Prof.dr.ir. H.W.J. (Herman) Russchenberg
Profile
I am full professor in Atmospheric Remote Sensing and head of the Department of Geoscience and Remote Sensing. Since 2021 I am the TU Delft vice rector magnificus for climate action. I lead the TU Delft Climate Institute and am the scientific director of the national Ruisdael Observatory. I obtained my PhD in 1992 with a thesis on Doppler-polarimetric radar research of precipitation.
Research themes
- Climate change: the role of clouds, rainfall and aerosols in the climate system
- Measuring the atmosphere
- Climate engineering
- Nowcasting rainfall
Research
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.
- Yin, J., Hoogeboom, P., Unal, C., Russchenberg, H., Van Der Zwan, F., Oudejans, E.UAV-aided weather radar calibration, (2019) IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 57 (12), art. no. 8818617, pp. 10362-10375.
- Pfitzenmaier, L., Unal, C.M.H., Dufournet, Y., Russchenberg, H.W.J.
- Observing ice particle growth along fall streaks in mixed-phase clouds using spectral polarimetric radar data (2018) Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 18 (11), pp. 7843-7862.
- Mamali, D., Mikkilä, J., Henzing, B., Spoor, R., Ehn, M., Petäjä, T., Russchenberg, H., Biskos, G., Long-term observations of the background aerosol at Cabauw, The Netherlands (2018) Science of the Total Environment, 625, pp. 752-761.
- Mamali, D., Mikkilä, J., Henzing, B., Spoor, R., Ehn, M., Petäjä, T., Russchenberg, H., Biskos, G., Long-term observations of the background aerosol at Cabauw, The Netherlands, (2018) Science of the Total Environment, 625, pp. 752-761.
- Sarna, K., Russchenberg, H.W.J., Monitoring aerosol-cloud interactions at the CESAR Observatory in the Netherlands (2017) Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 10 (5), pp. 1987-1997.
Educational activities
- 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

Herman Russchenberg
Professor Atmospheric Remote Sensing
- +31 15 27 86292
- h.w.j.russchenberg@tudelft.nl
-
Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences
Building 23
Stevinweg 1 / PO box 5048
2628 CN Delft / 2600 GA Delft
Room number: 2.10
Availability: Mon until Fri