Bündnis 90/Die Grünen Group Visits EOC
On 5 April 2016 Bundestag members Anja Hajduk and Dieter Janecek of the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen parliamentary group and Ms Sabine Nallinger, member of the board of "Stiftung 2° - Deutsche Unternehmer für Klimaschutz", a foundation of entrepreneurs for climate protection, visited EOC in Oberpfaffenhofen.
At EOC the guests learned about the use and potential of remote sensing and gained an impression of current research. Prof. Richard Bamler, EOC spokesman, described the national missions TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X. With the help of these two German radar satellites a global elevation model with the best resolution so far achieved was produced over the course of the past few years. This model is a small but important contribution toward facilitating use of satellite data. Dr Bamler gave two examples of applications: extremely precise recording of ground displacement, and monitoring agriculture with radar remote sensing. In this connection he also explained the potential of the planned Tandem-L mission for environmental and climate monitoring.
Dr Claudia Künzer used examples from global research projects to illustrate how remote sensing can be used to aid sustainable land management and to quantify global environmental change. Mr Thilo Erbertseder reported on progress in recording and forecasting concentrations of pollutants in the atmosphere to achieve efficient national monitoring.
Prof. Günter Strunz concluded the presentation with a brief look at how remote sensing is being used for crisis and disaster response, such as rapid mapping to communicate timely information to rapid response teams or to support preventive measures in areas at risk.
