Prof.dr.ir. Herman Russchenberg

I am full professor in Atmospheric Remote Sensing and head of the Department of Geoscience and Remote Sensing. I am also Director of the TU Delft Climate Institute. I obtained my PhD in 1992 with a thesis on Doppler-polarimetric radar research of precipitation.

• Climate change: the role of clouds, rainfall and aerosols in the climate system
• Measuring the atmosphere
• Nowcasting rainfall

I am fascinated by the observation-and-interpretation process. Most observations we do – whether scientific or social- are indirect: one never measures the meaning directly, but needs assumptions and models before the interpretation can be made. This is also true for remote sensing. The direct measurement is often expressed in terms of energy or power, but what one wants to know is: how much rain is falling?, or how do aerosols change clouds? This requires a good understanding of the underlying physics, the observation technology and of signal processing. It truly needs a multi-disciplinary approach.

• Otto, T. and H. W. J. Russchenberg (2011). “Estimation of Specific Differential Phase and Differential Backscatter Phase From Polarimetric Weather Radar Measurements of Rain.” Ieee Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters 8(5): 988-992.
• Dufournet, Y. and H. W. J. Russchenberg (2011). “Towards the improvement of cloud microphysical retrievals using simultaneous Doppler and polarimetric radar measurements.” Atmospheric Measurement Techniques 4(10): 2163-2178.
• Pinsky, M., O. Krasnov, H. Russchenberg, A. Khain (2010). “Investigation of the Turbulent Structure of a Cloud-Capped Mixed Layer Using Doppler Radar.” Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology 49(6): 1170-1190.
• Leijnse, H., R. Uilenhoet, A. Overeem, J. Figueras, C. Unal, H. Russchenberg (2010). “Precipitation Measurement at CESAR, the Netherlands.” Journal of Hydrometeorology 11(6): 1322-1329.
• Brandau, C. L., H. Russchenberg, W. Knap,  (2010). “Evaluation of ground-based remotely sensed liquid water cloud properties using shortwave radiation measurements.” Atmospheric Research 96(2-3): 366-377.

More publications

• Oral lectures
• Working groups
• Development of courses and course material
• Laboratory exercises
• Coordination of education activities
• Organization of special events (excursions, student symposia, guest lectures)
• Quality control of the education program
• Supervision of graduate students
• Online education