Sabbatical in Central Europe

It is time to cross Germany, from East to West. We left from Potsdam to Aachen, in the Belgium border. We will spend the weekend there, before travelling to Bonn, where I will participate in a Workshop on Geodesy for Climate. With the stops, a total of seven hours of enjoyable travel on the autobahn, Germany's famous freeway. We went through several places we plan to visit later, such as Magdeburg, Brunswick and Hanover. Churchill has behaved well, but we realize that he is not very akin to traveling by car. UPDATE: We rented a car at Potsdam Hertz. Unfortunately for us, the only car available was a nine-seater van. We paid the price of an average car because that was what we had rented. More on that in a later post. =~=~=~ É hora de atravessar a Alemanha, de leste a oeste. Partimos de Potsdam para Aachen, na fronteira com a Bélgica. Vamos passar o fim de semana lá, antes de viajar para Bonn, onde participarei de um workshop sobre geodésia para o clima. Contando com ...

I was approached via e-mail by a Canadian journalist to provide information about Hurricane Irma . I asked my PhD student Thalia Nikolaidou to build an animation showing the progress of the hurricane as seen from the wet portion of the zenith neutral-atmospheric delay that affect GNSS observations. To build the animation, Thalia computed the zenith wet delay (ZWD) from the grid of NOAA's numerical weather prediction model NCEP1.  We can see the progress of the hurricane as the white inside the yellow, the colour that represents the highest values of ZWD. Date is indicated at the upper portion of the animation. Fui abordado por e-mail por um jornalista canadense para fornecer informações sobre o furacão Irma. Pedi à minha aluna de doutorado Thalia Nikolaidou que fizesse uma animação mostrando o progresso do furacão, visto da parte úmida do atraso zenital na atmosfera neutra que afeta as observações do GNSS. Para criar a animação, Thalia calculou o atraso zenital úmido (ZWD) a p...

(português abaixo) The little hill known as Telegrafenberg is where GFZ is located. It takes me 35 minutes walking all the way there. That is good, as it is a total of more than one hour of daily walking. It more than compensates the evening wine. Typically, after having breakfast and walking Churchill, I leave home starting my journey. Entrance to the Sanssouci Park (Photo Denise Puget) Entrada ao Parque Sanssouci (Photo Denise Puget) It takes me all the way through Platz der Einheit, where people takes trams and buses and people walk or bike hurrying to work while some do political campaign (it is election time here) even though nobody really pays attention. The hammer and the sickle (they must be communists) but even offering free coffee nobody cares O martelo e a foice (eles devem ser comunistas), mas mesmo oferecendo café grátis, ninguém se importa Continuing, I go through the magnificent Church of Saint Nicholas (Protestant, in spite of the statues that surro...

As we enter the old geodesy building at Telegrafenberg, we face a set of old stairs. Going up we can see the busts of several geodesists, with some connection to Telegrafenberg. Can you guess who they were? (Answer below) Ao entrarmos no antigo prédio de geodésia em Telegrafenberg, nos deparamos com um conjunto de velhas escadas. Subindo, podemos ver os bustos de vários geodesistas, com alguma conexão com Telegrafenberg. Você consegue adivinhar quem são eles? (Resposta abaixo)  (a)   (b) (c)  Answer / resposta : 

My staying in Germany is connected to both GFZ-Potsdam and Technical University Berlin. Once a week, I will work there, sharing the office with Jens Wickert. This first day I had the opportunity to be introduced to several faculty members of the Geodesy and Geoinformatics Department and become acquainted to the surroundings. It is quite easy to commute from Potsdam to Berlin. From Potsdam to Berlin's Zoologischer Garten Banhof (main train station) is 19 minutes by S-Bhan train. After that, just 10 minutes walking as far as to the TU Berlin campus. Below, a few pictures I took that day. Minha permanência na Alemanha está conectada à GFZ-Potsdam e à Technical University Berlin. Uma vez por semana, trabalharei lá, dividindo o escritório com Jens Wickert. Neste primeiro dia, tive a oportunidade de ser apresentado a vários professores do Departamento de Geodésia e Geoinformática e familiarizar-me com os arredores. É muito fácil ir de Potsdam a Berlim. De Potsdam à estação de t...

Our pet Churchill is just 6 months old and we were concerned about how he would react after the long trip. He seems to have adapted well as he is the same lively and playful dog. He likes to play all the time, enjoys long walks in a park close by, goes up and down stairs in no time (in spite his small size) and likes to be present. When he wants peace, he goes to his chosen "secret hideout" underneath the bed. Nosso cãozinho Churchill tem apenas 6 meses de idade e nós estávamos preocupados sobre como ele reagiria após a longa viagem. Mas ele demonstra ser o mesmo cão alegre e brincalhão. Ele gosta de jogar o tempo todo, gosta das longas caminhadas em um parque por perto, sobe e desce escadas rapidamente (e apesar de seu tamanho pequeno) e gosta de estar presente em tudo. Quando ele quer a paz, ele vai para o seu "esconderijo secreto" por baixo da cama. Churchill inspecting my work Churchil inspecionando meu trabalho  Happy after a long ...

In spite of being in Germany, I have to give attention to other things elsewhere. For example, today I participated as member of the examining committee, via Skype, in the PhD thesis defense of Paulo Sérgio. Even though the defense took place in Les Mans, France, a neighboring country, I could not travel as it would be too many trips in such a short period of time. Paulo Sérgio did well. Congratulations. Apesar de estar na Alemanha, tenho que dar atenção a outras coisas em outros lugares. Por exemplo, hoje participei como membro da comissão examinadora, via Skype, na defesa da tese de doutorado de Paulo Sérgio. Embora a defesa tenha ocorrido em Les Mans, na França, um país vizinho, eu não poderia viajar, pois seriam muitas viagens em um período tão curto de tempo. Paulo Sérgio fez bem. Parabéns.