Das DFG-Schwerpunktprogramm SPP1257 «Massentransporte und Massenverteilungen im System Erde»

In 2006, the senate of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) has established the priority research program SPPl257 »Mass transport and mass distribution in the system Earth«, in order to enable scientifíc analysis and interpretation of the data from the new generation of gravity and altimetry satellite missions. In the SPP1257, German hydrologists, glaciologists, oceanographers, geophysicists, geodesists and mathematicians work together towards the understanding of Earth system processes. Running for six years, the program has enabled German research groups to play their part in the world's top groups in various areas of Earth system research. Here, we will discuss the objectives of the research program, its structure and strategy, a selection of results achieved so far, and future lines of investigation.