Geodesy: the key to understanding complex changes

Is it possible to measure climate change? Annette Eicker, Professor of Geodesy and Equalisation at HafenCity University Hamburg, confirms this question.

We use geodesy to measure climate change and thus form the key to understanding complex changes. However, very few people realise that reporting on sea level rise means exactly that: measuring it. This requires a stable coordinate system, as provided by geodesy using various spatial methods.

In 2015, a UN resolution emphasised the importance of a stable reference system. With the help of GNSS methods, laser ranging altimetry, gravimetric measurements or level measurements, geodesy contributes to the gain in knowledge. Geodesy investigates the height and rise in sea level, the spatio-temporal change in water vapour in the atmosphere, changes in groundwater or glacier melt, i.e. the change in ice height - all of these are the subject of geodetic research. With the help of gravity measurements within the GRACE mission - the spirit level in space - Annette Eicker's team was able to determine and calculate, for example, that the Greenland glaciers are losing 50,000 bathtubs of water per second.

She calls for climate and environmental sciences to grow closer together with geodesy in order to gain even better insights together.