20.07.2011

System Earth

People have had an active impact on the system Earth since the Industrial Revolution. Our habitat in turn will change in the course of reciprocal influence. We need knowledge on whether the system Earth copes with the impacts of industrial societies and increasing worldwide consumption without any difficulty. The pollution in the atmosphere, the greenhouse effect, the oceanic currents relevant to the climate and the ice masses at the poles provide information that is just as important for handling our home planet in a sustainable manner as that related to the destruction of the rainforests and the resulting changes.

Answers to these and other questions can only be obtained if the "System Earth" is studied and understood.

An understanding of global cycles and the interaction of geosphere (the solid body of the Earth), cryosphere (the ice masses), hydrosphere (liquid water) and biosphere (all flora and fauna) enables us to design strategies to combat desertification, food crises and migration pressure, to improve disaster control and prevention as well as to find new ways of crisis prevention, peace and conflict research.

 

• 

  Aus dem Themenbereich Funding Priority

  Marine Research

  The oceans cover 70 percent of the Earth’s surface and account for 98 percent of the available amount of water. Yet we have explored comparatively little of this largest of all habitats. Apart from the atmosphere however the oceans play a central role in the climate ... more
  (URL: /en/9946)
   
  
• 

  Aus dem Themenbereich Funding Priority

  Polar Research

  Polar Research: Tracking Climate Processes more
  (URL: /en/9947)
   
  

• Aus dem Themenbereich Funding Priority

  Geotechnologies

  The project entitled GEOTECHNOLOGIES includes a geoscientific research and development programme, which is jointly funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the German Research Foundation (DFG). more
  (URL: /en/9958)
   
  
• 

  Aus dem Themenbereich Funding Priority

  Infrastructure

  Researching into the complex system Earth not only requires excellent scientists, but also an effective research infrastructure. more
  (URL: /en/9970)
   
  



---