Publications
We are very active in publishing our work. Here a selection, see Google Scholar for all studies.
High-resolution sensors and deep learning models for tree resource monitoring
Nature Reviews Electrical Engineering, 2025
We summarized our experiences gained over the past years.
A strong but uneven increase in urban tree cover in China over the recent decade
We used RapidEye and PlanetScope to study tree cover changes over hundreds of cities in China over 2010-2019.
Severe decline in large farmland trees in India over recent decade
We tracked 0.6 billion large trees from 2010 to 2022 and found that many disappeared.
Mapping every adult baobab across the Sahel and relationships to rural livelihoods
Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2024
We mapped millions of Baobab trees across the entire Sahel.
Global area boom of greenhouse cultivation revealed by satellites
The overlooked contribution of trees outside forests to tree cover and woody biomass across Europe
We mapped trees inside and outside forests and their canopy height and biomass across Europe using PlanetScope.
Sub-continental-scale carbon stocks of individual trees in African drylands
Nation-wide mapping of tree-level aboveground carbon stocks in Rwanda
Tree level biomass for all major trees in Rwanda from aerial images, covering savanna, agroforestry, and rainforest.
Deep learning enables image-based tree counting, crown segmentation, and height prediction at national scale
An unexpectedly large count of trees in the West African Sahara and Sahel
The first time deep learning was applied on thousands of sub-meter images to map billions of single trees in the Sahel and Sahara.
More than one quarter of Africa’s tree cover is found outside areas previously classified as forest
We used PlanetScope to map trees for continental Africa, both inside and outside forests.
Forest management in southern China generates short term extensive carbon sequestration
We show that extensive forest management has generated a large carbon sink in Southern China.
Increased vegetation growth and carbon stock in China karst via ecological engineering
We show that, while models predict a decline of vegetation for Southern China, afforestation has generated a substantial greening of the region.
Human population growth offsets climate-driven increase in woody vegetation in sub-Saharan Africa
Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2017
Uusing passive microwaves, we show that woody vegetation in Africa increases away from settlements, but decreases close to human settlements.
Carbon loss from forest degradation exceeds that from deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon
Using L-VOD, we show that forest degradation causes substantial forest losses in the Amazon.
Satellite passive microwaves reveal recent climate-induced carbon losses in African drylands
Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2018
We demonstrate that passive microwaves (L-VOD) can be used to track carbon dynamics over African forests and drylands.