Department for Space Weather Impact

The Department for Space Weather Impacts investigates the Space Weather influence on crucial systems and services such as GNSS or HF communication as well as on ground and space based infrastructures such as power grids or satellites. It investigates disturbances caused in the plasmasphere and ionosphere to develop appropriate indices which help users in the navigation domain estimating the space weather impact on their systems.

Department for Space Weather Observations

The department “Space Weather Observations” investigates and applies ionosphere measurement and inversion techniques using ground and space borne sensors. The observational data are used to reconstruct the temporally varying 3D electron density distribution of the geo-plasma environment by means of data fusion, reconstruction and assimilation techniques. The department includes currently three main working areas: space based observations, ground based observations, and data fusion and reconstruction.

Department for Solar-Terrestrial Coupling

The Department of Solar-Terrestrial Coupling Processes investigates processes in near Earth space in order to deepen the understanding of complex coupling mechanisms, primarily in the thermosphere and ionosphere, and to derive information about possible space weather hazards and their prevention. The department has a strong focus on the analysis and description of vertical coupling processes from above (e.g. sun, magnetosphere, plasmasphere and ionosphere) and from below (e.g. litho- and hydrosphere, neutral atmosphere).