The Biosphere Activities within The Helmholtz Association Alliance: Remote Sensing & Earth System Dynamics

Marivi Tello, German Aerospace Center (DLR), maria.telloalonso@dlr.de (Presenter)
Matteo Pardini, German Aerospace Center (DLR), matteo.pardini@dlr.de
Michael Heym, Technical University Munich (TUM), michael.heym@lrz.tu-muenchen.de
Rico Fischer, Center for Environmental Research (UFZ), rico.fischer@ufz.de
Peter Bieber, Technical University Munich (TUM), peter.biber@lrz.tu-muenchen.de
Andreas Huth, Center for Environmental Research (UFZ), andreas.huth@ufz.de
Kostas Papathanassiou, German Aerospace Center (DLR), kostas.papathanassiou@dlr.de
Irena Hajnsek, German Aerospace Center (DLR), irena.hajnsek@dlr.de

The main objective of the five year funded German Helmholtz Alliance “Remote Sensing and Earth System Dynamics” is the development and evaluation of novel bio/geo-physical information products derived from data acquired by a new generation of remote sensing satellites; and their integration in Earth system models for improving understanding and modelling the ability of global environmental processes and ecosystem change. The Alliance is organized in 4 research topics, each one dedicated to a specific Earth sphere with a specific scientific goal:

• Biosphere: Global forest structure and biomass dynamics are evaluated for forest and biodiversity monitoring and the quantification of the global carbon cycle;

• Geosphere: The ability to measure topographic variations with millimetre accuracy is explored for improving the understanding of earthquake and volcano activities;

• Hydrosphere: The quantification of soil moisture and its variations at high spatial resolution is assessed with respect to hydrological models and the global water cycle;

• Cryosphere: The estimation of melting processes in snow, ice and permafrost regions is addressed in terms of global climate change.

The Alliance, founded in June 2012, comprises around 120 scientists with different backgrounds and nationalities. 18 national research centers and university are participating which represents a unique opportunity to exploit and widen the expertise of all participating centers and to maximize their role and contribution in the international environmental change science.

In this poster the objectives, approaches, methodology and achieved results within the Biosphere are presented with emphasis on following scientific questions:

• How does forest (vertical and horizontal) structure vary with environmental conditions and in different natural / anthropogenic disturbance regimes?

• How does the spatial heterogeneity of natural forests impact the structure measurements from radar remote sensing techniques?

• How can radar remote sensing used to measure (vertical and horizontal) forest structure and to quantify disturbance type and intensity in forests?

Presentation Type:  Poster

Session:  General Contributions   (Tue 4:35 PM)

Associated Project(s): 

• Related Activity: Related Activity or Previously Funded CC&E Activity not listed ...details

Poster Location ID: 245