Helmholtz Center Potsdam - German Research Center for Geosciences

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Helmholtz Center Potsdam
German Research Center for Geosciences

(GFZ)
Deutsches-GeoForschungsZentrum-Logo.svg
Legal form: Foundation under public law
Purpose: Research geosciences 
Chair: Reinhard Huettl
Managing directors: Stefan Schwartze
Consist: since January 1, 1992
Arose from: Central Institute for Earth Physics (ZIPE)
Founder: Brandenburg
Balance sheet total: approx. 90 million euros
Number of employees: approx. 1,200
Seat: Potsdam
Website: www.gfz-potsdam.de
GeoForschungsZentrum
Interview by Holger Klein with the head of GFZ Reinhard Hüttl .

The Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam - Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum ( GFZ , English Helmholtz Center Potsdam GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences ) Foundation under public law , until June 16, 2008 GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam , is the national research center for geosciences in Germany. It is located in the Albert Einstein Science Park on the Telegrafenberg in Potsdam .

Organizational form and predecessor institutes

The GFZ was founded in 1992 as one of three new large research institutions in what was then the "Working Group of Large Research Institutions".

It is part of a tradition-steeped succession of research institutes that have been on the Telegrafenberg since the end of the 19th century and established Potsdam's reputation as an excellent geoscientific location, including the Central Institute for Earth Physics (ZIPE), an institute of the Academy of Sciences the GDR , which combined research in geophysics and higher geodesy .

Ultimately, the GFZ goes back to an institute of the Prussian Academy of Sciences , the Geodetic Institute Potsdam . Under its director Friedrich Robert Helmert (director from 1886 to 1917) the Potsdam Institute developed into the world center for scientific geodesy (i.e. the science of the figure and the gravitational field of the earth). The Potsdam absolute value of gravity was the international reference value from 1909 to 1971 (“Potsdam gravity value”). The head of the GI Theodor Albrecht was significantly involved in this work .

The GFZ cooperates closely with other geoscientific / geotechnical institutions worldwide and is a member of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers . The Federal Ministry for Education and Research is responsible for 90% and the Ministry for Science, Research and Culture of Brandenburg to 10% .

Structure of the GFZ

Information sign of the science park "Albert Einstein", sign of the GFZ top right

The GFZ is divided into four specialist departments, called “Departments”, as well as the “Geoengineering Centers and Scientific Infrastructures”.

Departments

The main research areas of the departments are:

Geoengineering Centers and Scientific Infrastructures

Major research topics are temporarily incorporated into the geoengineering centers for earth system management. The following geoengineering centers currently exist:

  • International Geothermal Center ICGR
  • EWS early warning center
  • Center for Geo Information Technology CeGIT
  • Center for Geological Storage CGS
  • Center for Integrated Hydrocarbon Research CIHR (in formation)

The following scientific infrastructures exist in the field of earth system observation:

  • Library and Information Services LIS
  • Modular Earth Science Infrastructure
  • Observatories
  • Data center
  • Scientific drilling

Satellite projects

The GFZ has developed several satellites . The first of these made the institute known beyond the narrow circles of its science.

This first, still small LASER and research satellite was called GFZ-1 and was launched in 1992 for satellite triangulation and the analysis of the terrestrial gravity field . Its track at an altitude of 400 km was designed for a service life of around 5 years. GFZ-1 weighed 21 kg and was equipped with 60 passive retroreflectors , with which its distance to the various ground stations as well as to the SLR station that had existed at the GFZ since 1974 was measured to the centimeter.

In August 2000 (after some delay) its successor CHAMP was launched for refined measurements in the earth's gravity and magnetic fields . The acronym stands for Challenging Minisatellite Payload for Geophysical Research . CHAMP also determines certain parameters of solar activity .

In the GRACE satellite project , the geological research center played a decisive role in the development of future-oriented satellite technology . The two GRACE satellites, launched in 2002, can be viewed as two CHAMPs, which fly one after the other in the same orbit at a distance of about 200 km and continuously measure their distance ( electronic distance measurement ) and Doppler shift with microwaves . This state -of-the- art technology is called Satellite-to-Satellite Tracking (SST) and continuously analyzes the distance between the two satellites to a fraction of a millimeter. From this additional measured values ​​are produced, from which one can ultimately derive an extremely precise gravity field smoothed over approximately 100 × 200 km.

For several years the GFZ has been cooperating with the development team of the planned GOCE satellite, which is supposed to refine the GRACE method even further. A cooperation for the further development of the PRARE measuring system and with the satellite station Wettzell in the Bavarian Forest is also in progress.

Tsunami early warning projects

BMBF-funded projects: GITEWS and PROTECTS

In the years 2005 to 2011, the GFZ developed in cooperation with other partners from science, research and industry, a tsunami - an early warning system for Indonesia ( GITEWS ) and the eastern Indian Ocean . In total, ten widely distributed measuring buoys were to be laid in the project , which could register the dangerous waves between Sumatra and Bali , but hardly noticeable at sea level. The data is passed on to an early warning center via satellite. The Federal Ministry of Research (BMBF) made the costs of 45 million euros available in May 2005. On March 29, 2011, the system was handed over to Indonesia.

The GITEWS follow-up project PROTECTS aims to provide the Indonesian partner with intensive support during the operating phase of the tsunami early warning system through education, training and scientific advice. The long-term security of the system should thus be guaranteed and the Indonesian partner should be able to operate the system sustainably after the project is completed in March 2014.

European Research Framework Program - funded projects: DEWS and TRIDEC

At European level, the GFZ in the area is tsunami - early warning systems in the projects DEWS (6th EU Research Framework Program : 6.1 million Euro project costs) and TRIDEC (7th EU Research Framework Program: 8.9 million Euro project costs) of the European Union involved. TRIDEC was recognized at the Global Risk Awards 2013 in the category Managing risk across boundaries .

Results from the area of ​​tsunami early warning systems were exhibited at the World Expo 2012 .

Documentation

Documentaries

  • Mission Earth - Geosearch between Heaven and Hell (ARD documentary, 2001, written and directed by Torsten Sasse ). A camera team accompanies the scientists from the Geo Research Center Potsdam to the geological hot spots of the earth. The GFZ researchers are studying the Merapi volcano on Java , using the Champ satellite to measure the earth's magnetic field and experimenting with gas hydrates in the permafrost soil of the Canadian Arctic. The documentation focuses on the scientific evaluations in the Potsdam laboratories.
  • The Tsunami Warner ( Arte Documentation, 2005). “When the tsunami wreaked havoc on Boxing Day last year, the quakes that caused it were measured. But there was no warning system that could have triggered an alarm in time. This seaquake early warning system is now being installed in the Indian Ocean - by scientists from Germany and their Indonesian partners, the tsunami warners. The documentation presents the project. "

exhibition

From March 24 to July 9, 2017, the GFZ is showing a bilingual exhibition (German / English) in the House of Brandenburg-Prussian History with the title Exhibition: Focus Earth - From the measurement of our world , in which numerous exhibits from the history of the Geo research will be shown on the Telegrafenberg in Potsdam.

literature

On the tsunami early warning system in Indonesia with the participation of the GFZ:

Web links

Commons : Geoforschungszentrum Potsdam  - collection of images, videos and audio files
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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c History of the Geosciences on the Telegrafenberg . GFZ. Archived from the original on December 30, 2013. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 5, 2014. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gfz-potsdam.de
  2. ↑ a b Board of Directors . GFZ. Archived from the original on November 5, 2013. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 5, 2014. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gfz-potsdam.de
  3. ↑ a b Imprint . GFZ. Retrieved January 5, 2014.
  4. ↑ a b Facts and Figures . GFZ. Archived from the original on December 30, 2013. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 5, 2014. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gfz-potsdam.de
  5. ^ Resonator podcast of the Helmholtz Association : The Geoforschungszentrum Potsdam (episode 26, March 7, 2014)
  6. ↑ SLR station at the GFZ . GFZ. Archived from the original on September 9, 2014. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved September 9, 2014. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gfz-potsdam.de
  7. ^ History of the SLR station at the GFZ . GFZ. Archived from the original on September 9, 2014. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved September 9, 2014. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gfz-potsdam.de
  8. ↑ arte-tv.com  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.arte-tv.com  
  9. ↑ Exhibition “Focus: Earth. From measuring our world ” , German Research Center for Geosciences, accessed on April 18, 2017
  10. ^ "Focus: Earth" - exhibition in Potsdam - 125 years of geosciences , rbb television , rbb knowledge, accessed on April 18, 2017

Coordinates: 52 ° 22 ′ 57.2 ″  N , 13 ° 3 ′ 52 ″  E