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	Wave covers middle to high atmosphere 13 December 2010 The atmosphere is currently characterized by pronounced dynamic activity. It ranges from the stratosphere to the limit of the aerospace, as it is shown by measurements of stratospheric ozone and mesopause temperature in an altitude of about 87 km.
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1st NDMC InterComparison Campaign (NICC-1) at ALOMAR, Norway, has started – GRIPS instrument successfully installed

13 December 2010
The first NDMC InterComparison Campaign (NICC-1) has been started at the Observatory ALOMAR in Norway initiated by the German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD) of the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The Infrared-Spectrometer GRIPS 9 (Ground-based Infrared P-branch Spectrometer) was successfully installed at ALOMAR in November 2010 (Figure 1 + 2) and measures OH temperatures in the mesopause region at about 87 km height. These measurements will be continued until April 2011 in order to inter-compare the GRIPS results with collocated temperature measurements from other OH-spectrometers and OH-imagers as well as lidars and satellite-based instruments. The results of NICC-1 will be published on the NDMC website.

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Prime Minister of the Canadian Northwest Territories visits the EOC

19 November 2010
In August this year, the German Remote Sensing Data Center inaugurated its satellite acquisition station in the north of Canada, in Inuvik, in the Northwest Territories. The highest representative of the Canadian government at this event was the Prime Minister of the Canadian Northwest Territories, Floyd Roland. A delegation of the Northwest Territories, headed by the Prime Minister Floyd Roland, got itself an now impression of such sites in Europe.

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Assimilation of satellite aerosol measurements improves quality of forecast of air quality

12 November 2010
Based on a collaboration between scientists from DLR and University of Cologne an observation operator for a component-wise assimilation of satellite aerosol measurements has been developed. It treats aerosol particles classified into water soluble, water insoluble, soot, sea salt and mineral dust containing aerosol particles in the atmospheric boundary layer as separately assimilated aerosol components.

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	Winners of the 2010 competition “Jugend forscht” have been visiting EOC 19 October 2010 The winners of the 2010 competition “Jugend forscht” have been visiting the DLR in Oberpfaffenhofen on Oct. 18 – 19 to experience DLR high-tech and research on-site. Primary topics at the Earth Observation Center EOC were recent project work and a guided tour through the EOC Service Lab.
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	Antarctic Ozone Hole has reached maximum size for this year’s (2010) season 30 September 2010 The Antarctic ozone hole has become prominent during recent years. Due to complex chemical processes ozone is being destroyed always with the advent of the first solar illumination in southern polar latitudes. This year is no exception.
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Does desert dust change cloud properties in the West-African Monsoon region?

16 September 2010
It is well known that aerosol-cloud-interactions are of great importance for the climate system. Scientists of the German Remote Sensing Datacenter (DFD) now have statistically analyzed the relationships between desert dust aerosol and the cloud state of West-Africa from observation data of different European and US satellites.

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Air Quality in Bavaria: Daily forecasts now available at the WDC

7 September 2010
Anyone wanting to enter the city centre of Munich by car after October 1st 2010 should have a green or yellow emission sticker on the windscreen of his car. From that day on the next stage of the clean air plan of the city of Munich will be activated. The goal is to improve the air quality in Munich in accordance with regulations set up by the European Union.

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Impressions from the Opening of the "EOC Service Lab"

6 September 2010
On September 02, 2010 the "EOC Service Lab" of DLR in Oberpfaffenhofen was inaugurated by the Bavarian Prime Minister Horst Seehofer in front of numerous representatives of press, radio and TV. He was accompanied by Dr. Männle (MdL) and Dr. Gruppe (StMWIVT). In his welcome address, the chairman of DLR, Prof. Wörner appreciated the visit and he emphasized the particular importance of the new service lab for the utilization of space technology for the benefit of humanitarian aid. Subsequently, Prof. Dech, the director of the German Remote Sensing Center DFD offered a guided tour across the facilities. He explicated the the services of the World Data Center WCD-RSAT for the monitoring of air quality the components, the mode of operation of the German-Indonesian Tsunami Warning System GITEWS, and the recent activities of the Center for Satellite-based Crisis Information ZKI in the context of the disaster management of the pakistanian floodings Here are some visual impressions of the successful event, which met a remarkable positive response in press, radio and TV reports.

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The ozone-hole season 2010

1 September 2010
Wintertime in the southern hemisphere is in full swing: The "precursor" of an ozone hole, a boiler shaped vortex over the South Pole has developed, preventing exchange of air masses between polar and middle latitudes. Daily analyses of GOME-2 data, evaluated at DLR on a routine basis on behalf of EUMETSAT and assimilated at DFD into a 4D-Var-Model, show that this polar vortex does not stay symmetrical to the pole but is being deformed continuously.

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Relauch des ZKI-Web-Portals

20 August 2010
Today, Monday August 23, the Center of satellite based crisis information (ZKI) of DLR celebrates the relaunch of it’s web-portal. The old portal, that existed since the very beginning of this DLR service, has been fundamentally overhauled, both in visual and technical respect. It is offering now contemporary and comfortable access to the products of ZKI and to the information about recent activities and projects.

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NDMC -Station Oberpfaffenhofen: 20 Month of Routine Operations

19. August 2010
Since January 2009, the German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD) of the DLR in Oberpfaffenhofen monitors on a routine basis the night time temperature within the mesopause region. This is made possible by the infrared spectrometer GRIPS 6, which automatically measures night by night the infrared radiation emitted in the atmospheric airglow-layer (appr. 87 km above the Earth’s surface). GRIPS 6 is integrated in the international Network for the Detection of Mesopause Change (NDMC) for monitoring climate signals in this height region. The measured data of GRIPS 6 are automatically submitted to and archived at the World Data Center for Remote Sensing of the Atmosphere (WDC-RSAT) serving as data and communication center for NDMC, where they are available in near real time on the NDMC website as quicklooks.

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	Acknowledgment Opening Earth Observation Center (EOC) 23 July 2010 Dear Guests, the Opening of DLR's Earth Observation Center (EOC), on July 20th was crowned with success...
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European Direct Access Facility enters operational status

13 April 2010
In the context of a press event the cooperation partners DLR, EUSI and Digital Globe have celebrated the operational phase of the „European Direct Access Facility“ (DAF). Speakers from all partners emphasized the excellent long-time collaboration. The facility will enable customers to directly place orders for images from the high resolution satellites WorldView-1 and WorldView-2.

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	Metop-A measures global water vapour and formaldehyde 9 April 2010 The Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2 (GOME-2), the scanning spectrometer on board EUMETSAT’s Metop-A polar-orbiting satellite, is now delivering operational information on the total amount of water vapour and formaldehyde.
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	Winter in the stratosphere ends 23 March 2010 There is evidence for the approaching end of the winter also in the stratosphere: Large-scale dynamic activity has been increasing since mid December 2009 and seems to collapse during the next days - an indication for the reversal from winter to summer circulation.
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Set-up of the receiving facility for WorldView-2 satellite

22 March 2010
The antenna will be operated on behalf of European Space Imaging (EUSI) Munich, and will be used to receive data of the satellite WoldView-2. In cooperation with the DFD EUSI will that way implement the European Direct Access Facility EDAF for this satellite. In addition to scientific research and applications, DFD will use data from WoldView-2 for analysis and mapping tasks of its Center for Satellite based Crisis Information ZKI.

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	Yet another iceberg crash in the Antarctica 03 March 2010 A glacier tongue of the size of Luxemburg (400 metres hight) was broken from the Mertz-Glacier in the Australian Antarctica, having been rammed by the iceberg B-09B (97 km length) on February 26th. High resolution data from the German Radar Satellite TerraSAR-X show the recent situation in detail.
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	The countdown is on - TanDEM-X mission blog 26 May 2010 Germany's new Earth observation satellite, TanDEM-X, is being prepared for launch on June 21st. The launch campaign is under way and Michael Bartusch, DLR's TanDEM-X Project Manager, is blogging with updates straight from the launch site at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
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TanDEM-X and TerraSAR-X – imaging Etna while flying in formation

20 October 2010
The TanDEM-X and TerraSAR-X satellite pair have acquired their first image of Earth’s surface, synchronised to the microsecond, while flying over Mount Etna in Italy. Scientists at DLR’s Earth Observation Center (EOC) have used the data to create a three-dimensional digital elevation model with an unprecedented elevation accuracy down to two metres. The image is the first in the world to be created by satellites flying in such a close formation.

Mapping urban sprawl of megacities from space

19 November 2010
The team “Urban areas and Landmanagement” of DFD maps the enormous urban sprawl over almost 40 years using multitemporal remotely sensed data from the Landsat and TerraSAR-X sensors. Based on object-oriented and pixel-based classification algorithms urbanized areas are extracted with high accuracies for the specific time steps. Using post-classification change detection urban expansion is quantified and measured in its spatial configuration. Mapping the megacities of the world with consistent data sets and methods urban sprawl will be compared across cities to identify trends, analogies and differences.

DLR becomes a member of the International Charter 'Space and Major Disasters'

19 October 2010
The German Aerospace Center (DLR) has become a member of the International Charter 'Space and Major Disasters'. In the frame of the Charter DLR provides satellite data and expert knowledge for the crisis management of major disasters - in particular from the radar mission TerraSAR-X and the Center for Satellite Based Crisis Information (ZKI). ZKI is a service of the German Remote Sensing Data Center.

Open house at the DLR site Oberpfaffenhofen on October, 24, Program of the EOC

18 October 2010

On Sunday, October, 24 the DLR research center Oberpfaffenhofen opens its gates for interested visitors. From 10.00 to 17.00 the Earth Observation Center (EOC) will offer an attractive program. Scientists will present recent projects and research topics by short lectures, video-animations and live demonstrations.

The Cluster for Applied Remote Sensing (C-AF) is now Earth Observation Center (EOC)

The Institute Cluster for Applied Remote sensing (C-AF), made up by the German Remote Sensing Data Center DFD and the Institute for Methodology of Remote Sensing IMF has been renamed to Earth Observation Center (EOC). The new name specifies more precisely the thematic fields and the claim of the institution, and characterises the increasing integration of the involved institutes of the EOC in European and international missions and programs.
This web portal is now assigned to the URL www.dlr.de/eoc . Please replace in your bookmarks to specific pages within this portal the term "CAF" by "EOC".

Traffic management system for mass events and disasters

01 October 2010
VABENE is an interdisciplinary project, in which traffic engineers, computer scientists , mathematicians, geographers, physicists, geodesists and urban planers from 8 DLR Institutes work together to realize a new traffic management system for mass events and disasters. At the Munich “Oktoberfest” VABENE is e.g. supporting the Munich Traffic Coordination Agency to improve the incoming and outgoing Oktoberfest-traffic. The quantitative monitoring of large crowds is also being developed within the project. With the 3K-Camerasytem of the EOC (48 MPix) crowds can be quantitatively monitored within a very short time span. People density, amount and moving directions are evaluated automatically from image sequences. This technique shall be used in future for mass events and could help, by using the information about size and density of large crowds, to avoid disasters during these events.

The GeoVIS Team of DFD provides satellite images for the UNESCO World Heritage Exposition in Cologne

13 September 2010
From Sept. 13th to Oct. 4th, the Cologne cathedral – holding itself the status of a UNESCO world cultural heritage – acts as a background for the joint UNESCO-DLR exhibition “"What a Sight - Space Looking Out for World Heritage". 30 unique satellite images of world heritage sites have been processed by the GeoVIS team of DFD for the exhibition, which was inaugurated on Sept. 13th by the major of Cologne, Mr. Hans-Werner Bartsch and DLR representatives. The images have been shown before in Paris and Brussels.

Federal Secretary of the Interior de Maizière visits DFD at Neustrelitz

02 September 2010
On September 2nd, 2010 the Federal Secretary of the Interior, Dr. Thomas de Maizière visited the DLR site at Neustrelitz. He was accompanied by a governmental delegation of the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, in particular the Secretary of Education Henry Tesch and the Secretary of Commerce Jürgen Seidel. The visit was dedicated to discussions with the Managing Board of DLR and demonstrations of recent scientific research and operational services at the Neustrelitz site of DLR.

The Bavarian Prime Minister Horst Seehofer has inaugurated the "EOC Service Lab"

02 September 2010
On Sept. 2 the Bavarian Prime Minister Horst Seehofer has inaugurated the "EOC Service Lab" of the German Aerospace Center DLR. The new facility is part of the DLR Earth Observation Center EOC, that was established on July 20, 2010. The Service Lab comprises the scientific and technical capacities of the Center for satellite-based crisis information (ZKI), of the World Data Center for Remote Sensing of the Atmosphere (WDC-RSAT) and of the Reference Platform for environmental and crisis information systems.

DLR celebrates a new book release: "Remote Sensing in Urban Areas"

01 September 2010
The German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Oberpfaffenhofen has celebrated a new book release on the 31st of August 2010: "Remote sensing in Urban Areas: Earth Observation on its way to planning practice" published by Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft Darmstadt. The editors are DLR-scientists Dr. Hannes Taubenböck and Professor Dr. Stefan Dech from the German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD). The preambles of Christian Ude, the mayor of Munich and DLR-chief executive officer Professor Dr. Johann-Dietrich Wörner underline the vision of the new definitive book – a common future for urban planning and earth observation.

Better understand Sun-Earth Interaction: NDMC becomes part of the international CAWSES-II program

31 August 2010
The Network for the Detection of Mesopause Change (NDMC) is a global program with the mission to promote international cooperation among research groups investigating the mesopause region (80-100 km) with the goal of early identification of changing climate signals. NDMC is coordinated by DFD in cooperation with CONICET, Argentina, the Bavarian Environmental Station Schneefernerhaus, UFS. NDMC is now part of the CAWSES-program Climate And Weather of the Sun-Earth System.

	Inauguration of the first DFD ground station in Canada 10 August 2010 On 10 August 2010, the German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD) inaugurated its first satellite data receiving station in Inuvik, Canada. DLR will use the new ground station particularly to receive data for the German TanDEM-X satellite mission.
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	Flood of July and August, 2010, in Pakistan 05 August 2010 In July and August, 2010, after heavy monsoon rains, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, was hit by severe floods. Estimates speak of at least 1,300 people killed, 3.700 houses destroyed and 45 bridges swept away. More than a million people were directly affected by the flood.
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EnMAP Ground Segment Critical Design Review finished successfully

29 July 2010
The ground segment of the satellite mission EnMAP (Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program) reached a major milestone when it successfully completed its Critical Design Review (CDR). On July 21, 2010 an independent review board, comprised of reviewers from DLR (German Aerospace Center), ESA (European Space Agency), and GFZ (German Research Centre for Geosciences) certified that the maturity of the EnMAP ground segment design is appropriate to support proceedings with production, integration, technical verification, and operational validation.

German Secretary of Commerce Rainer Brüderle inaugurates DLR’s Earth Observation Center (EOC)

20 July 2010
On July, 20 the Earth Observation Center (EOC) of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) has been inaugurated by the German Secretary of Commerce Rainer Brüderle. The new building in Oberpfaffenhofen will host both institutes of the Cluster for Applied Remote Sensing, DFD and IMF. The mission of the cluster comprises acquisition, processing, archiving and distribution of Earth Observation data, for numerous applications, e.g. in the domains of climate change research, environmental monitoring and disaster management.

	News from the TanDEM-X mission blog 29 June 2010 TanDEM-X, the TerraSAR-X add-on for Digital Elevation Measurement, was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 21 June. Mission controllers and project engineers have been blogging from the launch site and from the Mission Control Centre. Get the latest updates on the mission here.
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TanDEM-X sends its first images in record time

25 June 2010
Already, with its first image acquisitions, TanDEM-X has surpassed its twin satellite, TerraSAR-X. On 24 June 2010, only 3 days and 14 hours into the mission, the satellite sent its first image data back to Earth. The transmission was received by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) ground station at Neustrelitz and processed to produce images. TanDEM-X looked down from an altitude of more than 500 kilometres above northern Madagascar, Ukraine and Moscow.

The Earth in 3D - German radar satellite TanDEM-X launched successfully

21 Juni 2010
Germany's second Earth observation satellite, TanDEM-X, was launched successfully on 21 June 2010 at 04:14 Central European Summer Time (CEST, 08:14 local time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Atop a Russian Dnepr rocket, the satellite, weighing more than 1.3 tons and five metres in length, started its journey into orbit. At 4.45 CEST first signal was received via Troll ground station in the Antarctic.

Floods on the River Oder (German-Polish Border)

28 May 2010 - updated on 01 June 2010
During the middle of May, a low-pressure area over Ukraine lead to a very intense rainfall in southern Poland. Between May 16, 2010 and May 18, 2010 a rainfall amount of 300 l/m² was registered in the catchment area of the Oder (Southern Poland and Czech Republic). These heavy rainfall intensities lead to inundations of the Oder.

Oil spill disaster after the loss of the oil rig "Deepwater Horizon" in the Gulf of Mexico

28 April 2010
On April 21, 2010 a momentous explosion occured on the oil rig "Deepwater Horizon" located in the Gulf of Mexico about 80 km off the coast of Louisiana, USA. The oil rig caught fire and 11 workers were missing after the incident and are believed to be dead. On the following day the oil rig sank to the seafloor about 1500 m below the surface and approximately 400 m northwest of the well. Every day an estimation of 160.000 litres of oil are leaking from two places of the well and threaten the marine ecosystem of the Gulf of Mexico and the coast of Luisiana, USA.

ERS-2 has recently completed its 77777 orbit - 15 year of successful operation

21 April 2010
Originally designed to monitor Earth for just three years, ESA's veteran ERS-2 satellite is still in orbit after 15 years of delivering essential data to improve our understanding of Earth and climate change. All instruments are working well, and the DFD team at the receiving station in O’Higgins (Anarctica) took the chance to celebrate the 77777 orbit. The parallel operation of ERS-2 and its predecessor ERS-1 has built up the base for radar-interferometry, and was essential for the design of the German TanDEM-X mission that will be launched this summer.

Volcanic eruption Iceland - Air mass relevance analysis for the DLR Falcon flight

20 April 2010
This study shows the air masses being emitted from the volcano Eyjafjallajökull residing over Europe during the time of DLR-Falcon's flight. The flight took place between 16:00 and 19:30 local time. The color code represents the actual height of the considered air parcels. The study is available for download via the following link:

DLR Scientists analyze the ash plumes of the Eyjafjallajökull eruptions

17 April 2010
The volcanic eruptions of the Islandic volcano Eyjafjällajökoll on April 15. and 21. have polluted the atmosphere with enormous amounts of ashes and sulphur-dioxide. Scientists of the Cluster for Applied Remote Sensing evaluate recent satellite images and measurements in order to assess the impact of the emissions on air traffic, climate and human health.

TerraSAR-X monitors the collision of an eisberg with antarctic shelf-ice

22 February 2010
The German radar satellite TerraSAR-X has been monitoring the collision of the 400 ton iceberg B15-K with the Ekström shelf-ice next to the German Antarctic Station Neumayer III on February 12th. DFD has provided these data to the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research AWI for a detailed analysis of the crash.

Ground breaking ceremony for the new Satellite Receiving and Processing Center of DFD in Neustrelitz

03 February 2010
Within the next two years the German Aerospace Center will set up the infrastructure for both a Real-time Data Center and a Training facility (DLR campus) at the DLR research site Neustrelitz. On Feb. 3rd , Henry Tesch, the minister for Education, Science and Culture of the hosting Federal State Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and Klaus Hamacher, the acting chairman of DLR symbolically opened the Ground Breaking Ceremony for the new buildings.

Shaping the future – Remote Sensing Students furnish information about their professional perspectives

25 January 2010
About 150 students from the Universities of Würzburg and Bayreuth have been visiting DFD in order to get informed about recent remote sensing research and projects. Since 2001 such excursions form an inherent part of the lectures at both research institutions. Both the given presentations and the discussions with Prof. Dech and other DFD scientists did not only deal with the pure scientific component, but also with the application and geopolitical aspects of research work, such as resource management and the impact of climate change.

Scientists of the German Remote Sensing Data Center support disaster management in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake

16 January 2010
After the disastrous earthquake in Haiti, local rescue teams need reliable and actual information about the recent state of the infrastructure and an assessment of the damages. For this purpose scientists of the German Remote Sensing Center of DLR have accomplished a major task: from recent earth observation satellite data they produce maps of the affected region is in near real time. Their focus is currently on Port-au-Prince, the severely damage capital of the island.

	Earthquakes in Haiti on January 12, 2010 12 January 2010 On January 12, 2010 a major earthquake of magnitude 7.0 and a depth of 10 km struck southern Haiti at 21:53 UTC. The epicentre was registred about 10 km deep and 16 km southwest of the capital city Port-au-Prince. The city was hit severely. Communication collapsed and major damage to buildings and infrastructure was reported.
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Wave covers middle to high atmosphere

1st NDMC InterComparison Campaign (NICC-1) at ALOMAR, Norway, has started – GRIPS instrument successfully installed

Prime Minister of the Canadian Northwest Territories visits the EOC

Assimilation of satellite aerosol measurements improves quality of forecast of air quality

Winners of the 2010 competition “Jugend forscht” have been visiting EOC

Antarctic Ozone Hole has reached maximum size for this year’s (2010) season

Does desert dust change cloud properties in the West-African Monsoon region?

Air Quality in Bavaria: Daily forecasts now available at the WDC

Impressions from the Opening of the "EOC Service Lab"

The ozone-hole season 2010

Relauch des ZKI-Web-Portals

NDMC -Station Oberpfaffenhofen: 20 Month of Routine Operations

Acknowledgment Opening Earth Observation Center (EOC)

European Direct Access Facility enters operational status

Metop-A measures global water vapour and formaldehyde

Winter in the stratosphere ends

Set-up of the receiving facility for WorldView-2 satellite

Yet another iceberg crash in the Antarctica

The countdown is on - TanDEM-X mission blog

TanDEM-X and TerraSAR-X – imaging Etna while flying in formation

Mapping urban sprawl of megacities from space

DLR becomes a member of the International Charter 'Space and Major Disasters'

Open house at the DLR site Oberpfaffenhofen on October, 24, Program of the EOC

The Cluster for Applied Remote Sensing (C-AF) is now Earth Observation Center (EOC)

Traffic management system for mass events and disasters

The GeoVIS Team of DFD provides satellite images for the UNESCO World Heritage Exposition in Cologne

Federal Secretary of the Interior de Maizière visits DFD at Neustrelitz

The Bavarian Prime Minister Horst Seehofer has inaugurated the "EOC Service Lab"

DLR celebrates a new book release: "Remote Sensing in Urban Areas"

Better understand Sun-Earth Interaction: NDMC becomes part of the international CAWSES-II program

Inauguration of the first DFD ground station in Canada

Flood of July and August, 2010, in Pakistan

EnMAP Ground Segment Critical Design Review finished successfully

German Secretary of Commerce Rainer Brüderle inaugurates DLR’s Earth Observation Center (EOC)

News from the TanDEM-X mission blog

TanDEM-X sends its first images in record time

The Earth in 3D - German radar satellite TanDEM-X launched successfully

Floods on the River Oder (German-Polish Border)

Oil spill disaster after the loss of the oil rig "Deepwater Horizon" in the Gulf of Mexico

ERS-2 has recently completed its 77777 orbit - 15 year of successful operation

Volcanic eruption Iceland - Air mass relevance analysis for the DLR Falcon flight

DLR Scientists analyze the ash plumes of the Eyjafjallajökull eruptions

TerraSAR-X monitors the collision of an eisberg with antarctic shelf-ice

Ground breaking ceremony for the new Satellite Receiving and Processing Center of DFD in Neustrelitz

Shaping the future – Remote Sensing Students furnish information about their professional perspectives

Scientists of the German Remote Sensing Data Center support disaster management in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake

Earthquakes in Haiti on January 12, 2010