On 11 June 2013, the GFZ scientist Dr. Jens Wickert (Section 1.1, GPS / Galileo Earth Observation) was elected at the European Space Agency in Noordwijk, near Amsterdam, to head an international group of scientists that will control the first steps of a new experiment for climate research aboard the International Space Station. The responsible position of the so-called Science Advisory Group (SAG) is carried out in close cooperation with ESA and is to ensure that the scientific goals of the new mission GEROS-ISS will actually be achieved.

GEROS-ISS (GNSS REflectometry, Radio Occultation and Scatterometry onboard ISS) will be the first to use signals from navigation satellites (GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, Beidou) reflected from the ocean surface to derive climate-related ocean properties such as geometric height, ocean currents, or wave height that can be correlated with wind speed. Another aim is to determine atmospheric properties such as temperature and water vapor content of the atmosphere very accurately, a method which has been substantially developed at the GFZ with the German satellite CHAMP.

The focus of the current work of the expert group is on preparing industry studies on the specific implementation of GEROS on the ISS in order to further investigate the technical feasibility of the proposed new measurements. The subsequent course of GEROS and the final implementation are dependent on the outcome of these studies. If successful, the start of GEROS-ISS is expected for 2018.