With the lecture series ‘The Changing Earth’, TerraQ addresses the current topic of climate change and combines it with its own research. Invited speakers present climate-relevant processes and a TerraQ member explains how their research can improve the observation and analysis of such phenomena.
This year's event will take place on 14 November in the Königlicher Pferdestall at Leibniz University. The topic is satellite missions to measure climate-relevant processes and the role Einstein's general theory of relativity plays in this.
Dennis Philipp from the Centre for Applied Space Technology and Microgravity at the University of Bremen will show that not everything in the theory of relativity is relative after all and derive applications for earth observation, geodesy and climate research. A particular focus will be on chronometry, i.e. clock measurements, which in Einstein's theory depend on how two clocks move relative to each other and where they are located in the Earth's gravitational field. These effects play an important role in global navigation systems such as GALILEO and GPS, but also make it possible to precisely standardise regional height systems on Earth or to study the dynamics of the Earth and its gravitational field in particular.
The talk by Justus Notholt from the Institute of Environmental Physics at the University of Bremen will focus on satellite missions from the last few decades. Among other things, these record atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane and make it possible to collect data on the spatial and temporal distribution of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and to analyse their changes in the context of climate change. Other satellites measure the surface composition of the earth and the extent of sea ice in the polar regions.
The lecture language is German. Further information and a registration form can be found on the event website. A livestream will also be available there.
