Current Projects

AI4SoilHealth: Accelerating collection and use of soil health information using AI technology to support the Soil Deal for Europe and EU Soil 

AI4SoilHealth: Accelerating collection and use of soil health information using AI technology to support the Soil Deal for Europe and EU Soil 

Duration: 01/2023 - 12/2027
Funding: EU - HORIZON EUROPE (grant ID 101086179)
PI / Co-PIs: Bernhard Ahrens, Melanie Weynants

The objective of AI4SoilHealth is to co-design, create and maintain an open access European-wide digital infrastructure, compiled using state-of-the-art Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods combined with new and deep soil health understanding and measures. The AI-based data infrastructure functions as a Digital Twin to the real-World biophysical system, forming a Soil Digital Twin. This can be used for assessing and continuously monitoring Soil Health metrics by land use and/or management parcel, supporting the Commission’s objective of transitioning towards healthy soils by 2030.
Artificial intelligence in biodiversity resaerch (AI4Biodiv)

Artificial intelligence in biodiversity resaerch (AI4Biodiv)

Duration: 10/2020 - 09/2024
PI/Co-PIs: Jana Wäldchen

Effective and comprehensive biodiversity monitoring requires a broad range of methods and approaches. In the future, the most promising sources of new monitoring data will be in automated and semi-automated data collection and analysis methods that cover large spatial scales.

Participating department members: Jana Wäldchen, Negin Katal, Michael Rzanny
Big data technologies and Artificial Intelligence for Copernicus (DeepCube)
Duration: 01/2021 - 12/2023
PI/Co-PIs: Nuno Carvalhais

DeepCube is a research project that aims to explore and develop new deep learning approaches to address relevant Earth system dynamics related to localized impacts of extreme events (drought and heat waves) and ecosystem disturbances (wildfires), including impacts of climate variability on migration flows, through AI-based understanding, quantification and prediction.

Participating department members: Nuno Carvalhais, Fabian Gans and Markus Reichstein, Christian Requeña-Mesa, Dushyant Kumar, Lazaro Alonso, Claire Robin, Vitus Benson and Melanie Weynants more
Biodiversity Exploratories
Duration: 05/2014 - 12/2023
Extension: 2023 - 2026
PI/Co-PIs: Marion Schrumpf, Susan Trumbore

The project provides essential soil characteristics that determine ecosystem properties such as plant and soil organism abundance, diversity, and productivity under different land use and management, and information on soil processes driving belowground carbon (C) and nutrient cycles, to link management, biodiversity and soil function.

Participating department members: Marion Schrumpf more
Climate-Carbon Interactions in the Current Century (4C)
Duration: 06/2019 - 05/2023
PI/Co-PIs: Sönke Zaehle

he EU-funded CCiCC project aims to reduce uncertainty in the quantitative understanding of carbon-climate interactions and feedbacks. Scientists will quantify key processes regulating the coupled carbon-climate system, and use observational constraints to provide long-term projections of the climate in response to anthropogenic emissions. The project will also deliver policy recommendations on carbon dioxide emission pathways. CCiCC analyses and data will help experts better assess how carbon dioxide emissions affect climate change.

Participating department members: Sönke Zaehle more
DeepESDL: Deep Earth System Data Lab
Duration: 04/2022 - 04/2025
Funding: ESA, European Space Agency
PI/ Co-PIs: Fabian Gans

DeepESDL is a virtual laboratory providing data, tool, and computational resources to efficiently implement comprehensive processing workflows for Earth System data. more
DUKE: Deep-learning-based hybrid uncertainty-aware modeling of the coupled water and carbon cycle with Earth observation data
Duration: 01/2022 - 12/2023
PI/Co-PIs: Basil Kraft, Martin Jung, Markus Reichstein

The combination of deep learning and physically-based approaches into so-called hybrid models has the potential to improve the predictability and understandability of the Earth system. Hybrid models are partially interpretable and physically consistent, yet they are highly adaptive to data. Given the growing amounts of Earth observation data, such approaches are worthwhile exploring to provide a complementary, data-driven perspective.

Participating department members: Basil Kraft, Martin Jung, Markus Reichstein, Zavud Baghirov more
Earth system models for the future (ESM2025) 
Duration: 06/2021 - 05/2025
PI/Co-PIs: Nuno Carvalhais, Sönke Zaehle

Earth system models for the future is an ambitious European research project on Earth System modelling that will build a novel generation of Earth system models fitted to support the development of mitigation and adaptation strategies in line with the commitments of the Paris Agreement.

Participating department members: Nuno Carvalhais, Sönke Zaehle, Rackhun Son more
Earth System Deep Learning for Seasonal Fire Forecasting in Europe (SeasFire)
Duration: 03/2022 - 03/2023
Extension: tba
PI/Co-PIs: Nuno Carvalhais
Participating department member: Nuno Carvalhais, Lazaro Alonso

We propose to explore and capture these potential spatio-temporal asynchronous links happening between pre-occurring and non-overlapping atmospheric conditions and European fire regimes, to predict the seasonal burned areas sizes in Europe by leveraging two major advancements of our time: a) the availability of a huge amount of satellite data with a good spatio-temporal resolution, which will be used as fire drivers called the Earth system variables, and b) the progress in Deep Learning (DL) and especially Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) have proved capable of capturing the spatio-temporal interactions of the Earth System variables. We will develop a first of its kind prototype system that predicts the seasonal burned areas sizes for Europe, using global environmental variables, as well as terrestrial ecosystem modeling, and simulate their impact on local fire regimes.
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ELLIS Carl Zeiss Stiftung

ELLIS Carl Zeiss Stiftung

Duration: 01/2023 - 12/2027
PI/Co-PIs: Markus Reichstein
Participating department members: Markus Reichstein
logo Ellis Unit
Duration: 01/2021 - 12/2026
PI/Co-PIs: Markus Reichstein, Ana Bastos, Nuno Carvlahais

The ELLIS Unit Jena is a member of the ”European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems” (ELLIS) Network, and is at the forefront of using artificial intelligence (AI) to tackle global environmental crises, like climate change and biodiversity loss. By using machine learning (ML) and AI, ELLIS researchers gain a deeper understanding of the interdependencies of Earth and climate. They are able to simulate scenarios for mitigating and adapting to the impacts of climate change.

Partner: Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, German Aerospace Center
Funding: Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung, Michael Stifel Center Jena

Participating department members: Markus Reichstein, Ana Bastos, Nuno Carvalhais, Vitus Benson, Conrad Philipp (FSU) more
Extreme Events: Artificial Intellegence for Detection and Attribution (XAIDA)
Duration: 09/2021 - 08/2025
PI/Co-PIs: Ana Bastos, Markus Reichstein

XAIDA, a new EU-funded project starting in September 2021, brings together the interdisciplinary expertise of a research consortium of 15 universities and research organizations. Our consortium unites experts in machine learning, statistics and climate modeling. Together we will design new methods and apply them to recent high-impact events to understand the role of climate change.

Participating department members: Ana Bastos, Markus Reichstein, José Cortez, Nora Linscheid more
Flora Incognita – Systematic and reliable monitoring of German flora as a citizen science challenge
Duration: 08/2019 - 07/2024
PI/Co-PIs: Jana Wäldchen

Project objectives:
1) Establishment of the Flora Incognita app as a standard method for plant identification in Germany
2) Development and implementation of an observation methodology and data exchange with various partners like nature conservation authorities and research groups
3)Development of quality assurance methods for observations and spatio-temporal analyses.
4) Expansion of the Flora Capture Citizen Science project and new didactic concepts for the dissemination of citizen species monitoring.

Participating department members: Markus Reichstein, Michael Rzanny, Alice Fritz more
Forest vulnerability to compound extremes and disturbances in a changing climate (ForExD)

Forest vulnerability to compound extremes and disturbances in a changing climate (ForExD)

Duration: 09/2022 - 08/2027
PI/Co-PIs: Ana Bastos

Forest vulnerability to compound extremes and disturbances in a changing climate

Participating department members: Ana Bastos, Yimian Ma, Franziska Müller
HK2023: Climate crisis and systemic risks: Lessons Learned from COVID-19
Duration: 06/2022 - 09/2023
Funding: Volkswagen Stiftung, DFG Leibniz Preis
PI/Co-Pls: Markus Reichstein, Dorothea Frank

Climate change related systemic risks have the potential to be an even greater threat than those of the COVID-19 pandemic. Are we prepared for this? Join the Herrenhausen Conference in Hanover on June 21 - 23, 2023.

Participating department members: Marleen Triebiger, Stefanie Johnson more
IRS4BEF - Integrated Remote Sensing for Biodiversity-Ecosystem Function

IRS4BEF - Integrated Remote Sensing for Biodiversity-Ecosystem Function

Integrated Remote Sensing for Biodiversity-Ecosystem Function
Duration: 01/2023 - 01/2025
Funding: ESA / Living Planet Fellowship
PI/Co-PIs: Javier Pacheco-Labrador

RS4BEF will develop new methods that allow remote sensing to decipher the role of vegetation functional biodiversity on ecosystem functions and environmental responses. IRS4BEF will determine which spectral information is necessary to characterize functionally-significant diversity and how to connect this new spatial information with ground measurements or remote estimates of ecosystem functions.
ITMS-B

ITMS-B

Joint project ITMS Integrated Greenhouse Gas Monitoring System for Germany - Module B (demonstration phase)
Duration: 08/2022 - 07/2026
PI/Co-PIs: Gregory Duveiller
ITMS-QS

ITMS-QS

Joint project ITMS Integrated Greenhouse Gas Monitoring System for Germany - Module QS (demonstration phase)
Duration: 08/2022 - 07/2026
PI/Co-PIs: Gregory Duveiller
Multi-hazard and systemic framework for enhancing risk-informed management and decision-making in the E.U.
Duration: 09/2021 - 08/2025
PI/Co-PIs: René Orth, Markus Reichstein, Dorothea Frank

The project will offer new ways to assess trade-offs and synergies between economic sectors, hazards and their scales, through its systemic and forward-looking approach.

Participating department members: René Orth, Markus Reichstein, Dorothea Frank more
NFDI4Earth
Duration: 10/2021 - 10/2026
PI/Co-PIs: Markus Reichstein, Fabian Gans

The goal of the NFDI4Earth is to provide simple, efficient and open access to all relevant Earth System Data. The NFDI4Earth aims to establish common principles, rules and standards for research data management in Earth system sciences. Major implementation guidelines are the FAIR principles, which do impact the whole research data life cycle.

Participating department members: Markus Reichstein, Fabian Gans more
Open Earth Monitor
Duration: 06/2022 - 05/2026
PI/Co-PIs: Gregory Duveiller

The mission of Open-Earth-Monitor is to accelerate uptake of environmental information to guide current and future users in research, decision-making and citizens toward the most sustainable solutions.

Participating department members: Fabian Gans, Markus Reichstein and Jacob Nelson more
PhenoFeedbacks

PhenoFeedbacks

Duration: 04/2022 - 03/2025
PI/Co-PIs: Alexander Winkler

The DFG-funded PhenoFeedbacks project addresses the effects and feedbacks of phenological changes in the climate system

Participating department members: Annu Panwar
Project Office BIOMASS 
Duration: 07/2020 - 12/2024
PI/Co-PIs: Nuno Carvalhais, Markus Reichstein

Within ESA’s Earth Explorers, the primary objective of BIOMASS is to improve our understanding on the role of the land biosphere on the global carbon cycle, with clear implications in a context of climate change. Project Office BIOMASS aims to synthesize, produce and disseminate relevant information within the biomass community; identify gaps and investigate solutions within the context of BIOMASS; and establish communication to maintain a necessary dialogue within the broader context of the BIOMASS mission.

Participating department members: Hui Yang, Marleen Triebiger, Nuno Carvalhais, Markus Reichstein more
Prototype system for a Copernicus CO2 service (CoCO2)
Duration: 01/2021 - 12/2023
PI/Co-PIs: Martin Jung

CoCO2 is a European project lead by ECMWF to build a monitoring and verification support capability for global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) related to human activities.

Participating department members: Martin Jung more
SCHR 1181/9-1 - Decoupling surface and subsurface processes of litter decomposition and effects on soil organic matter stabilization with increasing drought.

SCHR 1181/9-1 - Decoupling surface and subsurface processes of litter decomposition and effects on soil organic matter stabilization with increasing drought.

Decoupling surface and subsurface processes of litter decomposition and effects on soil organic matter stabilization with increasing drought.
Duration: 2023 - 2025
Funding: DFG
PI/Co-PIs: Marion Schrumpf
Sen4GPP, Sentinels4Carbon

Sen4GPP, Sentinels4Carbon

Sentinel missions for Terrestrial Carbon Production
Duration: 06/2021 - 06/2023
PI/Co-PIs: Martin Jung, Gregory Duveiller

The objective of the Sen4GPP project is to improve our knowledge on the spatio-temporal variations of GPP associated with terrestrial ecosystems by a synergistic exploitation of the complementary information (Land Surface Temperature – LST, Solar-Induced Fluorescence – SIF, Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation – FAPAR and land cover) provided by the Sentinel missions (Sentinel-2, Sentinel-3 and Sentinel-5P) at multiple spatial and temporal resolutions, as well as other Earth Observation and in situ data.
SLAINTE: Sub-daily Land Atmosphere INTEractions

SLAINTE: Sub-daily Land Atmosphere INTEractions

The SLAINTE mission aims to study Sub-daily Land Atmosphere INTEractions to improve our understanding of rapid dynamics in the water and carbon cycles over land.
Duration: 11/2022 - 10/2023
Funding: ESA-Unterauftrag
Contact: Ana Bastos
USMILE
Duration: 09/2020 - 08/2026
PI/Co-PIs: Markus Reichstein

The EU-funded USMILE project will use machine learning to improve modelling and understanding of the Earth system.

Participating department members: Markus Reichstein, Alexander Winkler, Reda El Ghawi more
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