An international group of renowned scientists, including Nobel Prize winner Paul Crutzen, visited the Schneefernerhaus Environmental Research Station (UFS) on the Zugspitze on September 26, 2008 as part of their deliberations on "Earth System Engineering - The art of dealing wisely with the Planet Earth".
The Schneefernerhaus Environmental Research Station (UFS) is an internationally networked competence center for high-altitude and climate research. It is run according to the model of a virtual institute. In addition to the DLR, the FZK, HMGU, UBA, DWD, TUM and LMU are involved.
The expert group was particularly interested in DFD's scientific work on climate observation with GRIPS and the approaches for the rapid detection of tsunami events with this system. GRIPS is an infrared spectrometer that measures the emissions of excited hydroxyl (OH) in the range of 1.52 - 1.55 μm. These emissions are part of the so-called atmospheric "airglow". They originate from an altitude of around 87 kilometers and make it possible to precisely determine the temperature in this altitude range, which is otherwise very difficult to measure. The region is considered to be particularly sensitive to climate change. In addition, infrasound signals, such as those generated by tsunamis, cause disturbances in the airglow. These can be detected with GRIPS and thus enable rapid detection of tsunami hazards.
