SoMMet project at the 'Woche der Umwelt' in Berlin

The SoMMet project was presented at the 'Woche der Umwelt' (Week of Environment) event in Berlin on 4 and 5 June 2024. The event was hosted by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU, Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt) at Schloss Bellevue (the Bellevue Palace). Around 190 exhibitors from scientific institutions, research centres, and R&D companies attended the event, showcasing innovative solutions for environmental protection, climate change adaptation, sustainability, and biodiversity conservation. The event was attended by around 12,000 visitors.

In addition to the PTB team, SoMMet partners from the University of Potsdam (UP DE), the Heidelberg University (UHEI) and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Leipzig (UFZ) also attended the exhibition. There, they presented the topic 'Kosmische Hilfe für irdische Bodenfeuchtemessungen' (Cosmic support for terrestrial soil moisture measurements) together. Commercial CRNS systems were presented to a wide audience alongside a few examples of commercial point-scale soil moisture sensors. The UFZ partners' CRNS rover, which can perform mobile CRNS measurements, was exhibited in a live session. PTB's neutron spectrometer NEMUS, which is based on the Bonner sphere spectrometry principle, was also on display. In general, the audience was made aware of the need to establish a metrology foundation for measuring soil moisture at multiple scales.