Terrestrial environmental Physics

In the terrestrial environmental physics group transport processes of trace substances in terrestrial ecosystems are being studied. Interest focuses on long-lived radioactive isotopes such as cesium-137 and strontium-90 as well as on the dynamics of heavy metals in soils.

The dynamics of any trace substance present in a surface-near soil depends on its geochemical interactions with other solutes and at the soil matrix / soil solution interface, on its transport in solution or attached to particulates by diffusion and convection and on its uptake by biota (microorganisms, plant roots, ...).

Due to the special physical and radiopharmaceutical properties certain characteristical imaging problems occur in nuclear medicine imaging. In cooperation with the Max-Planck-Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics new image analyses tools are developed by the concept of the Scaling-Index Method (SIM) (Poppe et al. 1999).