Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences

Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) is Germany's national research centre for the geosciences, headquartered on the Telegrafenberg campus in Potsdam. GFZ is a member of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres and is co-funded by the German federal government and the State of Brandenburg. The centre operates research infrastructure across geodesy, gravity field mapping, geomagnetism, space weather, and remote sensing.

GFZ has been principal investigator or co-PI on a series of satellite gravity and magnetic field missions. CHAMP (CHAllenging Minisatellite Payload, 2000-2010, GFZ PI) was the first satellite mission to provide continuous global GPS-based recovery of the gravity and magnetic field, opening the geopotential research era.^[1] GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, 2002-2017, joint NASA/DLR/GFZ proposal) mapped time-variable gravity for global water mass change monitoring.^[2] GFZ continues as science operations co-lead on GRACE-FO (2018-present). In instrument-support roles, GFZ provided on-board GPS receivers for TerraSAR-X (2007) and TanDEM-X (2010), and has provided scientific support to the EnMAP hyperspectral mission.^[3]

GFZ's active ground infrastructure includes the Satellite Laser Ranging Station Potsdam, a member of the International Laser Ranging Service since 2003, and the Satellite Receiving Station at Ny-Alesund, Spitsbergen. Data products include the EIGEN global gravity field model series, global geomagnetic field models, GNSS radio-occultation atmosphere profiles, and GPS precise orbit products.^[4]