This paper summarizes the activity of the chosen Polish geodetic research teams in 2019–2022 in the fields of the Earth rotation and geodynamics. This publication has been prepared for the needs of the presentation of Polish scientists’ activities on the 28th International Union of Geodesy and Geodynamics General Assembly, Berlin, Germany. The part concerning Earth rotation is mostly focused on the estimation of the geophysical excitation of polar motion using data from Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and its follow-on (GRACE-FO) missions, and on the improvement of the determination of Earth rotation parameters based on the Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR), Doppler Orbitography and Radiopositioning Integrated by Satellite (DORIS), and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) satellite techniques. The part concerning geodynamics is focused on geodetic time series analysis for geodynamical purposes and monitoring of the vertical ground movements induced by mass transport within the Earth’s system, monitoring of the crustal movements using GNSS and newly applied Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), discussing the changes of the landslides and its monitoring using geodetic methods as well as investigations of seismic events and sea-level changes with geodetic methods. Finally, the recent research activities carried out by Polish scientists in the international projects is presented.

The paper discusses the application possibilities of ceramic foam in a thermal combustion process of a lean methane-air mixture. The experiments were done in a ceramic foam bed. The foam (Vukopor ^® A) was made mainly of Al ₂O ₃. The foam samples were packed in a tubular reactor symmetrically placed in a laboratory furnace. It was assumed that the tested foam should have a surface close to the monolith surface area which was tested in a previous work (Pawlaczyk and Gosiewski, 2015). Pore density of the tested foam was 10 PPI. The tested air mixture contained 0.51 - 0.76 vol. % of methane. The results show that thermal methane oxidation in foam is possible in the acceptable range of temperatures. The combustion process in foam is characterized by similar ignition temperature to tests carried out in monolith, a more intense course, and better methane conversion at lower temperatures.