ALBERT

Description: In summer 2017, the ICDP SUSTAIN project (Surtsey Underwater volcanic System for Thermophiles, Alteration processes and INnovative concretes), drilled three cored boreholes (Table 1) through Surtsey at sites ≤10 m from a cored hole obtained in 1979. Drilling through the still hot volcano was carried out with an Atlas Copco CS1000 drill rig, whose components were transported by helicopter to Surtsey and re-assembled on site. The first vertical borehole, SE-02a, was cored in HQ diameter to 152 meters below surface (m b.s.) during August 7-16. It was terminated due to borehole collapse. A second vertical (SE-02b) cored borehole was then drilled in HQ diameter to 192 m during August 19-26. Wireline borehole logging in SE-02b was performed August 26. The anodized NQ-sized aluminum tubing of the Surtsey Subsurface Observatory was installed in SE-02b to 181 m depth on August 27. A third borehole, SE-03, angled 35° from vertical and directed 264°, was drilled from August 28 to September 4 and reached a measured depth of 354 m (~290 m vertical depth) under the eastern crater. The core is HQ diameter to a measured depth of 213 m and NQ diameter from 213-354 m measured depth. The core traverses the deep conduit and intrusions of the volcano to a total vertical depth of 290 m b.s. Seawater drilling fluid for boreholes SE-02a and SE-02b was filtered and doubly UV-sterilized at the drill site. No mud products were employed while coring SE-02a, while small amounts of attapulgite mud were used in SE-02b and SE-03. Core samples for geochemical analyses of pore water and microbiological investigations were collected on site from all three boreholes. About 650 m of core was transported by helicopter to Heimaey, 18 km northeast of Surtsey, to a processing laboratory where the core was scanned, documented, and described. Additional core processing has taken place at the Náttúrufraedistofnun Íslands, the Icelandic Institute of Natural History in Gardabaer, where both the 1979 and 2017 cores are stored.

Description: On a beautiful summer day Emma and Steven want to have fun at their favourite lake. However, a mysterious situation thwarts their plans. This leads the two friends on an unexpected quest ... Join Emma and Steven as they explore the vast, intriguing and efficient world of stable isotopes: What are isotopes? How do isotopes work? And last but not least, how can isotopes help Emma and Steven to finally answer the question: Who poisoned Family Mole?

Description: Length: 32 min What forms the landscapes of the Earth with its mountains, rivers, soils, the places we live in? Is Earth’s surface shaped when rocks are uplifted by geologic forces, and are then destroyed by rain, ice, and wind; or do plants with their roots, animals that dig into soil and the vast number of microorganisms shape the landscapes? Watch the scientists of the German-Chilean “EarthShape” project study these questions along a fascinating landscapes in Chile, and in their home laboratories. A science movie designed and produced by Friedhelm von Blanckenburg from GFZ Potsdam, Germany, Kirstin Übernickel from Universität Tübingen, and Wolfgang Dümcke from Filmbüro Potsdam, Germany, within the DFG-funded research network “EarthShape – Earth Surface Shaping by Biota” which is coordinated by Todd Ehlers (Universität Tübingen) und Friedhelm von Blanckenburg (GFZ Potsdam).

Description: The GIZ Transboundary Water Management in Central Asia programme supports Tajik-Kyrgyz cooperation on the shared Isfara river basin by means of sustainable basin planning and management through capacity building. In addition, the rehabilitation of small-scale infrastructure and automatised flow measurement systems ensure a safe and fair allocation of water resources. As a result, improved water management and infrastructure in the Isfara River contribute to better information and water availability for more than 200,000 agricultural water users across both countries. Alongside already established methods of transboundary cooperation in the basin, which has complicated boundary issues, the hereinafter described measures counteract latent tensions among Tajik and Kyrgyz communities over the limited resource of arable land, which is closely linked to water. The GIZ Transboundary Water Management in Central Asia programme is implemented on behalf of the German Federal Foreign Office and cofunded by the European Union.

Description: Deliverable D5.2 presents the experimental outcome of jetting experiments at simulated reservoir conditions. Different rock types are tested under various conditions with the use of three different types of test bench. At first jetting experiments are conducted under submerged conditions in order to derive a better understanding of the governing erosion mechanism. Therefore pitting tests are combined with PIV measurements in order to derive and explain the erosion pattern of the occurring cavitation erosion and why the rock is more like to be eroded by the stagnation pressure of the impinging jet. Second, jetting experiments under pressure controlled conditions are performed. Rate of penetrations (ROP) of up to 100 m/h can be achieved which proofs the successful application of RJD technology especially in sand stone reservoir rock types. Especially the rotating nozzle design bears the highest potential for jetting operations where the static nozzle designs tend to fail, especially when pore pressure increases. The third experimental series under application of a bi- axial stress field show that the current RJD technology, as being used by project partner WSG, is not able to penetrate harder sandstone rock types (e.g. Dortmund sandstone) when field operating conditions are applied. The induced stress in the specimen does not initiate or enhance ROP. A second experiment thereby shows that higher nozzle exit speeds can lead to massive breakouts. Fourth, experiments are performed under a tri-axial stress field in collaboration with TU DELFT. Rock cubes are tested under different and very severely stress regimes while jetting into them. Compared to tests at atmospheric conditions it can be stated that the application of a stress field does not enhance the erosion of rock. At last experiments are conducted with the project partner WSG in order to determine the jetability of the Icelandic Basalt rock type and Icelandic inter basalt sediment layer. The experiments show that already higher pump pressures result in higher jetting performance, hence making them jetable as previously not expected. Furthermore the experiments approved the feasibility of the planned field test in Iceland when the soft sediment layer is the target zone. All in all the experiments conducted with the RJD technology show different results at simulated reservoir conditions compared to those at atmospheric which are described in deliverable D5.1 (Hahn & Wittig, 2017). Therefor, further testing at conditions representing the reservoir conditions more closer are needed in order to better understand and analyze the jetting process downhole.

Description: In this deliverable, the objectives of the Imperial College team are to consider jetted boreholes in the context of conventional borehole wall-rock stability analysis and to utilise an in-house advanced combined finite-discrete element code to examine the wall-rock failure process for jetted holes. The geomechanical modelling of Lateral Stability in D7.2 presented here is in addition to the main focus on modelling the water-jetting breakdown of the rock itself, reported in D7.1.

Description: The aim of this research is to investigate the failure mechanism for different types of rock in the context of water jet drilling and to predict the jet-ability or assess the radial jet drilling (RJD) performance prior to drilling and at the well petrophysical analysis stage. The main approach is to numerically simulate the water jet drilling for different types of rock using ICL’s in-house fluid-solid coupling codes. The rock properties, CT-scan data and jetting results obtained from D4.1 (Bakker et al., 2018) and D5.1 (Hahn et al., 2017) provide a good foundation for the related numerical results.

Description: The GEOFON program consists of a global seismic network (GE Network), a seismological data centre (GEOFON DC) and a global earthquake monitoring system (GEOFON EQinfo). These three pillars are part of the MESI research infrastructure of the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam - GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences aiming at facilitating scientific research. GEOFON provides real-time seismic data, access to its own and third party data from the archive facilities as well as global and rapid earthquake information. The GEOFON Seismological Software can be considered a fourth cross-cutting module of the GEOFON Program. Data, services, products and software openly distributed by GEOFON are used by hundreds of scientists and data centres worldwide. Its earthquake information service is accessed directly by tens of thousands of visitors. The SeisComP software package is the flagship software provided to the community, which is geared for seismic observatory and data centre needs and used extensively to support our internal operations. Like all other MESI (Modular Earth Science Infrastructure) modules GEOFON has the majority of users outside the GFZ as well as an external advisory committee that provides advice to the GFZ Executive Board and to the GEOFON team. This report describes the main activities carried out within the three GEOFON pillars and the software development group.

Description: A temporary seismic array was installed in combination with a meteorological station in the Dead Sea valley, Jordan. Within the scope of the HGF virtual institute DESERVE we operated 15 temporary seismic stations between February 2014 and February 2015 together with a nearby meteorological station close to the east coast of the Dead Sea. The main aim was to acquire data to study the influence of wind on seismic records and retrieve related meteorological parameters. The study area is scarcely populated and has ideal meteorological conditions to study periodically occurring winds.

Description: The German-Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System (GITEWS) has been established after the devastating Tsunami in the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004. It became an integral part of the Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System (InaTEWS) providing sensor networks and core computational components. GITEWS follows an “end-to-end” approach to cover the complete warning chain from rapid hazard detection over decision support to capacity development of communities at risk and the implementation of disaster reduction measures. PROTECTS (Project for Training, Education and Consulting for Tsunami Early Warning Systems) followed GITEWS with its main focus on system refinements, capacity building, and elaborated training measures that covered all aspects of the GITEWS Project. This paper discusses the specific challenges of Tsunami Early Warning in Indonesia, describes recent developments in instrumentation and data analysis and summarizes the system performance over the past 5 years.

Description: Preface 5Abstract 101. Introduction 102. Instrumentation 132.1 Seismic System 142.2 The GPS-System 182.3 Oceanographic Instruments 203. The Modelling-System 223.1 Source Modelling 233.2 TsunAWI Modelling System 243.3 Mesh Generation 263.4 Simulation System (SIM) 283.5 “On-the-fly”-System easyWave 324. Tsunami Early Warning Decision Support 334.1 The InaTEWS DSS 334.2 Experiences and Enhancements 374.3 Testing and Training Environment 385. System Performance 396. Tsunami Risk Assessment – Linking National Level Early Warning with Local Level Disaster Risk Reduction 436.1 The Approach: From Science to Practical Implementation 436.2 Multi-Scenario Tsunami Hazard Assessment 456.3 High Resolution Tsunami Inundation Modelling for Hazard Assessment 476.4 Exposure and Vulnerability Assessment 486.5 Tsunami Risk Assessment 486.6 Experiences and Enhancements 497. Tsunami Preparedness at Community Level - Experiences from 7 Years of Capacity Development in Indonesia 507.1 The Setting 517.2 Our Experiences 517.3 Project Documentation: TsunamiKit 588. Conclusions 58Acknowledgements 60References 61

Description: In July 2007 GFZ hosted ILP’s first Potsdam Conference, titled “Frontiers in Integrated Solid Earth Sciences”. The results of this meeting were presented in an over 400 pages large Springer book, the first volume of a new series on the International Year of Planet Earth (IYPE). In October 2010 ILP’s Second Potsdam Conference took place, entitled “Solid Earth – Basic Science for the Human Habitat”, again in Potsdam. More than 70 scientists from more than 20 states worldwide came together and shared their results, ideas and visions. This time, in September 2015, ILP’s 35th birthday was the motivation for “Celebrating Excellence in Solid Earth Sciences”. Together with more than 50 scientists, members of the ILP Task Forces and Coordinating Committees, the ILP bureau and ILP’s office came together for three days in September.

Description: Length: 1 min

Description: Length: 32 min What forms the landscapes of the Earth with its mountains, rivers, soils, and the places we live in? One view holds that Earth’s surface is shaped when rocks are uplifted by geologic forces, and are then destroyed by rain, ice, and wind that carve landscapes by erosion and weathering. Another view suggests that the green layer of life between rocks below and climate above is the key player. Do plants with their roots, animals that dig into soil and the vast number of microorganisms shape the landscapes? Or do minerals, soil, and water provide the environment for them to live? Or are they both interdependent? Can they together resist the massive climate change imposed by humans today? Watch the scientists of the German-Chilean “EarthShape” project study these questions along a climate gradient in Chile, in the National Parks Pan de Azúcar, La Campana, and Nahuelbuta. Take a tour through fascinating landscapes and see the young scientists study the interactions between geology and biology, from the dry Atacama Desert to dense forests, and in their sophisticated home laboratories. See how feedbacks control Earth’s climate. A science movie designed and produced by Friedhelm von Blanckenburg from GFZ Potsdam, Germany, Kirstin Übernickel from Universität Tübingen, and Wolfgang Dümcke from Filmbüro Potsdam, Germany, within the German National Science Foundation (DFG) funded research network “EarthShape – Earth Surface Shaping by Biota” which is coordinated by Todd Ehlers (Universität Tübingen) und Friedhelm von Blanckenburg (GFZ Potsdam).

Description: There has been growing recognition of the importance of the accurate seismic locations in quantitative seismological studies, such as seismic hazard analyses, fault zone characterization, and Earth's deformation. Accurate estimation of seismic locations is critical since a wrong estimate of the seismic source location will result in wrong interpretations in the subsequent analyses. We present SCOTER, an open-source Python program package that is designed to relocate multiple seismic events by using P- and S-wave station correction terms. The package implements static and shrinking-box source-specific station terms techniques extended to regional and teleseimic distances and adopted for probabilistic, non-linear, global-search location for large-scale multiple-event location. This program provides robust relocation results for seismic event sequences over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales by applying empirical corrections for the biasing effects of 3-D velocity structure. Written in the Python programming language, SCOTER is run as a stand-alone command-line tool (requiring no knowledge of Python) and also provides a set of sub-commands to develop inputs (dataset, configuration etc) and export results (hypocenter parameters, travel-time residuals etc) { routine but non-trivial tasks that can consume much user time. This package can be used for relocation in local, regional, and teleseimic scales. We describe SCOTER's functionality, design and technical implementation, accompanied by an overview of its use cases. As an illustration, we demonstrate the applicability of this tool through two examples based on (1) a catalogue of several hundred events in the Arctic plate boundary region using regional and teleseismic arrival times and (2) a small dataset of low-magnitude seismic events recorded by dense, local stations at the western Iberia, central Portugal. The relocated datasets highlight the future potential for applying the SCOTER relocation tool to greatly improve the relative location accuracy among nearby events.

Description: The German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ operates a satellite-receiving station at Ny-Ålesund, Spitsbergen since 2001. Valuable support for several satellite missions was provided by the station on a best effort basis, while technical and software related issues, as well as uncertainties regarding important system properties, hindered any project participations with more binding commitments. The upcoming US-German GRACE-Follow On satellite mission with on-board GNSS-RO and gravity measurements and subsequent “near real-time” respectively low latency processing chains raised the demand to integrate the Ny-Ålesund station as the primary data receiving station of the mission’s ground segment. This required the demonstration of improved station performance and reliability with a perspective of sustainability as well as the determination of important antenna system parameters, such as the ratio of antenna gain to system noise (G/T). Analysis of receiving problems at the station in the past and considerations on methods to determine the station antennas characteristics suggested that improved antenna operation software was the most important and straightforward element on the planned way. Disappointing experiences with antenna operation programs of third parties, e.g., from shortcomings of functions, flexibility and support, indicated that the effort for an in-house development would pay off. Consequently new software for the semi-automatic operation of the antennas at the satellite receiving station at Ny-Ålesund was developed within this work. Main development objectives were the elimination of antenna operation problems which occurred in the past, to improve the station reliability, and to introduce program features for the support of required antenna measurements, e.g., such that use the sun as a natural radio signal source. Other focal points during the development were the program-internal timing routines, a compact, informative and operation-safe graphical user interface (GUI) and advanced operation logging features. Lessons learned by the operation of software from other parties in the years since 2001 were respected and even some hardware related issues with the antenna systems at Ny-Ålesund were solved by means of the new software. The new software “NYA-Sattrack” provides all required and desired functions, including some unconventional features. One example is the option to use two different external satellite orbit prediction programs and two sets of prediction elements (twoline elements). An operator can switch between the corresponding pass predictions at any time, even during a satellite contact with already moving antenna. This might be useful, e.g., in a Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP), when different predictions from different sources and with uncertain quality have to be used. Another example is the generation of graphical logs for each satellite contact. An operator can check these logs very fast and simultaneously with normal, text-based logs through a built-in log-viewer function. An eventually desired adaptation to other antenna system types with different technical properties is explicitly supported by the software design as all antenna-specific program code is allocated to individual software interface modules (Dynamic Link Libraries). The new program “NYA-GPS-SYNC” maintains the accuracy of the antenna operation computer clock to support precise operation timing. The two different antenna positioning systems (Elevation over Azimuth and X over Y) of the satellite-receiving station at Ny-Ålesund are operated routinely with NYA-Sattrack since July 2014 and each of the antennas tracks more than 25 satellite passes per day. The number of outages related to antenna operation issues and the manual effort for the operation of the antennas has decreased significantly since introduction of NYA-Sattrack. The new program features of NYA-Sattrack, e.g., such as the sun-tracking mode combined with scan modes, strongly supported the determination of important antenna system characteristics and the detection of a source of radio interference. All achievements of this work have a benefit for supported missions, e.g., due to a better knowledge about technical boundary conditions for contact planning and less data losses during data reception. NYA-Sattrack significantly improved the reliability, efficiency and sustainability to support current and future satellite missions and the Ny-Ålesund ground station is ready to work as the primary downlink station for the GRACE-FO mission, due for launch in February 2018.

Description: Das Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ betreibt seit 2001 eine Satelliten-Empfangsstation bei Ny-Ålesund auf Spitzbergen. Die Station hat, so gut es ging, wertvolle Dienste für etliche Satellitenmissionen geleistet. Verbindliche Verpflichtungen in Projekten konnten aber, wegen hard- und softwaretechnischer Probleme und den nur unsicher bekannten Leistungsparametern der Station, nicht eingegangen werden. Die aufkommende US-amerikanisch-deutsche GRACE-Follow On Satellitenmission für GNSS-RO- und Schwerefeldmessungen und die sich daran anschließenden nahe-Echtzeit Datenverarbeitungsketten führten zu dem Wunsch, die Ny-Ålesund Station als primäre Empfangsstation im Bodensegment der Mission zu integrieren. Dies erforderte den Nachweis von verbesserten Betriebseigenschaften, sowie verbesserter Betriebszuverlässigkeit und Zukunftssicherheit, und die Bestimmung wichtiger Antennenparameter, wie dem Verhältnis von Antennengewinn zu Systemrauschen (G/T). Analysen zu Empfangsproblemen an der Station in der Vergangenheit und Überlegungen zur Bestimmung der Antennencharakteristika legten nahe, dass der wichtigste und direkteste Schritt auf diesem Weg eine verbesserte Software für den Betrieb der Antennen sein würde. Wegen in verschiedener Hinsicht enttäuschenden Erfahrungen mit Antennenbetriebssoftware von Dritten, z.B. wegen unzureichenden Funktionen und mangelnder Flexibilität und Unterstützung, wurde angenommen, dass sich der Aufwand für eine eigene Programmentwicklung auszahlen würde. Infolgedessen wurde mit dieser Arbeit eine neue Software für den halb-automatischen Betrieb der Antennen an der Satelliten-Empfangsstation Ny-Ålesund entwickelt. Die wichtigsten Punkte dabei waren die Lösung der in der Vergangenheit beobachteten Betriebsprobleme mit den Antennen, bzw. die Verbesserung der Zuverlässigkeit der Station, und Funktionen für Messungen an und mit den Antennen, z.B. mit Nutzung der Sonne als natürliche Quelle für Radiosignale. Andere Schwerpunkte der Entwicklung waren die zeitlichen Abläufe im Programm, eine kompakte, informative und betriebssichere graphische Nutzerschnittstelle (GUI) und erweiterte Möglichkeiten zum Protokollieren (Loggen) des Betriebs. Dabei wurden die seit 2001 mit dem Betrieb von extern beschaffter Software gemachten Erfahrungen berücksichtigt und sogar durch Hardware verursachte Probleme beim Betrieb der Antennen in Ny-Ålesund durch die neue Software gelöst. Das neue Programm „NYA-Sattrack“ stellt alle benötigten und gewünschten Funktionen bereit, inklusive einiger ungewöhnlicher Funktionen. Ein Beispiel ist die Möglichkeit zur Nutzung von zwei unterschiedlichen externen Programmen zur Bahnvorhersage mit unterschiedlichen Bahnelementen (twoline elements). Ein Operator kann so jederzeit zwischen den beiden entsprechenden Bahnvorhersagen wechseln, sogar während eines Satellitenkontakts mit sich bereits bewegenden Antennen. Dies könnte z.B. in der ersten Zeit nach einem Satellitenstart nützlich sein, wenn unterschiedliche Bahnberechnungen mit unsicherer Genauigkeit von unterschiedlichen Quellen verwendet werden müssen. Ein anderes Beispiel ist die Erzeugung graphischer Logs für die einzelnen Satellitenkontakte. Diese Logs lassen sich von einem Operator sehr schnell überprüfen, durch eine integrierte Anzeigefunktion sogar zusammen mit den textbasierten Logdateien. Eine möglicherweise gewünschte Anpassung des Programms für andere Antennen mit unterschiedlichen Betriebseigenschaften wird dadurch unterstützt, dass antennenspezifischer Programmcode in Programmerweiterungen (Dynamic Link Libraries) platziert wurde. Das neue Programm “NYA-GPS-SYNC” kontrolliert die Uhr des Computers für die Antennensteuerung und sorgt so für einen zeitlich präzisen Betrieb. Die beiden unterschiedlichen Antennenpositionierungssysteme an der Satelliten- Empfangsstation Ny-Ålesund (Elevation über Azimut und X über Y) werden seit Juli 2014 routinemäßig mit NYA-Sattrack betrieben. Jede der beiden Antennen bedient mehr als 25 Satellitenkontakte pro Tag. Seit der Einführung von NYA-Sattrack haben betriebsbedingte Ausfälle stark abgenommen, ebenso der manuelle Aufwand zum Betrieb der Antennen. Die neuen Funktionen von NYA-Sattrack, wie z.B. das Verfolgen der Sonne mit einer Antenne in Kombination mit speziellen Bewegungsmustern, haben die Bestimmung wichtiger Antennenparameter und das Erkennen einer funktechnischen Störquelle ermöglicht. Alle erzielten Ergebnisse nützen indirekt auch den unterstützten Missionen, z.B. durch bessere Kenntnis der technischen Randbedingungen für die Planung von Kontakten und geringere Datenverluste beim Datenempfang. NYA-Sattrack hat die Zuverlässigkeit, Effektivität und Nachhaltigkeitsperspektive der Station für die Unterstützung aktueller und zukünftiger Satellitenmissionen stark verbessert, so dass diese nun für den geplanten Einsatz als primäre Empfangsstation für GRACE-FO bereit ist (geplanter Start im Februar 2018).

Description: This brochure is designed for scientists and engineers of upcoming drilling projects and explains the key steps and important challenges in planning and executing continental scientific drilling.

Description: The International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) performed a dual-phase scientific drilling project to investigate mountain-building processes called Collisional Orogeny in the Scandinavian Caledonides (COSC). The borehole COSC-1 was drilled through the Lower Seve Nappe, as the first of two 2.5 km deep drill holes close to Åre, central Sweden. The recovered rocks comprise a 1650 m thick suite of high grade gneisses and amphibolites with clear Seve Nappe affinities, while the lower 850 m com-prise rather homogenous mylonitic gneisses with interfingered K-rich phyllonite bands of cm to several m size and some intercalated amphibolites. The different lithologies all crosscut the core in a subhorizontal direction with foliation of gneisses and phyllonites in the same direction. Albite and garnet porphyroblasts with pressure shadows show syn-deformational growth and the same sub-horizontal alignment. The focus was to detect chemical and mineralogical differences in mylonitic and host rocks and to relate these differences to either metasomatism and deformation or inher-ited source rock variance. Another goal of this work is to compare chemical core scanning instruments. For this purpose, two different μ-Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence (μ-EDXRF), Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) and hyperspectral imaging tech-niques served to measure seven samples from the lower 850 m of the COSC-1 core. This report will explain the data sets gained during this study. The metadata will be pre-sented in an additional file including XRF data from the AVAATECH XRF core scanner in a text file as well as data sets of the other used devices in original file formats.

Description: Already today, Central Asia faces water stress with competing water uses and prevailing low water use efficiencies. For the future, climate, hydrologic and socio- economic changes are going to exacerbate the situation. Research undertaken in the frame of the CAWa project revealed that based on the climate model scenarios climate change will result in a further increase of mean annual, winter and summer air temperature, and a substantial further reduction of glacier-covered area in the Tien Shan, e.g. the Naryn basin by 20 – 60 % up to 2050 compared to the present state. The river runoff regime is expected to shift from a glacio-nival to a pluvio-nival runoff regime with increasing discharge in springtime and decreasing discharge in the summer months for more pessimistic climate scenarios. By 2050, the increasing temperature triggers an increase in crop water requirements by 5–15 % for most of the traditional crops in the Fergana valley. A detailed scenario analysis for the Fergana valley showed that the economies can cope with the future conditions if (1) water use efficiencies in irrigated agriculture are increased by applying new irrigation technologies and improving irrigation infrastructure, and (2) the land use is adjusted in favour of new cash-crops like vegetables, fruits, and grapes. These are “no-regret” adaptation measures which the Central Asian economies should undertake to cope with the socio-economic changes alone, even if there was no climate change.

Description: Length: 3 min Watch the fascinating cycle through which plants obtain the mineral nutrients that they need to grow. Plants “eat” mineral nutrients like phosphorous or potassium from the soil and rock that their roots grow in. But this natural resource is limited. To prevent running out of nutrients, hyphae (long thread-like cells of fungi that are attached to roots) recycle phosphorus from falling leaves, and return it to the trees. In dry landscapes plants take up their phosphorus directly from rock. See the fundamental difference of ecosystems in different climates. An animated science movie designed and produced by Friedhelm von Blanckenburg from GFZ Potsdam, Germany, Michaela Dippold from Universität Göttingen, Germany, and Andreas Schulz from Filmbüro Potsdam, Germany within the DFG Project ““EarthShape – Earth Surface Shaping by Biota”.

Description: Movie 7: "The abandonment of a CO2 storage site – pilot project Ketzin" (Length 10:39) Produktionsjahr: 2015

Description: Length: 0.5 min

Description: This E-book collates expert articles published on the Shale Gas Information Platform SHIP website (http://www.shale-gas-information-platform.org). The Shale Gas Information Platform is a network of international experts who share their expertise on different aspects of shale gas. With News, Basic Information and Expert Articles, SHIP features the scientific perspective within the current debate, adding factual argument to the pros and cons discussed publicly. The network is brought together by the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences. Most articles presented in this book are available in German and/or Polish on the SHIP website.

Description: Glacial contribution to eustatic sea level rise is currently dominated by loss of the smaller glaciers and ice caps, about 40% of which are tidewater glaciers that lose mass through calving ice bergs. The most recent predictions of glacier contribution to sea level rise over the next century are strongly dependent upon models that are able to project individual glacier mass changes globally and through time. A relatively new promising technique for monitoring glacier calving is through the use of passive seismology. CalvingSEIS aims to produce high temporal resolution, continuous calving records for the glaciers in Kongsfjord, Svalbard, and in particular for the Kronebreen glacier laboratory through innovative, multi-disciplinary monitoring techniques combining fields of seismology and bioacoustics to detect and locate individual calving events autonomously and further to develop methods for the quantification of calving ice volumes directly from the seismic and acoustic signals.

Description: This document provides information on the site effects studies carried out in Kyrgyzstan. These studies are carried out within the Global Change Observatory Central Asia of the GFZ and the Earthquake Model Central Asia (EMCA). Furthermore, the site effects estimated using different approaches are incorporated into the probabilistic seismic hazard assessment (PSHA) for Bishkek.

Description: Raw-, SEG-Y and other supplementary data of the landside deployment from the amphibious wide-angle seismic experiment ALPHA are presented. The aim of this project was to reveal the crustal and lithospheric structure of the subducting Adriatic plate and the external accretionary wedge in the southern Dinarides. Airgun shots from the RV Meteor were recorded along two profiles across Montenegro and northern Albania.

Description: This publication compiles the operational data (flow rate, cumulative mass, density, injection temperature, electrical conductivity and in-well pressure data) recorded during a field experiment on brine injection at the Ketzin pilot site during October 2015 to January 2015. Anyone should feel free to make use of the published data for any ethical purpose (civil use) – for example for process modelling and engineering.

Description: В настоящем отчете представлены некоторые результаты исследований сайт-эффектов, проведенных в Кыргызской Республике Центром им.Гельмгольца, Потсдам, Германский центр исследования Земли, Потсдам, Германия (GFZ) совместно с Центрально-Азиатским институтом прикладных исследований Земли, Бишкек, Кыргызская Республика (ЦАИИЗ). Настоящая работа была выполнена в рамках ряда таких проектов, как Компонент (Модель землетрясения в Центральной Азии, EMCA1) в Центральной Азии, разработанный по инициативе региональной программы Глобальной модели землетрясений (GEM2) . Некоторые статьи по данной тематике включены в Приложение.

Description: Length: 1 min

Description: Length: 1 min

Description: The movie features the workshop for primary school children "Geochemical Treasure Hunt". Length: 6:37 min

Description: The implementation of Integrated Water and Land Resources Management (IWLRM) in Central Asia is facing substantial challenges today. The most basic challenge among them, to which many other challenges can be traced back, is the building and development of capacities at the individual and organizational levels. This Policy Brief reviews the capacity building approaches taken by the German Water Initiative for Central Asia (“Berlin Process”), in particular: (1) short-term vocational trainings for water professionals offered by the CAWa research project, (2) regional master programme “Integrated Water Management” implemented at the German-Kazakh University in Almaty, (3) training module on river basin planning developed within the GIZ program “Transboundary Water Management in Central Asia”. These approaches address mainly the individual level of capacity building, but with the establishment of river basin commissions, the GIZ programme targeted also the institutional level. Key factors of success were the regional and trans-sectoral approach taken by all three programmes, the linking of science and practice, and the tailoring of the training contents to the practical needs of the participants.

Description: In our meeting Dynamic Earth – from Alfred Wegener to today and beyond we will review how Wegener‘s findings evolved into to modern Earth system science including its impact on climate and the Earth surface, and how this system affects our daily life: where humans live, what risks we are exposed to, where we find our resources. In the meeting we will hold sessions that cover the entire geoscience spectrum (from mineral physics over solid earth geodynamics to the climate sciences) and that explore the consequences of Wegeners findings on how humans use our planet today (from energy and mineral resources over georisks to utilisation of the subsurface and materials for modern society). We have invited keynote speakers that are eminent international scientists in these fields. In events open to the general public we will get an account of Wegeners final trip to Greenland on the history of science of his hypothesis.

Description: The Collisional Orogeny in the Scandinavian Caledonides (COSC) scientific drilling project focuses on mountain building processes in a major mid‐Paleozoic orogen in western Scandinavia and its comparison with modern analogues. The project investigates a subduction‐generated complex (Seve Nappes) and how these in part under ultra‐high pressure conditions metamorphosed outer continental margin and continent‐ocean transition zones (COT) assemblages were emplaced onto the Baltoscandian platform and there influenced the underlying allochthons and the basement in a section provided by two fully cored 2.5 km deep drill holes. This operational report concerns the first drill hole, COSC‐1 (ICDP 5054‐1‐A), drilled from early May to late August 2014. It sampled a thick section of the lower part of the Seve Complex and was planned to penetrate its basal thrust zone into the underlying lower grade metamorphosed allochthon. The drill hole reached a depth of 2495.8 m and nearly 100 % core recovery was achieved. Although planning was based on existing geological mapping and new high‐resolution seismic surveys, the drilling resulted in some surprises: the Lower Seve Nappe proved to be composed of rather homogenous gneisses, with only subordinate mafic bodies and its basal thrust zone was unexpectedly thick (〉 800 m). The drill hole did not penetrate the bottom of the thrust zone. However, lower grade metasedimentary rocks were encountered in the lowermost part of the drill hole together with garnetiferous mylonites tens of metres thick. The tectonostratigraphic position is still unclear and geological and geophysical interpretations are under revision. The compact gneisses host only 8 fluid conducting zones of limited transmissivity between 300 m and total depth. Downhole measurements suggest an uncorrected average geothermal gradient of ~20°C/km. The drill core was documented on‐site and XRF scanned off site. During various stages of the drilling, the borehole was documented by comprehensive downhole logging. This operational report provides an overview over the COSC‐1 operations from drilling preparations to the sampling party and describes the available datasets and sample material.

Description: A temporary seismic array of short-period seismometers was installed in the 8-story AHEPA hospital, located in the city of Thessaloniki, N. Greece. The scope of the survey was to assess the dynamic characteristics of the RC-building by processing ambient vibration recordings of more than 40 seismic stations installed at different positions in the building. Part of the instruments was used in a soil experiment, outside of the hospital, to study possible Soil Structure Interaction phenomena. In addition to above experiments, a site-specific survey was performed in the Volvi basin, 30km ENE of the city of Thessaloniki. The scope of this experiment was to investigate the soil properties and the geometry of the subsurface geology.

Description: LITHOS-CAPP is the German contribution to the international ScanArray experiment. ScanArray is an array of broadband seismometers with which we aim to study the lithosphere and upper mantle beneath the Scandinavian Mountains and the Baltic Shield. LITHOS-CAPP contributed 20 broadband recording stations from September 2014 to October 2016, 10 in Sweden and 10 in Finland, continuously recordings at 100 samples per second. The stations were deployed by the KIT Geophysical Institute and GFZ section 2.4 (seismology). They form part of the temporary network ScanArrayCore (FDSN network code 1G 2012-2017)

Description: The Scientific Technical Report describes supplementary material to the publication by Grünthal et al. (2018) on the earthquake model for the probabilistic seismic hazard assessment (PSHA) of Germany, version 2016. In particular, it contains detailed information, additional figures, tables and electronic data concerning seismicity, seismic source zone models, maximum magnitudes, seismicity rates of the seismic source zones, model data related to distributions of focal depth and tectonic regime parameters. It also supplies seismic hazard maps for Germany with a broad range of parametrizations.

Description: This brochure is designed for scientists and engineers of upcoming drilling projects and explains the key steps and important challenges in planning and executing continental scientific drilling.

Description: Proficiency testing (PT) is one of the few ways for an analytical laboratory to assess data quality under routine operating conditions. Here we report the results of Round 1 of the G-Chron PT programme, which is sponsored by the International Association of Geoanalysts. G-Chron is the first PT scheme devoted to the U-Th-Pb dating of mineral phases, primarily zircon, in geological materials. In this first round of G-Chron a total of 72 geochronology laboratories received the test material “Rak-17”, which previously had been characterized by seven well-established isotope dilution TIMS laboratories. A total of 63 of the PT participating laboratories reported data by the 15 December 2019 deadline. Here we both report and assess the measurement results submitted to this round. Our analysis provides a means for participating laboratories to assess their individual performance in relation to the isotope ages assigned, the experimental fitness-for-purpose criteria proposed by the scheme’s organisers and the results of similar laboratories participating in this round.

Description: The Earth is rotating around its rotation axis in an irregular manner. The Earth rotation axis and its orientation in space vary with respect to the reference system (both the terrestrial and the celestial) due to the wide range of processes that contribute to the rotation excitation. Therefore, the study of the Earth rotation can provide essential information concerning the Earth system. Spaceborne geodetic sensors can determine Earth orientation parameters (EOP), which fully describe Earth’s behaviour in space. The EOP are needed for several fields and applications such as fundamental astronomical and geodetic reference systems, precise satellite orbit determination, space navigation, and disaster prevention.\\ Over the past three decades, climate change has caused undesirable alterations in living organisms, human activities, and socio-economic aspects. Climate change is fluctuating and alters weather patterns such as precipitation patterns and sea and ocean levels. It also threatens the biodiversity of ecosystems, food security, and human health, and exacerbates natural disasters. The intensity and frequency of natural hazards are increasing with erratic distribution due to changes in the climate. Also, the level of vulnerability and zonation of risk are changed. Analysis of natural hazards, such as atmospheric and hydrological events, can help improve crisis management. Therefore, satellite observation data and simulated data derived from different atmospheric models are needed in order to model different types of hazards and risks, which can help early warning and prediction systems. Even though continuous sensor measurements and archive data (historical data/climate) are used for weather forecasting in developed countries, deadly flooding happened close to Stuttgart in southern Germany in May 2016, which might be avoided by a precise weather warning system. Therefore, real-time space geodetic technique data estimation is necessary to use as input data in weather prediction models. For the analysis of space geodetic techniques in (near) real-time, predictions of the EOP are required. EOP are made available by the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) Rapid Service Prediction Centre at USNO, Washington D.C., with a delay of hours to days. Accordingly, in the past, several methods were developed and applied for the EOP prediction. However, the accuracy of EOP prediction is still unsatisfactory, even for prediction of just a few days in the future.\\ To improve the EOP prediction accuracy, this study investigates the consistency between Earth rotation’s theories and observations. Moreover, the potentials of different geophysical phenomena are examined to better understand the interaction of different processes that affect the Earth rotation excitation with the time. Most of the Earth’s rotation theories and solutions are based on the location of the Earth’s principal axes of inertia (PAI). That location is defined by the second-degree Stokes coefficients of the geopotential, which are accurately observed by the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and satellite laser ranging (SLR). In this study, the evolution of the Earth’s axes of inertia is analyzed for the first time. The presented results are remarkable, as the inertia axes do not move around a mean position fixed to a given terrestrial reference frame in the study period, but drift away from their initial location in a non-negligible manner.\\ Moreover, this study proposes a novel hybrid approach to predict EOP. There is a well-introduced stochastic method called copula-based analysis, and I combined it with singular spectrum analysis (SSA) for EOP prediction. I analyzed the potential of copula-based methods for predicting Earth rotation parameters that are derived from the combination of different satellite geodetic sensors and from other geophysical parameters like effective angular momentums. The copula is a statistical method that exploits linear and non-linear relationships between two or more variables by fitting a theoretical copula function into an empirical bivariate or multivariate distribution function. I introduced a hybrid prediction method that can be applied to other geophysical parameters is introduced in this thesis.\\ In this study, the interconnection between the celestial pole motion (CPM) and geomagnetic field (GMF) is investigated to improve the current CPM prediction methods. During the last decade, several investigations have been conducted in order to discuss a possible interconnection of polar motion and geomagnetic jerks, which are rapid changes in GMF secular variations. However, less attention has been paid to the impact of the GMF changes on the CPM, e.g., the interrelation of the geomagnetic jerks, geomagnetic dipole moment, geomagnetic field elements, and CPM variations. In this study, I use the CPM time series obtained from very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations and the latest GMF data to explore the correlation between CPM and the GMF. Our preliminary results revealed some impressive common features in the CPM and GMF variations, which show the potential to improve our understanding of the GMF’s contribution to the Earth’s rotation. All in all, the results mathematically illustrate the coherency between the GMF parameters and CPM, which helps improve EOP products.

Description: Die Erde dreht sich um ihre Rotationsachse auf unregelmäßige Art und Weise. Die Erdrotationsachse und ihre Orientierung im Raum variieren in Bezug auf das Referenzsystem (sowohl im terrestrischen wie auch im zälestischen System) aufgrund des breiten Spektrums von Prozessen, die zur Rotationsanregung beitragen. Daher kann die Untersuchung der Erdrotation wesentliche Informationen über das Erdsystem liefern. Weltraumgestützte geodätische Sensoren liefern Informationen über erdgebundene Orientierungsparameter (EOP), die das Verhalten der Erde im Weltraum vollständig beschreiben. EOP werden für verschiedene Bereiche und Anwendungen, wie beispielsweise für grundlegende astronomische und geodätische Referenzsysteme, benötigt. Des Weiteren sind sie auch für die präzise Bestimmung von Satellitenorbits und die weltraumgestützten Navigation, bis hin zu Anwendungen im Katastrophenschutz von Bedeutung.\\ In den letzten drei Jahrzehnten zeigen sich bereits die negativen Auswirkungen des Klimawandels auf Biosphäre, menschliche Aktivitäten und sozioökonomische Aspekte. Der Klimawandel unterliegt Fluktuationen und verändert die Wettermuster, wie z.B. die Niederschlagsverteilung, sowie Meeres- und Ozeanspiegel. Er bedroht aber auch die biologische Vielfalt der Ökosysteme, die Ernährungssicherheit, die menschliche Gesundheit und verschlimmert Naturkatastrophen. Die Intensität und Häufigkeit von Naturgefahren werden zunehmen, hierbei ist ihre Verteilung aufgrund von Klimaveränderungen allerdings unregelmäßig; auch der Grad von Schadensanfälligkeiten und die Einteilung von Risikozonen werden sich zukünftig ändern.\\ Die Analyse von Naturgefahren, wie atmosphärische und hydrologische Ereignisse, kann zur Verbesserung des Krisenmanagements beitragen. Daher werden Satellitenbeobachtungen und simulierte Daten, die von verschiedenen atmosphärischen Modellen abgeleitet werden, für die Gefahr- und Risikomodellierung benötigt; dies kann Frühwarn- und Vorhersagesysteme unterstützen. Obwohl kontinuierliche Sensormessungen und Archivdaten (historische Daten/Klimadaten) für die Wettervorhersage in entwickelten Ländern zur Verfügung stehen, kamen es im Mai 2016 in der Nähe von Stuttgart in Süddeutschland bei einer katastrophalen Überschwemmung zu Verlusten von Menschenleben, die möglicherweise durch ein präzises Wetterwarnsystem vermeidbar gewesen wären. \\ Eine Echtzeitschätzung der geodätischen Weltraumtechnik wäre notwendig, um sie als Eingangsdaten in Wettervorhersagemodellen zu verwenden. Für die Analyse von raumgeodätischen Techniken in (nahezu) Echtzeit sind Vorhersagen der EOP unerlässlich. EOP werden durch das Rapid Service Prediction Centre des International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) am USNO, Washington D.C., mit einer Verzögerung von Stunden bis Tagen zur Verfügung gestellt. Demzufolge wurden in der Vergangenheit mehrere Methoden für die EOP-Vorhersage entwickelt und angewendet. Die Genauigkeit dieser EOP-Vorhersagen ist jedoch nach wie vor - selbst für einen Vorhersagezeitraum von nur wenigen Tagen - unbefriedigend.\\ Um die Genauigkeit der EOP-Vorhersage zu verbessern, beschäftigt sich die vorliegende Studie mit der Untersuchung von der Vereinbarkeit von Erdrotationstheorien mit Beobachtungen. Darüber hinaus wird das Potenzial verschiedener geophysikalischer Phänomene analysiert, um die Wechselwirkungen verschiedener Prozesse, die die zeitabhängige Anregung der Erdrotation beeinflussen, besser zu verstehen.\\ Die meisten Theorien und Lösungen zur Erdrotation basieren auf der Lage der Hauptträgheitsachsen der Erde (PAI). Diese Position wird durch die Stokes-Koeffizienten zweiten Grades des Geopotentials, das mit Hilfe der Satellitenmission Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) und der Satelliten-Laser-Entfernungsmessung (SLR) genau beobachtet wird, definiert. In dieser Studie wird zum ersten Mal die Entwicklung der Trägheitsachsen der Erde analysiert. Bemerkenswert an den vorgestellten Ergebnissen ist, daß sich die Trägheitsachsen während der Untersuchungsperiode nicht um eine mittlere Position, die in einem bestimmten terrestrischen Bezugsrahmen festgelegt ist, bewegen, sondern sich in nicht zu vernachlässigender Weise von ihrem ursprünglichen Position entfernen.\\ Darüber hinaus schlägt diese Studie einen neuartigen hybriden Ansatz zur EOP-Vorhersage vor. Es gibt eine gut eingeführte stochastische Methode, die “kopula-basierte Analyse”, die wir mit der “Singulär-Spektrum-Analyse” (SSA) für die EOP-Vorhersage kombiniert haben . Wir analysierten das Potenzial kopula-basierter Methoden zur Vorhersage von Erdrotationsparametern, die aus der Kombination verschiedener geodätischer Satellitensensoren und aus anderen geophysikalischen Parametern, wie z.B effektiven Drehimpulsen, abgeleitet werden. Die Kopula ist eine statistische Methode, die lineare und nicht-lineare Beziehungen zwischen zwei oder mehreren Variablen nutzt, indem eine theoretische Kopula-Funktion an eine empirische, bivariate oder multivariate Verteilungsfunktion angepasst wird. Wir haben eine hybride Vorhersagemethode entwickelt, die auch auf andere geophysikalische Parameter angewendet werden kann.\\ In dieser Studie wird der Zusammenhang zwischen der Bewegung des Himmelspols (CPM) und dem geomagnetischen Feld (GMF) untersucht, um die derzeitigen CPM-Vorhersagemethoden zu verbessern. Während des letzten Jahrzehnts wurden mehrere Untersuchungen durchgeführt, um eine mögliche Verbindung zwischen polaren Bewegungen und geomagnetischen Ausbrüten - hierbei handelt es sich um rasche Veränderungen der säkularen Variationen des GMF - zu erörtern. Weniger Aufmerksamkeit wurde jedoch den Auswirkungen der GMF-Änderungen auf die CPM, z.B. der Wechselbeziehung der geomagnetischen Ausbrüte, des geomagnetischen Dipolmoments, der geomagnetischen Feldelemente und der CPM-Variationen, gewidmet. In dieser Studie verwenden wir CPM-Zeitreihen, die aus Beobachtungen der Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) gewonnen wurden und aktuelle GMF-Daten, um die Korrelation zwischen CPM und GMF zu untersuchen. Unsere vorläufigen Ergebnisse zeigen einige auffallente Gemeinsamkeiten in den CPM- und GMF-Variationen, die das Potenzial besitzen, unser Verständnis des GMF-Beitrags zur Erdrotation zu verbessern. Alles in allem veranschaulichen die Ergebnisse mathematisch die Kohärenz zwischen den GMF-Parametern und der CPM und weisen damit perspektivisch den Weg für eine Verbesserung der EOP-Produkte.

Description: This study presents an enhancement to the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) by integrating low Earth orbiters (LEOs) to a joint precise orbit determination (POD) processing. The Global Position System (GPS) operated by the United States is studied as a representative of all GNSS. The LEOs equipped with GNSS receivers supplement the receivers of the ground stations, especially for regions with a limited number of employed stations, which can be caused by various reasons. Due to the altitude and high velocity of LEOs, they not only contribute with additional observations, but also with a rapidly-changing observation geometry. Moreover, space-based observations have additional advantages over ground-based observations, e.g., signals are received without the impact of the troposphere. LEOs not only act as kinematic stations for GNSS satellites, but also bring additional orbit dynamics to the integrated system. The constraints caused by these orbit dynamics have an important impact on the determination of the orbits of the GNSS satellites and other parameters beyond that. In this thesis, the following topics are presented: 1) Background information and the basic principles related to the POD of GNSS satellites and LEOs, 2) the separated POD of GNSS satellites and LEOs, 3) the integrated POD, 4) the determination of the antenna phase center offsets (PCOs) of the GPS satellites and other geodetic parameters in the integrated POD. The orbit modeling and processing configuration used in this study for GNSS satellites and LEOs are verified to be compatible with state-of-the-art studies by the separated POD. The orbits of the GNSS satellites and LEOs reach an accuracy of a few centimeters and are comparable with the state-of-art studies. A more efficient outlier detection method has been developed to improve the position determined by using pseudo-range observations. In the study about the enhancement of the GPS orbits by integrating LEOs, a 26-station ground network in a global and sparse distribution is supplemented by different subsets of seven LEOs including GRACE-A/B, OSTM/Jason-2, Jason-3 and, Swarm-A/B/C. A 34% improvement of the GPS orbit in 1D-mean RMS (from 37.5 mm to 23.9 mm) is achieved by including the seven LEOs. Both the number of space-based observations and the LEOs' orbital geometry affect the GPS orbits where the orbital geometry is shown to be more important. The estimated GPS PCOs are also improved by including LEOs. For the x- and y-components of the GPS PCOs, the formal error is reduced significantly due to the additional observations and expanded nadir angle coverage brought by the LEOs during the periods of large solar-elevation angle. The z-component of the GPS PCOs (z-PCO) are strongly correlated with the scale of the terrestrial reference frame. By introducing the orbit dynamics of the seven LEOs to the processing without applying a no-net-scale constraint, the correlation coefficients between the GPS z-PCOs and the scale are reduced from 0.85 to 0.30. Consequently, the GPS z-PCOs can be estimated independently from the a-priori scale and a purely GNSS-based scale can be determined as well. A system-specific -25.5 cm offset of the GPS z-PCOs relative to the values offered by the International GNSS Service (IGS) is computed based on the seven-LEO-integrated solution. Another approach based on Galileo also solves this problem. The GPS satellites, multi-GNSS stations, and Galileo satellites with ground calibrated PCOs are processed jointly to calibrate the GPS z-PCOs and simultaneously determine a Galileo-based scale simultaneously. Based on the comparison and cross-check, a good agreement is shown between the LEO-based and Galileo-based methods. There is a slight improvement in the geocenter when including three Swarm satellites to the processing with about 80 ground stations over a half year. Based on the analysis in theory and the results derived from real data, an obvious enhancement to various aspects of GNSS by the integrated processing with LEOs is shown. More LEOs equipped with GNSS receivers and carefully calibrated PCOs are expected for further missions or even the next generation of GNSS.

Description: In dieser Arbeit wird eine Verbesserung der globalen Satellitennavigationssysteme (GNSS) durch die Einbindung von Satelliten in niedrigen Erdumlaufbahnen (LEOs) in eine gemeinsame präzise Bahnbestimmung (POD) vorgestellt. Das von den Vereinigten Staaten betriebene Global Positioning System (GPS) wird stellvertretend für alle GNSS untersucht. Die mit GNSS-Empfängern ausgestatteten LEOs ergänzen die Empfänger der Bodenstationen, vor allem in Regionen, in denen aus verschiedenen Gründen nur wenige Stationen verfügbar sind. Aufgrund der Orbithöhe und schnellen Bewegung der LEOs tragen diese nicht nur mit zusätzlichen Beobachtungen bei, sondern auch mit einer sich schnell verändernden Beobachtungsgeometrie. Darüber hinaus haben weltraumgestützte Beobachtungen zusätzliche Vorteile gegenüber bodengestützten Beobachtungen, z. B. werden Signale ohne den Einfluss der Troposphäre empfangen. LEOs stellen nicht nur kinematische Stationen für die GNSS-Satelliten dar, sondern bringen auch eine zusätzliche Bahndynamik in das integrierte System ein. Die durch diese Bahndynamik gegebenen Beschränkungen sind sowohl für die Bahnbestimmung der GNSS Satelliten als auch für weitere Parameter äußerst relevant. In dieser Arbeit werden die folgenden Themen behandelt: 1) Hintergrundinformationen und Grundprinzipien der POD von GNSS-Satelliten und LEOs, 2) eine separate POD von GNSS-Satelliten und LEOs, 3) eine integrierte POD, 4) die Schätzung der Antennen-Phasenzentrumsversätze (PCOs) der GPS-Satelliten und anderer geodätischer Parameter in der integrierten POD. Die separaten PODs bestätigen, dass die in dieser Studie verwendete Bahnmodellierungs- und Prozessierungskonfiguration der GNSS-Satelliten und LEOs mit dem aktuellen Stand der Forschung kompatibel ist. Die Bahnen der GNSS-Satelliten und LEOs erreichen eine Genauigkeit von wenigen Zentimetern. Es wurde eine effizientere Methode zur Erkennung von Ausreißern entwickelt, um die mit Hilfe von Pseudo-Range-Beobachtungen ermittelte Position zu verbessern. Ein Bodennetz mit 26 global dünn verteilten Stationen wird verwendet, um die Verbesserung der GPS-Bahnen durch die Integration von verschiedenen Teilgruppen der sieben LEOs GRACE-A/B, OSTM/Jason-2, Jason-3 und Swarm-A/B/C zu untersuchen. Bei der Einbeziehung aller sieben LEOs ergibt sich eine Verbesserung des 1D RMS Mittelwertes der GPS-Orbits von 34 % (von 37,5 mm auf 23,9 mm). Sowohl die Anzahl der weltraumgestützten Beobachtungen als auch die Geometrie der Bahnen der LEOs beeinflussen die GPS-Bahnen, wobei die Orbitgeometrie sich als der wichtigere Faktor erweist. Die geschätzten GPS PCOs werden durch die Einbeziehung von LEOs ebenfalls verbessert. Der formale Fehler der x- und y-Komponenten der GPS PCOs wird durch die zusätzlichen Beobachtungen und die größere Abdeckung des Nadirwinkels, den die LEOs während Perioden eines großen Sonnenstandswinkels mit sich bringen, erheblich reduziert. Die z-Komponente der GPS PCOs (z-PCO) ist mit dem Maßstabsfaktor des terrestrischen Referenzrahmens stark korreliert. Durch die Berücksichtigung der Bahndynamik der sieben LEOs in der Prozessierung werden ohne Fixierung des Maßstabes (d.h. ohne eine No-Net-Scale Bedingung) die Korrelationskoeffizienten zwischen den GPS z-PCOs und dem Maßstabsfaktor von 0,85 auf 0,30 reduziert. Folglich können zum einen die GPS z-PCOs unabhängig von einem externen Maßstab geschätzt werden und zum anderen kann ein rein GNSS-basierter Maßstabsfaktor bestimmt werden. Mit der integrierten Lösung mit sieben LEOs ergibt sich ein systemspezifischer Versatz der GPS z-PCOs von -25,5 cm relativ zu den vom International GNSS Service (IGS) veröffentlichten Werten. Ein anderer Ansatz basierend auf Galileo löst dieses Problem ebenfalls. Die GPS Satelliten, Multi-GNSS Bodenstationen und Galileo Satelliten mit bodenkalibrierten PCOs werden gemeinsam prozessiert, um die GPS z-PCOs zu kalibrieren und gleichzeitig einen Galileo-basierten Maßstabsfaktor zu bestimmen. Ein Vergleich zur Überprüfung zeigt eine hohe Übereinstimmung der LEO- und Galileo-basierten Methoden. Die Einbeziehung von drei Swarm Satelliten in eine Prozessierung mit etwa 80 Bodenstationen über ein halbes Jahr hinweg zeigt eine leichte Verbesserung des Geozentrums. Auf der Grundlage der theoretischen Analyse und der aus realen Daten abgeleiteten Ergebnisse zeigt sich eine deutliche Verbesserung verschiedener Aspekte der GNSS durch die Integration von LEOs. Es ist zu erwarten, dass mehr LEOs, ausgestattet mit GNSS-Empfängern und sorgfältig kalibrierten PCOs, für künftige Missionen oder sogar die nächste GNSS Generation eingesetzt werden.

Description: This report summarises the webinars organised in the REFLECT project between 2021 and 2022, in the framework of the WP6 Dissemination and exploitation, Task 6.2 – Ensure transferability and exploitation of project results. The Task 6.2 planned to inform the stakeholders identified in the matrix developed under Task 6.1 about the project activities and main outcomes. For this purpose, periodic webinars have been organised between 2021 and 2022 presenting these results and information.

Description: This report presents the stakeholder workshops organised in the REFLECT project, in the framework of the WP6 Dissemination and exploitation, Task 6.2 – Ensure transferability and exploitation of project results. The Task 6.2 planned to inform the stakeholders identified in the matrix developed under Task 6.1 about the project activities and main outcomes. For this purpose, two physical stakeholder workshops were organised during the project. The first workshop, at the start of the project, was dedicated to a first communication of the project’s objectives and expected outcomes. It also had the aim to receive feedback from geothermal operators on their most significant operational problems related to geothermal fluid properties. This first workshop was, therefore, limited to the Advisory Board members in order to build on their specific experience. The second stakeholder workshop presented the project’s results most relevant to geothermal operators or service companies/consultants. The objective of the second stakeholder workshop was to share projects results with a broad group of stakeholders. Therefore, it was widely promoted and the registration was open to all and free of charge. Both workshops received positive feedback from stakeholders and project partners.

Description: This deliverable summarises the methodology and results of the data collection for the European Fluid Atlas by the REFLECT project partners.

Description: The main objective of the work package 2 of the REFLECT project is to characterise relevant fluid properties and their reactions for saline fluids (type C). One of the specific goals was to collect fluid samples from several saline fluids from geothermal sites across Europe, determine their properties, and thus contribute to the Fluid Atlas (WP3). Additionally, the REFLECT team will compare those field data with data from lab experiments performed at near natural conditions. Samples of type C fluids were taken from several sites in Germany, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands. The samples were analysed for major and minor ions, dissolved gases and isotopes.

Description: Global growth of industry and population leads to increasing demand of industrial and consumer goods. This necessitates an increase in mining activities and resource extraction. Resulting mine waste, and tailings serve as a repository for unused overburden and for the accumulation of processed waste-products. It is typical for so-called secondary iron minerals (SIMs) to be formed during the weathering of these materials under different pH-value conditions. Acid mine drainage (AMD) can result from rainwater infiltration and chemical processes within the deposited mass. Therefore, mine tailings must be spatially separated from their surroundings and monitored. The emergence of remote sensing methods provides new opportunities to survey large areas. In this work a remote sensing approach was used to discriminate SIMs from surrounding material and minerals and subsequently classify different SIMs on the surface. This allows to reconstruct (/comprehend the former) the acidic environments that prevailed during the formation of these minerals and gives indication of the occurrence of AMD. Various SIMs have pH-values ranging from strongly acidic (〈1.5, i.e., Schwertmannite and Copiapite) to neutral (〉7, i.e., Hematite). Classifying these SIMs, leads to the identification of contaminated areas. This method was developed based on a laboratory dataset with different minerals and vegetation samples. The datasets were originally acquired with hyperspectral HySpex cameras in the laboratory and were resampled to WorldView-3 (WV3) and Sentinel-2 (S2) band characteristics for analysis. A combination of different filter methods made pixel-based separation of SIMs possible. The results were subsequently classified using a RF-model to distinguish between different SIMs. In this training dataset, the RF model achieved an overall accuracy of 94.44% for the WV3 and S2 datasets (the area-adjusted overall accuracy was 93.45% and 93.62%, respectively). Subsequently, a second laboratory dataset with field samples was analysed using the same technique and the classification results were compared with XRD analyses of the samples. Satellite images from WV3 and S2 sensors were then analysed using this methodology. The results for the study area of volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits in the Republic of Cyprus, namely Skouriotissa and Apliki, were then compared. The results for the Skouriotissa mine region showed a potential area of 17.22 to 45.58 ha of strongly acidic environment (by classification of Jarosite, pH~2.4) and 8.86 to 26 ha of moderately acidic environment/ contamination (by classification of Goethite/Limonite, pH~5) based on the WV3 satellite image. 27.32 to 87.04 ha and 6.12 to 38.24 ha for the S2 image, respectively.

Description: Das Wachstum von Industrie und Bevölkerungszahl weltweit sowie technologische Fortschritte und Entwicklungen führen zu einer steigenden Nachfrage von Industrie- und Konsumgütern. Als Folge entstehen eine erhöhte Rohstoffnachfrage und ein Ausbau der Ressourcengewinnung sowie des Bergbaus. Abfallprodukte des Bergbaus und nicht genutztes Material (Abraum) werden meist in oder um den Abbaustandort aufgeschüttet. Diese sind natürlichen Degradationsprozessen ausgesetzt, bei denen saure Abwässer entstehen können. Dies geschieht durch die Verwitterung des Pyrit Minerals infolge der Infiltration von Regenwasser durch das Material. In unterschiedlichen pH-Wertumgebungen bilden sich unterschiedliche Minerale aus. Typisch sind die sogenannten sekundären Eisenminerale (SIMs – secondary iron minerals). Ein Auftreten dieser kann daher zu einer pH-Wert Abschätzung genutzt werden und mögliche saure Grubenwässer aufzeigen. Fernerkundungsmethoden bieten die Möglichkeit große Areale oberflächlich zu erfassen und abzubilden, was zu einer weitreichenden Überwachung genutzt werden kann. In dieser Arbeit wurde eine Methode auf Grundlage von multispektralen Fernerkundungsdaten (Satellitenbilder von WorldView-3 und Sentinel-2) entwickelt, welche sekundäre Eisenminerale identifiziert und klassifiziert. Die Identifikation wurde durch den Einsatz von Masken erreicht. So fand eine Unterscheidung zwischen Pixeln statt, die und die keine typische spektrale Signale von SIMs aufweisen. Die Klassifikation wurde mit Hilfe eines RF-Modells durchgeführt. Dieses wurde anhand synthetischer Labordatensätze entwickelt und validiert. Im Trainingsdatensatz erreichte das RF-Modell eine Gesamtgenauigkeit von 94,44 % für die WorldView-3 und Sentinel-2 Datensätze. Es wurden drei Klassen mit verschiedenen pH-Wert-Identifikationen unterschieden: Hämatit (pH〉7), Goethit/ Limonit (pH~5) und Jarosit (pH~2.4). Die Methodik wurde anschließend auf Satellitenbilder aus der Republik Zypern angewendet. Dabei standen die Minengebiete Skouriotissa und Apliki im Fokus, welche zu den vulkanogenen Massivsulfid-Lagerstätten (VMS-type) zählen. Die Ergebnisse für das Skouriotissa-Minengebiet ergaben auf der Grundlage des WV3-Satellitenbildes eine potenzielle Fläche von 17,22 bis 45,58 ha in stark saurem Milieu (Jarosit) und 8,86 bis 26 ha in mäßig saurem Milieu (Goethit/ Limonit) bzw. 27,32 bis 87,04 ha und 6,12 bis 38,24 ha für das Sentinel-2 Satellitenbild.

Description: The evaluation of the effect of organic compounds and microorganisms in formation and precipitation of colloids using artificial brines was performed by TNO using selected organic compounds based on the analysis of sampled fluids corresponding to the information gathered on the sites by GFZ. The same was done with biofilms prepared with microorganisms (Thermaerobacter sp., Penicilium citrinum) isolated from geothermal stations by UNINE. All carboxylic acids tested had an inhibiting effect on the precipitation of calcium carbonate. The biofilm components seem to develop intense interaction with the ions, nuclei and/or crystals formed during the executed experiments. In the presence of biofilms, the transformation of the intrinsically formed vaterite morphology to equilibrium calcite morphologies is delayed or hindered and scaling was inhibited.

Description: The processing of Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) data and the estimation of displacement is a nonlinear and user-driven procedure that can introduce large errors for noisy backscatter points. Results may differ significantly depending on chosen thresholds, filter settings, constraints and final interpretation. Thus the identification of valid PS with rather low errors in the SAR data is a crucial step in the PSI workflow. PSI-Explorer is a scientific prototype of our visual-analytics (VA) approach supporting this important task. The prototype is written in Java and operates on Matlab files.

Description: The consequences of climate change are highly important in the polar regions as ice-sheets and glaciers respond strongly to change in average temperature. The analysis of seismic signals (icequakes) emitted by glaciers (i.e., cryo-seismology) is thus gaining importance as a tool for monitoring glacier activity. To understand the scaling relation between regional glacier-related seismicity and actual small-scale local glacier dynamics and to calibrate the identified classes of icequakes to locally observed waveforms, a temporary passive seismic monitoring experiment was conducted in the vicinity of the calving front of Kronebreen, one of the fastest tidewater glaciers on Svalbard (Fig. 1). By combining the local observations with recordings of the nearby GEOFON station GE.KBS, the local experiment provides an ideal link between local observations at the glacier to regional scale monitoring of NW Spitsbergen. During the 4-month operation period from May to September 2013, eight broadband seismometers and three 4-point short-period arrays were operating around the glacier front of Kronebreen.

Description: In the context of Integrated Water Resources Management(IWRM), informed decision making requires accurate,timely, spatially extensive, consistent and wellunderstood data sets on climate, water and land resources.Earth observation technologies provide suchdata sets as well as methods and tools for the generationof high-quality data products to support planningand decision-making. This Policy Brief advocates theuse of Earth observation technologies and their integrationinto operational monitoring and decision-supportsystems in Central Asia based on examples fromthe CAWa project.

Description: Engineering seismological models (incl. ground amplification and topographic effects) of key structures in Tiryns and Midea, Greece, will be used to test the hypothesis of seismogenic causes of the decline of the Mycenaean settlements in the 12th century BC.

Description: Length: 4 min Imagine a planet without plants. Would a landscape on that planet differ from a landscape with plants as we know it? There are two ways to tell: we can either compare natural landscapes with each other, or use computer models. We show one model for a landscape that is covered with a dense forest and one that carries almost no vegetation. Be surprised by the large difference you see in these between these two landforms! An animated science movie designed and produced by Todd Ehlers from the University of Tübingen, Germany, Andreas Schulz from Filmbüro Potsdam, Germany, with contributions of Manuel Schmid Willi Kappler, and Friedhelm von Blanckenburg, Germany within the DFG Project ““EarthShape – Earth Surface Shaping by Biota”.

Description: Radial water jet drilling uses the power of a focused uid jet, which is capable of drilling multiple laterals of about 100 m length out of an existing well and thereby stimulating the well with full control on the operational parameters like initial direction of the lateral, length, uid pressure etc. In contrast to hydraulic stimulation treatments, this technology can potentially provide a network of enhanced uid pathways around a geothermal well to intersect with existing high permeable structures like fracture or karst systems within the reservoir, independent of the ambient stress eld. Applying RJD, laterals typically have a diameter ranging from about 25 mm to 50 mm, depending on jetting parameters like pressure and ow rate as well as rock properties. Drilling a single lateral in a cased well requires approximately 12 hours, as the casing has to be penetrated using a coiled tubing operated milling bit before jetting into the formation. In case the target zone is open-hole, jetting a lateral is considerably faster. Compared to conventional hydraulic stimulation treatments with required uid volumes of more than 1000 m3, only a fraction of this is needed for RJD (〈 1 m3). In addition, no pressure will be applied to the reservoir, thereby reducing environmental risk as well as the risk of induced seismicity considerably. Although RJD is investigated and applied in the hydrocarbon industry, applications in geothermal wells are very rare. If the technology can be shown to increase the eciency of a geothermal well, it will provide an interesting alternative to conventional hydraulic stimulation treatments. RJD shows highest eciency in terms of performance increase in reservoirs with low permeability (〈 10 mD). The most important criteria for the well are the minimum diameter (4 1/2" OD casings) and maximum along hole depth (about 5 km). So far, RJD operations have been performed in wells with a an inclination of up to 46 . Technologies, however, have been developed to perfom RJD operations even in horizontal well sections. Depending on the initial production; for tight gas reservoirs the gas production can be improved with a factor 4-7, simulation for geothermal wells suggest a potential performance increase by a factor of up to 3 when 8 laterals of 100 meter are successfully drilled and geological conditions are favourable. Since the potential increase depends on the type of the geothermal reservoir as well as its properties, the improvement factor has to be conrmed by eld experiments. Currently no major hazards to the well have been identied. The main risk associated with a RJD treatment appears to be sand production from the open-hole completion. However since the amount of experience and well-documented cases is limited, not all risks may have been identied at this moment in time. Major uncertainties in the production estimates are the long-term (〉1 year) stability of the jetted laterals and the eect of sub-surface heterogeneity. The jet-ability of typical geothermal reservoir rocks is also not well documented. As the jet-ability strongly depends on physical rock properties and in-situ reservoir conditions, which are signicantly dierent to typical hydrocarbon reservoirs, the feasibility of RJD in dierent geological settings has to be evaluated. Although, RJD presents a low cost stimulation method with currently no major identied risk to the well nor to the environment, experience with RJD in the geothermal industry is rare. Field applications are therefore key to evaluate the potential of the RJD stimulation technology for geothermal applications.

Description: Based on the aviailable material we come to the conclusion that jetting has no direct influence on the surrounding area. Analysis on multiple scales: μm (porosity); cm (mechanical and acoustical properties); dm scale (elastic properties with and without a jetted hole) do not show a significant changes compared to in-tact material, nor can a significant change be detected with respect to distance to a jetted hole. Results fall within the intra-block variability, and differences between blocks can be well explained by block-to-block variation. True-triaxial elastic deformation tests have been designed and ran to test the effect of a lateral (jetted hole) on the elastic properties. The jetted hole itself was jetted with a rotating nozzle type, producing cilindrical holes. Comparing laboratory tests with a numerical model proved that the laboratory results may be well compared to a model with cylindrical hole embedded in a rock mass, much like a conventional borehole. The stress field around the jetted hole can therefore be well aproximated by the Kirsh-equations, modified for compression.

Description: Work at GZB (International Geothermal Centre) had been focused on several potential, novel micro type drilling technologies. These technologies have been investigated and discussed to determine possible future options. In this report the different technologies are being presented, starting with abrasive enhanced jetting, followed by pulsation and mechanically supported drilling, ending with percussion type mechanical rock destruction and drilling. Their influence on rock disintegration and drilling efficiency have been investigated in several laboratory experiments. These were carried out to manifest a better understanding of each potential technology. The results are being presented and discussed regarding the potential increase in drilling performance versus lessons learned within WP 5.1 as well as their applicability in the field. Water jets enhanced with abrasive particles have the ability to penetrate into virtually any rock type with rather low hydraulic power. However, the (downhole) applicability in the field is commonly a challenge due to extremely fast and high wear on the pertinent material and equipment other than the rock itself, including the jetting BHA (bottom hole assembly) and nozzles. In order to partly overcome this dilemma a dedicated nozzle for abrasive mixing has been designed and patented. It may be found under patent number DE 10 2016 125 916.0. Pulsating water jets are a different approach to enhance the efficiency of rock destruction via water jet. Both techniques are based on pure high pressure jets, one adding particles to a constant jet (abrasive jetting), the other one dividing and cutting a constant jet into small, short sections to generate not constant impulses (pulsation). Various tests were carried out under reservoir type conditions inside the autoclave system “iBOGS mini”. So far the effect of pulsation seems to be low compared to the suppressed cavitation erosion mechanism under elevated pressure conditions. A very different approach is the use of micro turbines powered by the high pressure water, combined with a mechanical drill bit. The hydraulic energy of the intensified water is not directly used to penetrate the rock, but rather to generate rotation even with substantial torque via a micro turbine system. Thus, the jetting action is neglectable, as the mechanical bit does the cutting into the rock mass with rather high rotation speeds. Testing showed rather high efficiency regarding drilling speed. The technology works also independently of the rock type. All tested rock types including granite were drilled successfully with rather low hydraulic power of 10 kW (e.g. turbine differential pressures of 150 bar and flow rates of about 40 l/min). Future testing at macro and meso scale levels are being planned to verify reliability, drilling direction and more. As of now, this technology seems to be the most promising for hard rock formations in the very near future. One challenge may be their slightly larger geometrical shape and size regarding the current downhole installation scheme. But this is underway to be solved in the near future. On the final end of the possible spectrum for high pressure jet drilling from pure jetting (e.g. SURE WP 5.1 to 5.3) to transforming the intensified, high pressure water to eventually generate and gain more mechanical support over jetting are percussion engines as being known and used in so called DTH (down-the-hole) hammers. Here, the intensified water does generate medium frequency mechanical blows (“pulses”, e.g. 50 – 70 Hz) by powering a piston and drill bit for rock disintegration with very high drilling speeds. The differential pressure across such a hammer with approx. 180 bar is at the same level as for the before mentioned micro turbines and thus, much lower than for direct high pressure water jetting. Compared to the turbine, the hammer works with a highly dynamic force and low rotation, whereas the turbine is based on a very constant load or weight on bit (WOB) with rather high rotation speed (RPM), generating more of a grinding effect. However, the hammer ́s geometrical shape, namely its length, makes it much more difficult to be deployed downhole for micro drilling, while also some rotation needs to be generated. Here is more work underway as well. To summarize high pressure jet drilling, the full scale of currently possible solutions from pure high pressure jetting to mechanically enhanced or supported jet type drilling including abrasives, pulsation, micro turbines and percussion motors were considered and being looked at regarding their possible application in hard rock formations and future potential.

Description: Radial Jet Drilling (RJD) is a technique to stimulate wells by creating small-diameter laterals from vertical or deviated wells using hydraulic jets. The laterals, also called radials, can be up to 100 m in length. To analyze under which sub-surface conditions the radials improve the well performance most, a step-wise approach is followed in which first the performance of a single stimulated well is analyzed and in a second step, the performance of a doublet system is analyzed. Finally, case studies that are more detailed are simulated. For the single well case, a good first estimate of radial stimulation performance for different reservoir conditions can be obtained from (semi-) analytical solutions. These results show that the anisotropy in the permeability and the thickness of the reservoir influence the relative increase in productivity/injectivity most. The permeability influences in particular the absolute performance of the stimulated well. Many aspects not included in the semi-analytical solution also influence the performance of the radial stimulation: - Since the radials are open hole, stability for friable rocks or deep reservoirs is unlikely. This depends on the in-situ stress conditions. Collapsed radials probably have much lower performance or no effect at all. - The uncertainty in the radial path and diameter decreases the expected benefits from radials significantly depending on the type of reservoir. For example for a layered reservoir, the expected increase may be tens of percent lower. - Due to the small diameter (0.02-0.05 m) and rough surface of the radials and the high rates of geothermal wells, viscous pressure drop due to flow in the radials has to be taken into account for prediction of performance. For example for a radius of 0.04 m and well rate of 3600 m3/d, expected increase in performance is halved when taking into account pressure drop. - Heterogeneity in the permeability has a strong impact on the performance of the radials. Performance of individual radials depends in first approximation on the local permeability. However, this is difficult to capture in general terms. - Near well bore damage (positive skin) and prior stimulation (negative skin) have a large impact on the expected increase due to stimulation. In case the radials can be used to by-pass near well damage, performance can be much higher than predicted using the analytical equations. - Heterogeneity due to fault and/or fractures, voids, sharp transitions or layering all make potential success more uncertain and predictability lower due to potential issues with jetting. Whether increased performance for a single well can be translated to similar increased performance of a doublet depends on the doublet settings and subsurface conditions. For a fixed doublet distance or field size, an increase in rate due to improved performance of the wells will result in a reduced field life. The increased well performance can also be used to lower pumping cost at a fixed rate and thus improve performance of the doublet. It was found, that for most subsurface systems, the impact of the radials on production temperature was minor (for constant rate). Only for some fractured systems, short-circuiting can be increased due to radials. Overall, the ideal candidate for radial stimulation is a reservoir which is not too deep, in homogeneous, competent rock with a well with near well bore damage or in a not too deep anisotropic reservoir in which the main well is not drilled beneficially compared to the main direction of permeability.

Description: This report describes activity connected to radial jet drilling (RJD) in Iceland in WP6 – Macro Scale in the SURE project. Well HN-13, located in N-Iceland close to the town of Akureyri was selected as a candidate for RJD trials within the SURE project. It was drilled in between two prior drilled low-temperature geothermal wells, HG-10 (a.k.a. HN-10) and BO-01 (a.k.a. BN-01), that are both productive and used for district heating of Akureyri and nearby communities. Although the location was in between two producing wells, it was a poor producer only producing 5-6 liters per minute (0,1 l/s) while being air lifted. For comparison, the mean production from well HG-10 that sits 20 m NNE of HN-13, is about 25 l/s of 90°C hot water. HN-13 was therefore valued as an excellent candidate for demonstration of the stimulation technology, as any increased production after RJD will clearly be revealed. Jetting experiments in WP5 into basalt rock types sent from Iceland to Bochum were shown to be impractical as high pressure and velocities are required. Therefore, softer inter-basaltic layers were targeted. Main information on well HN-13, nearby wells, target depth as well as the RJD field testing are described in this report.

Description: The GEOFON program consists of a global seismic network (GE Network), a seismological data centre (GEOFON DC) and a global earthquake monitoring system (GEOFON EQinfo). These three pillars are part of the MESI research infrastructure of the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam - GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences aiming at facilitating scientific research. GEOFON provides real-time seismic data, access to its own and third party data from the archive facilities as well as global and rapid earthquake information. The GEOFON Seismological Software can be considered a fourth cross-cutting module of the GEOFON Program. Data, services, products and software openly distributed by GEOFON are used by hundreds of scientists and data centres worldwide. Its earthquake information service is accessed directly by tens of thousands of visitors. The SeisComP software package is the flagship software provided to the community, which is geared for seismic observatory and data centre needs and used extensively to support our internal operations. Like all other MESI (Modular Earth Science Infrastructure) modules GEOFON has the majority of users outside the GFZ as well as an external advisory committee that provides advice to the GFZ Executive Board and to the GEOFON team. This report describes the main activities carried out within the three GEOFON pillars and the software development group.

Description: The International Geodynamics and Earth Tide Service (IGETS) was established in 2015 by the International Association of Geodesy (IAG). IGETS continues the activities of the Global Geodynamics Project (GGP, 1997-2015) to provide support to geodetic and geophysical research activities using superconducting gravimeter data within the context of an international network. The primary objective of IGETS is to provide a service to monitor temporal variations of the Earth’s gravity field through long-term records from ground gravimeters, tiltmeters, strainmeters and other geodynamic sensors. IGETS also continues the activities of the International Center for Earth Tides, in particular, in collecting, archiving and distributing Earth tide records from long series of the various geodynamic sensors. This report is a compilation of data descriptions originating to a large part from GGP but including updates and extensions for IGETS.

Description: This report describes the passive seismic data acquired by the TOPASE network deployed over Rittershoffen geothermal field (Alsace, France). The monitoring period extends from March 2013 to November 2014, which includes the stimulation of the first well of the doublet, the drilling of the second well and well tests. These data were acquired using 31 Earth Data Loggers PR6-24 and MARK-SERCEL L-4C-3D 1 Hz seismometers of the Geophysical Instrument Pool Potsdam (GIPP), which were provided to the KIT-AGW-Geothermal research division.

Description: To date, information about the wellbore integrity of high temperature and high pressure geothermal wells is scarce. Hardly any measurement data is available about the thermal and mechanical load onto the subsurface installation (casing and cemented annulus) during the operation of such wells. In order to monitor the response of the subsurface installation to changing load conditions, a fiber optic cable was installed behind casing of a geothermal well. To increase the knowledge about the wellbore integrity and to benefit from the combined application of different fiber optic sensing technologies, temperature, strain as well as acoustic noise measurements were performed during well completion and testing. These include the distributed temperature sensing (DTS) technology, based on Raman scattering, as well as the distributed strain and distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) technologies, both based on Rayleigh scattering. Here, we present information about the laboratory experiments, the cable installations and downhole measurement campaigns together with results of our analysis. It could be shown that the fiber optic measurements are well suited to monitor the well completion procedures. In addition, the technology offers a possibility to monitor well integrity throughout the lifetime of a geothermal well.

Description: Developing ow paths or expanding existing pathways in deep geological strata is generally referred to as "stimulation". To extract heat from geothermal reservoirs, stimulation treatments are carried out by injecting water at high pressure into the formation (hydraulic stimulation), by dissolution of certain mineral components, mostly carbonates, thus increasing the hydraulic pathways (chemical stimulation), or by cooling of the rock to induce tensile stresses which helps the fracture expansion (thermal stimulation). The achieved factor of productivity increase by conventional stimulation treatments is reported to be between 1.3 and 25. In petrolium industry a significant decline of the production increase occurs already during the first year after stimulation. The time to refracturing is typically 4 to 7 years. It is not clear whether these values are also appropriate for geothermal applications. The sustainability of the increase in permeability due to thermal stimulation depends on the situation: for an injection well the increase remains for few years. For production wells, the longevity of the stimulation depends on the self-propping ability of the rock. After reviewing the current situation in the field of deep geothermal energy in Europe, dierent stimulation techniques are discussed. Furthermore, case studies of stimulation treatments in deep geothermal reservoirs are presented. In the subsequent chapters the authors present the methods of stimulation treatment in deep geothermal wells to show the increase of productivity, to explain the potential benefits and risks and estimate the economic performance.

Description: This study contributes to the effort of space geodesy to reach the 1mm accuracy level on a global scale. This stringent requirement is vital to realize a global reference system upon which phenomena such as sea-level rise can be reliably monitored. The study deals with two interrelated challenges: modeling geophysical loads imposed on the crust of the Earth and quantifying the atmospheric propagation delay of signals employed by space geodetic techniques, namely VLBI, SLR, GNSS, and DORIS. If not adequately modeled, both geophysical loading and propagation delay corrupt space geodetic data analysis results, thus distorting the implied reference frame and compromising the physical interpretation of other parameters. The explicit purpose of this work is to understand how these effects propagate into the parameters estimated within the geodetic adjustment, and to develop models that alleviate geodetic results from these effects. To achieve this goal, the scientific framework was divided into two contributions to be understood and enhanced: the theory governing the effects of geophysical loading and atmospheric propagation, and the space geodetic technique data analysis pipeline, largely using VLBI as a test-bed. In essence, the research conducted here includes: (i) the development of software capable of realistically simulating VLBI, SLR, GNSS, and DORIS observations within a Monte Carlo framework, (ii) the homogenization of in situ meteorological data recorded at VLBI and SLR stations, (iii) the development of ray-traced delays, mapping functions and higher-order gradients for all four space geodetic techniques, (iv) the comprehensive investigation of inter-frequency and inter-system atmospheric ties, (v) the development of models to describe the displacement induced by mass redistribution within Earth’s fluid envelope including the atmosphere, the ocean, and the continental hydrology, (vi) the development of empirical models to describe the signal propagation delay (GFZ-PT) and the non-tidal geophysical loading displacement (EGLM), and (vii) the study of the impact of the atmospheric refraction and non-tidal geophysical loading models in space geodetic data analysis on station coordinates, the terrestrial reference frame, the Earth orientation, and the integrated water vapour trends. A number of developments were carried out herein for the first time, for example, the simulation of space geodetic measurements based on ray-traced delays, the study of systematic errors on the reference frame induced by not properly accounting for the orbital altitude of the satellites in the calculation of atmospheric refraction corrections, and the assessment of the probability of successful laser ranges based on integrated cloud fraction along the ray path. It was found that microwave and optical atmospheric gradients are starkly different both spatially and temporally, and cannot be scaled to fit each other. Failing to account for non-tidal geophysical loading and atmospheric asymmetries induces a scale bias in the SLR reference frame as well as a spurious geocenter motion predominantly along the Z-axis. Employing a VLBI-tailored atmospheric refraction model to reduce DORIS observations displaces stations in the radial component thus inducing a large scale bias in the implied frame. Employing homogeneous in lieu of raw meteorological data in VLBI data analysis reduces the scatter of station coordinates and improves the baseline length repeatability. Employing the mapping functions developed herein in lieu of VMF1 yields an overall improvement in VLBI data analysis. Applying the geophysical loading models developed herein reduces the response of almost all station coordinate and baseline length series at seasonal and synoptic timescales. Based on the investigations carried out herein, differences in Earth orientation induced by the quality of the atmospheric refraction and geophysical loading models — or their very application for the latter — are not statistically significant in the framework of the modern VLBI system. Nevertheless, to fulfill the 1mm requirement, proper treatment of geophysical loading and atmospheric refraction is a necessity.

Description: The Collisional Orogeny in the Scandinavian Caledonides (COSC) project supported by the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) and the Swedish Scientific Drilling Program (SSDP) drilled a borehole through the Seve Nappe in Sweden to investigate mountain building processes. It recovered 2.5 km of drill core. Five core samples from the depth from 1682 to 2469 m were analyzed in this thesis. A hyperspectral imaging spectrometer (HySpex) was used to conduct the measurements. It is a two sensor system which combines a VNIR and a SWIR sensor. The measurements were taken with a resolution of 0.22 mm/ pixel. As a comparison, mineral maps based on Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) element measurements of approximately the same resolution were used. This thesis developed a working process chain which includes 1) the adjustment of the measurement parameters of the sensors to acquire optimal data cubes, 2) the "unrolling" of a drill core to depict and analyze the whole core mantle surface and to map the distribution of minerals accurately not only over the length but also the whole surface of the core and 3) the mineral mapping based on spectral absorption features with the EnGeoMap algorithm. This can be seen as the beginning of the development of a stand-alone drill core scanner including the geological evaluation by EnGeoMap. The measurements revealed a basic approach to determine the integration time for the VNIR and the SWIR sensor based on the signal-to-noise ratio of the white reflectance standard. An approach of a step-wise rotation of the core and a translation measurement and a mosaicking based on the rectification of the core surface was developed. The stitching of several core images via key points was deployed. The duration of the unrolling amounts to 22 h/ m of core and results in an hyperspectral mosaic of the core mantle surface. Relative to the approximately 550 h needed to measure the surface area of 1 m of core with the LIBS system, 22 h seems tolerable. The feasibility of the unrolling and the mosaicking of drill cores varies. In scientific operations the accuracy is valued higher than the time-consumption, in industrial operations the time is a big factor to make a project profitable. The mineral mapping with EnGeoMap proved to be very precise in case of detecting the abundance of single minerals. When mapping multiple minerals, a bias towards a few minerals showed which were mapped with higher abundances than in reality. This is due to mineral-dependent fit value thresholds and has to be investigated further. When choosing few but distinct proxy minerals, EnGeoMap is a valuable tool to evaluate the mineral abundances and the distribution over the course of a drill core, to highlight changes and to give information about mineral assemblages.

Description: The spectral characteristics of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) have been poorly researched although the economic interest in these elements is increasing. This study investigates the detection of REEs using remote sensing data. For this purpose the spectral response of each individual REE has been studied with four spectrometers (HySpex (VNIR-1600, SWIR-320m-e), ASD Field Spec 3, Perkin Elmer LAMBDA 950, FTIR Spectrum GX) using a spectral range of 350 to 16000 nm to incorporate different techniques. The relationship between the spectral response and the REE concentration as well as the influence of other materials on the detection of REEs was examined using mixtures of calcium carbonate (the main component of REE ore rocks) and iron (III) oxide (hematite). Finally, characteristic absorption bands have been employed on an EO-1 Hyperion satellite image, covering the REE Mountain Pass mine in California and a HySpex image of a rock sample from Norway (soevite) to evaluate their potential use as REE detectors. The results show that the REEs lanthanum, neodymium, samarium, europium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium and ytterbium cause several and differing absorption features in the visible near-infrared (VNIR) and shortwave-infrared (SWIR) region. However, in wavelength ranges between 2500 and 16000 nm no absorption bands distinctive of REEs appeared. In most cases, the concentration of REEs and the absorption depth show a logarithmic relationship for different absorption features. The mixtures of neodymium and iron (III) oxide show that in presence of hematite the absorption features of neodymium are superimposed by those features caused by iron (III) oxide. In comparison to hematite, calcium carbonate has had no influence on the detection of neodymium in the VNIR. The application of characteristic absorption bands on the satellite image shows that the REE signal causes only, if any, very small absorption bands in the spectrum at higher REE concentrations. In the rock sample, however, REEs related absorption bands are detectable and can be seen clearly in the spectrum with a neodymium concentration of around 0.14%. This study shows that imaging spectroscopy serves as a helpful tool for the characterization and detection of REE concentrations in the laboratory and field environment. The detection of REEs via satellite images is limited by the low intensity of the absorption features, despite the high REEs concentration. Nevertheless, the detection of REEs by means of remote sensing is a non-invasive method that saves both money and time for sample preparation, underlining its economic value.

Description: The GEOFON program consists of a global seismic network (GE Network), a seismological data centre (GEOFON DC) and a global earthquake monitoring system (GEOFON EQinfo). These three pillars are part of the MESI research infrastructure of the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam - GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences aiming at facilitating scientific research. GEOFON provides real-time seismic data, access to its own and third party data from the archive facilities as well as global and rapid earthquake information. The GEOFON Seismological Software can be considered a fourth cross-cutting module of the GEOFON Program. Data, services, products and software openly distributed by GEOFON are used by hundreds of scientists and data centres worldwide. Its earthquake information service is accessed directly by tens of thousands of visitors. The SeisComP software package is the flagship software provided to the community, which is geared for seismic observatory and data centre needs and used extensively to support our internal operations. Like all other MESI (Modular Earth Science Infrastructure) modules GEOFON has the majority of users outside the GFZ as well as an external advisory committee that provides advice to the GFZ Executive Board and to the GEOFON team. This report describes the main activities carried out within the three GEOFON pillars and the software development group.

Description: Hyperspectral airborne campaigns have been carried out in the frame of the data exploitation and application development program of the German Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program (EnMAP) to support method and application development in the prelaunch phase of the EnMAP satellite mission. A metadata portal (EnMAP Campaign Portal) has been set up providing general information about the campaigns, recorded airborne hyperspectral data sets, other data associated to the respective campaigns like field and laboratory measurements and a number of field guides for in-situ data acquisition. Furthermore, it informs about the availability of simulated EnMAP and Sentinel-2 data for the respective campaign region. The data listed in the EnMAP Campaign Portal is freely available under a Creative Commons License as DOI-referenced data publications.

Description: This publication is a result of the 15th TRACE conference „Tree Rings in Archaeology, Climatologyand Ecology” organized by the University of Silesia, Silesian Botanical Garden, University ofWrocław, Forest Research Institute and Białowieża National Park. The conference was held onMay 11th – 15th, 2016 in Białowieża, Poland, in the heart of the Białowieża Forest, the last naturalforest in the European Lowlands, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve. University Pablo de Olavide (UPO) and the Association for Tree-ring Research (ATR), in collaboration with Pyrenean Institute of Ecology-Spanish National Research Council (IPE-CSIC), University of Barcelona (UB), Forest and Wood Technology Research Centre (CETEMAS) and University of Valladolid (UVa). The TRACE 2015 conference was held on May 20-23, 2015 for the first time in the Iberian Peninsula, in Sevilla, Spain.

Description: In geosciences 3D geomechanical-numerical models are used to estimate the in-situ stress state. In such a model each geological unit is populated with the rock properties Young’s module, Poisson ratio, and density. Usually, each unit is assigned a single set of homogeneous properties. However, variable rock properties are observed and expected within the same geological unit. Even in small volumes large variabilities may. The Python script HIPSTER (Homogeneous to Inhomogeneous rock Properties for Stress TEnsor Research) provides an algorithm to include inhomogeneities in geomechanical-numerical models that use the solver Abaqus®. The user specifies the mean values for the rock properties Young's module, Poisson ratio and density, and their variability for each geological unit. The variability of the material properties is individually defined for each of the three rock properties in each geological layer. For each unit HIPSTER generates a normal or uniform distribution for each rock property. From these distri-butions for each single element HIPSTER draws individual rock properties and writes them to a separate material file. This file defines different material properties for each element. The file is included in the geomechanical-numerical analysis solver deck and the numerical model is solved as usual.

Description: The 3D geomechanical-numerical modelling of the in-situ stress state requires observed stress information at reference locations within the model area to be compared to the modelled stress state. This comparison of stress states and the ensuing adaptation of the displacement boundary conditions provide a best fit stress state in the entire model region that is based on the available stress information. This process is also referred to as calibration. Depending on the amount of available information and the complexity of the model the calibration is a lengthy process of trial-and-error modelling and analysis. The Fast Automatic Stress Tensor Calibration (FAST Calibration) is a method and a Matlab script that facilitates and speeds up the calibration process. The method requires only three model scenarios with different boundary conditions. The modelled stress states at the locations of the observed stress state are extracted. Then they are used to compute the displacement boundary conditions that are required in order to achieve the best fit of the modelled to the observed stress state. Furthermore, the influence of the individual observed stress information on the resulting stress state can be weighted.

Description: Length: 15 min

Description: The Global Geodetic Reference Frame (GGRF) plays a fundamental role in geodesy and related Positioning, Navigation, and Timing applications, and allows to quantify the Earth’s change in space and time. The ITRF and ICRF are the two most important components to realize GGRF, while the determination of these two reference frames relies on the combination of several space geodetic techniques, mainly, VLBI, SLR, GNSS, and DORIS. The combination is currently done on either the parameter level, or the normal equation level. However, the combination on the observation level, or the so-called integrated processing of multi-technique on the observation level, provides the results of best consistency, robustness, and accuracy. This thesis focuses on the investigation of the integrated processing of GNSS and VLBI on the observation level. The benefits of integrated processing are demonstrated in terms of TRF, CRF, and EOP, while the impact of global ties (EOP), tropospheric ties, and local ties are underlined. Several issues in integrated processing are addressed, including the systematic bias in ties (for instance, LOD and tropospheric ties), the relative weighting. An automatic reweighting strategy based on the normalized residuals is developed, which can properly handle the uncertainty of the ties without losing too much constraint. A software with state-of-the-art modules is the prerequisite to perform integrated processing. Based on the GNSS data processing software: Positioning And Navigation Data Analyst (PANDA), the VLBI and SLR modules are implemented in the common least-squares estimator. Therefore, the best consistency can be guaranteed. The software capability is demonstrated with the single-technique solutions. The station coordinate precision is at millimeter level for both GNSS and VLBI, while the EOP estimates are comparable to other Analysis Centers and the IERS products. It is also demonstrated that the SLR station coordinate precision is improved by 20% to 30% with additional GLONASS and GRACE satellites to contributing to the LAGEOS and ETALON constellation. Focusing on the tropospheric ties in GNSS and VLBI integrated processing, its contribution is demonstrated for the first time comprehensively. Applying tropospheric ties improves the VLBI station coordinate precision by 12% on the horizontal components and up to 30% on the vertical component. The network scale repeatability is reduced by up to 33%. The EOP estimates are also improved significantly, for instance, 10% to 30% for polar motion, and up to 10% for other components. Furthermore, applying the gradient ties in the VLBI intensive sessions reduces the systematic bias in UT1-UTC estimates. The consistent TRF, CRF, and EOP are achieved in the integrated VLBI and GNSS solution. Applying the global ties, tropospheric ties, and local ties stables the reference frame. The ERP estimates in the integrated solution are dominated by the GNSS technique, and the VLBI technique introduces additional 10% improvement on the y-pole component in terms of the day-boundary-discontinuity. The UT1-UTC and celestial pole offsets are also slightly improved in the integrated solution. It is also demonstrated that applying the LTs inappropriately distorts the network and introduces systematic biases to the ERP estimates, addressing the necessity of updating the local surveys. Moreover, the coordinates of AGN are also enhanced by up to 20% in the integrated solutions, especially the southern ones. This study reveals the importance of integrated processing of multi-technique on the observation level, as the best consistency can be achieved, and the applied ties improve the solutions significantly. It is strongly recommended that for the future realization of celestial and terrestrial reference frames, the concept of integrated processing on the observation level should be implemented, and all the possible ties should be applied, including the global ties (EOP), local ties, space ties, and tropospheric ties. Such kind of integrated solution of all the four techniques can provide robust estimates of the reference frames and EOP, with the advantage of each technique exploited to its full extend.

Description: Der Globale Geodätische Referenzrahmen (Global Geodetic Reference Frame, GGRF) spielt eine fundamentale Rolle in der Geodäsie und den damit verbundenen Positionierungs-, Navigations- und Zeitmessungsanwendungen (Positioning, Navigation, and Timing, PNT) und ermöglicht die Quantifizierung der Veränderung der Erde in Raum und Zeit. Der ITRF und der ICRF sind die beiden wichtigsten Komponenten zur Realisierung des GGRF, wobei die Bestimmung dieser beiden Referenzrahmen auf der Kombination verschiedener raumgeodätischer Techniken beruht, hauptsächlich VLBI, SLR, GNSS und DORIS. Die Kombination wird derzeit entweder auf der Parameterebene oder auf der Normalgleichungsebene durchgeführt. Die Kombination auf der Beobachtungsebene oder die sogenannte integrierte Daten-Verarbeitung von Multi-Techniken auf der Beobachtungsebene, bietet jedoch eine Lösung mit der besten Konsistenz, Robustheit und Genauigkeit. Diese Arbeit konzentriert sich auf die Untersuchung der integrierten Daten-Verarbeitung von GNSS und VLBI auf der Beobachtungsebene. Die Vorteile der integrierten Lösung werden in Bezug auf TRF, CRF, und EOP aufgezeigt, während die Auswirkungen von „Global Ties (EOP), Tropospheric Ties, and Local Ties“ hervorgehoben werden. Einige Punkte der integrierten Verarbeitung werden in dieser Arbeit untersucht, einschließlich der systematischen Abweichungen von „Ties“ (z.B. LOD und Tropospheric Ties), der relativen Gewichtung usw. Anhand der normalisierten Residuen wird eine automatische Umgewichtungsstrategie entwickelt, mit der die Unsicherheit der „Ties“ angemessen behandelt werden kann, ohne dass zu viel Einschränkung dabei verloren geht. Eine Software mit modernsten Modulen ist die Voraussetzung für die integrierte Daten Verarbeitung. Basierend auf der GNSS-Datenverarbeitungssoftware Paket: Positioning And Navigation Data Analyst (PANDA) werden die Module VLBI und SLR in demselben Least-Squares-Estimator wie GNSS implementiert, damit kann man die beste Konsistenz in der Datenverarbeitung erreichen. In dieser Arbeit wird die Leistungsfähigkeit der Software mit den Ein-Technik-Lösungen demonstriert. Die Genauigkeit der Stationskoordinaten liegt sowohl für GNSS als auch für VLBI im Millimeterbereich, und die geschätzten EOP-Parameter sind auch mit der anderer Analysezentren und den IERS-Produkten vergleichbar. Es wird auch gezeigt, dass die Koordinatengenauigkeit der SLR-Station um 20-30% verbessert wird, wenn zusätzliche GLONASS- und GRACE-Satelliten zur LAGEOS und ETALON-Konstellation beitragen. Mit dem Schwerpunkt auf den „Tropospheric Ties“ in der integrierten GNSS- und VLBI- Daten Verarbeitung wird ihr Beitrag zum ersten Mal umfassend dargestellt. Die Anwendung der „Tropospheric Ties“ verbessert die Genauigkeit der VLBI-Koordinaten um 12% bei der horizontalen Komponente und bis zu 30% bei der vertikalen Komponente. Die Genauigkeit im Netzwerkmaßstab wird um bis zu 33% verbessert. Auch die EOP-Bestimmungen werden deutlich verbessert, z.B. um 10-30% bei polaren Bewegungen und bis zu 10% bei anderen Komponenten. Darüber hinaus reduziert die Einführung der „Gradient Ties“ in der VLBI-Intensivsession die systematische Abweichung in den dUT1-Bestimmungen. Die konsistente TRF, CRF, und EOP werden bei der integrierten VLBI- und GNSS-Lösung erreicht. Die Anwendung der „Global Ties, Tropospheric Ties and Local Ties“ stabilisiert die Bestimmungen des Referenzrahmens. Die ERP-Bestimmungen in der integrierten Lösung werden von der GNSS-Technik dominiert, und die VLBI-Technik bringt eine zusätzliche Verbesserung um 10% auf die Tagesgrenzen-Diskontinuität (day-boundary-discontinuity, DBD) für die y-Pol-Komponente. Die dUT1- und CPO werden in der integrierten Lösung ebenfalls leicht verbessert. Es wird auch gezeigt, dass eine ungeeignete Anwendung der LTs das Netzwerk verzerrt und systematische Abweichungen in die ERP-Bestimmungen einführt, wodurch die Notwendigkeit einer Aktualisierung der lokalen Tie Messungen deutlich wird. Darüber hinaus werden die Koordinaten der AGN in den integrierten Lösungen um bis zu 20% verbessert, insbesondere im Süden. Diese Arbeit zeigt die Bedeutung der integrierten Daten Verarbeitung von Multi-Technik auf der Beobachtungsebene, da die beste Konsistenz erreicht werden kann und die angewandten „Ties“ die Lösungen erheblich verbessern. Es wird nachdrücklich empfohlen, für die zukünftige Realisierung von himmelsfesten und erdfesten Referenzrahmen das Konzept der integrierten Verarbeitung auf Beobachtungsebene durchzuführen und alle möglichen „Ties“ anzuwenden, einschließlich der „Global Ties (EOP), Local Ties, Space Ties, and Tropospheric Ties“. Eine solche integrierte Lösung aller vier Techniken kann die robusten Bestimmungen der Referenzrahmen und der EOP liefern, wobei die Vorteile jeder Technik voll ausgeschöpft werden.

Description: South Wales is characterised by a rich variety of geologic formations and rocks of different ages and periods, and a large asymmetric syncline, as perhaps its most significant structural geological feature, extending from east to west over a length of approximately 96 km and 30 km from north to south, respectively. This oval-shaped syncline is part of the Variscan orogenic thrust and fold belt in Central Europe and covers some 2,700 km2, with coal-bearing rocks from the Upper Carboniferous (Westphalian Stage) deposited in the central syncline and older rocks outcropping in a peripheral belt around it. The coal-bearing sequence begins with Namurian grits and shales, overlain by the more productive Lower, Middle and Upper Coal Measures. A 3D structural geological model has been implemented for the central part of the South Wales Syncline and its bedrock geology. The oldest rocks in the model domain date back to the Pridoli Series from the uppermost Silurian, the youngest to the Westphalian Stage of the Upper Carboniferous. For model implementation, mainly open access data from the British Geological Survey (BGS) has been used. The final 3D structural geological model covers the entire Central South Wales Syncline and is 32.8 km wide and 36.6 km long. In total, the 3D model includes 21 fault zones and the elevation depth of ten surfaces: (1) Top Upper Coal Measures Formation; (2) Top Middle Coal Measures Formation; (3) Top Lower Coal Measures Formation; (4) Top Millstone Grit Group; (5) Top Dinantian Rocks; (6) Top Upper Devonian Rocks; (7) Top Lower Devonian Rocks (sandstone dominated); (8) Top Lower Devonian Rocks (mudstone dominated); (9) Top Pridoli Rocks; (10) Top Ludlow Rocks (in parts).