Understanding Europe’s changing forests through Earth observation
Datum:
Ort:
WSL Birmensdorf, Hörsaal, and Zoom-Webinar
Organisiert von:
WSL
Vortrag:
Prof. Dr. Cornelius Senf, University of Munich
Moderation:
Lars Waser
Sprache(n):
English
Veranstaltungstyp:
Distinguished Lectures
Zielpublikum:
everbody interested in this topic
(The Zoom link will be activated shortly before the lecture.)
Europe’s forests are under increasing pressure from climate extremes, requiring better monitoring of changing forest dynamics. In my talk I will summarize recent developments in Earth observation based forest monitoring, with a particular focus on characterizing forest disturbances and recovery from landscape to continental scales. In particulary, I will show how long-term satellite archives have enabled a seamless monitoring of tree cover and biomass change caused by drought, bark beetles, wind and fire but also human management; and how active sensor systems such as LiDAR have helped us to better understand the spatial dimension of disturbance and recovery. Finally, I will embed recent changes in forest disturbance and recovery into past variability and discuss whether the recent episode of extended disturbances in Central Europe was unprecedented.