Provides a basic introduction into Earth Sciences, emphasizing different rock-types and the geological rock-cycle, as well as introduction into geophysics, plate tectonics and planetology.

Observation networks - the combination of individual instruments - are the starting point of quantitative environmental studies. The structure and idiosyncrasies of existing observation networks are shown. When working in individual experiments on practical problems, various types of observation networks are dealt with; questions related to data quality and data availability are discussed.