Summary

The land surface as part of the Earth system affects the regional and global climate. In turn, the climate shapes the structure of the land surface especially the global distribution of forests, steppes, and dry regions. Meanwhile humankind has drastically modified his habitat - the land surface. The goal of this department is to investigate the development of the mutual interactions between land surface, climate, and mankind in the past and in the future. This will be accomplished by the application of models, in situ measurements, and satellite observations.