten Lemmer at the beginning of the "Artificial Intelligence - Made in Germany" Symposium on 4 June 2019.

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	Another ZKI-DE-user training at Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin 06 June 2019 The Federal Office for Cartography and Geodesy (BKG) and the Center of Satellite based Crisis Information (ZKI) at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) organized together for the third time a user-training on the ZKI-DE Remote Sensing Service for Federal Authorities in Berlin at the 4. and 5. June 2019.
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	Honorary Consul Thyben visits the EOC 29 May 2019 Mr. Gerhard Thyben, Honorary Consul of the Federal Republic of Germany in Cali, Colombia, visited DFD on 28 May 2019.
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DLR tests innovative crisis management solutions in The Hague 28 May 2019 From 22 to 23 May 2019, a comprehensive flood scenario was simulated in The Hague as part of the DRIVER+ project. The scientists evaluated five innovative solutions. With the participation of crisis managers from several countries, this was an opportunity to examine innovative solutions for crisis management in Europe. The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) organised the Trial together with the crisis team in The Hague (Safety Region The Hague) and at the same time tested new developments from the Centre for Satellite Based Crisis Information (ZKI) and the "KeepOperational" traffic management system from the Institute of Transportation Systems.

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Terra_Byte – Top computing power for researching global change 27 May 2019 One of Europe's largest supercomputing centres – the Leibniz Computer Centre (LRZ) of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences – and Europe's largest space research institution – the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) – will work together to evaluate the vast quantities of data acquired by Earth observation satellites alongside other global data sources, such as social networks, on the state of our planet on a daily basis.

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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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BBK and ZKI workshop with DRK, BRK, THW Bavaria, and Fire Academy Geretsried 16 May 2019 In January 2019 extreme snow falls in the whole Alpine foothills led to the declaration state of emergency in five Bavarian districts. On request of the federal office for civil protection and disaster relief the DLR supported through the ZKI-DE service with satellite-based map information about the situation of the snow coverage.

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	DLR conducts flight tests to test a 3-K camera system 06 May 2019 In preparation for a European disaster control project, the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) is conducting daytime flight tests in Braunschweig between 13 and 17 May 2019. The DLR research aircraft D-CODE, a specially equipped Dornier Do 228-101, will be used.
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	DLR flight tests with the Cessna C-208B Grand Caravan 18 April 2019 The Flight Experiments facility and the Remote Sensing Technology Institute (IMF) of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) are conducting flight experiments in Braunschweig between 25 and 30 April 2019.
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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.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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	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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	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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"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.

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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.

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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.

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	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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