GRUAN Lead Centre

The Lead Centre at the Lindenberg Meteorological Observatory/ Richard-Assmann-Observatory (MOL-RAO), Germany became fully operational in summer of 2008.

Members of Lead Centre

Dr. Ruud Dirksen (email) is head of the in-situ sounding group at the Lindenberg Meteorological Observatory and head of the GRUAN Lead Centre. Within the in situ sounding group, he coordinates all activities of the GRUAN Lead Centre and is point of contact for any GRUAN related matters. Dr. Dirksen has previoulsy worked at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) and the Free University Berlin on satellite observations of the composition of the atmosphere.

Dr. Michael Sommer (email) is a GRUAN Lead Centre scientist working on the management of GRUAN measuring data. This includes the management of data archive particularly with regard to meta data, the development of interfaces and other software components for GRUAN, as well as the analysis and quality assurance of GRUAN data. Additionally, he is working on the development and support of the GRUAN homepage and blog. He achieved his PhD at the Technische Universität Dresden in 2009 where he performed a study of atmospheric radiation climatology based on reconstructions from satellite measurements.

Dr. Christoph von Rohden (email) GRUAN Lead Centre scientist - His main duties involve the development and testing of reference instrumentation as well as the conception and realization of international research projects and field experiments. He has previously worked on transport processes in lakes and groundwater at the Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Heidelberg and afterwards on thermometry and metrology for oceanography at Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) in Berlin.

Marion Fiedler-Krüger is supporting the GRUAN Lead Centre in all administrative matters as well as in data analysis and data management issues.

 

Former GRUAN Lead Centre Staff

Dr. Tzvetan Simeonov (email) - 2019 to 2024

Dr. Holger Vömel (email) - 2008 to 2014

Dr. Franz Immler (email) - 2008 to 2011

GRUAN Lead Centre staff
GRUAN Lead Centre Staff: Marion Fiedler-Krüger, Dr. Christoph von Rohden, Dr. Ruud Dirksen, Dr. Michael Sommer (from left)

Terms of Reference

June 2024

The GRUAN Lead Centre (LC) is responsible for the monitoring and the daily management of the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) Reference Upper-Air Network (GRUAN). GRUAN is envisaged as a network of 30-40 high-quality, long-term, upper-air observing stations that are built on, but not confined to, the larger GCOS Upper-Air Network (GUAN). Each GRUAN site is expected to operate a suite of instrumentation which is capable to robustly ascertain atmospheric parameters and, in some cases, atmospheric composition and radiation variables. Further details on measurement programs and requirements for sites are given in the GRUAN Manual (GCOS-170) and GRUAN Guide (GCOS-171). The GRUAN Lead Centre operates under the scientific guidance of the GCOS/WCRP AOPC Working Group on GRUAN (WG-GRUAN) and is hosted by Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD), residing at the Lindenberg Meteorological Observatory, Germany.

It serves the following functions in developing and maintaining the network:

  • Coordination of the network
  • Training, education and research
  • Data management including processing and reanalysis
  • Documentation and public outreach
  • Reporting

A list of subsidiary functions is provided in the terms of Reference.

Download full Terms of Reference (v3.0, 2024-06-18, pdf)

 

Outdated versions