Earth is a restless planet (Solomon & the Solid Earth Science Working Group, 2002). With its atmosphere, oceans, ice cover, land surfaces and its interior, it is subject to a large variety of dynamic processes operating on a wide range of spatial and temporal scales, driven by large interior as well as exterior forces. Many areas of the Earth’s surface are exposed to natural hazards caused by dynamic processes in the solid Earth, the atmosphere and the oceans. Earthquakes, tsunamis, volcano eruptions, tectonic deformations, landslides, deglaciation, sea level rise, floods, desertification, storms, storm surges, global warming and many more are well known phenomena that are expressions of the dynamics of our restless planet. In modern times these processes are influenced, as well, by anthropogenic effects; to what extent is still largely unknown.
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© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Plag, HP. et al. (2009). Introduction. In: Plag, HP., Pearlman, M. (eds) Global Geodetic Observing System. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02687-4_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02687-4_1
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