Today, we proudly celebrate our MSc student Sunniva McKeever, who has just successfully defended her Master thesis entitled:
“Spatio-temporal Forest Structure Dynamics in Germany: A Synthesis of Remote Sensing Products.”
Supervised by Prof. Dr. Tobias Ullmann, Sunniva’s work delves deep into the rapidly evolving landscape of German forests, investigating how climate-related disturbances from 2017 to 2023—especially the devastating droughts between 2018–2020—have reshaped forest structures across the country.
By synthesizing three high-resolution remote sensing products from the German Aerospace Center (DLR), she was able to trace forest change at a remarkable level of detail. Her research not only detects and characterizes disturbances like bark beetle outbreaks, windthrow, and fire, but also links them to structural vulnerability and regeneration dynamics. Her findings demonstrate the critical role of remote sensing in:
-
Detecting early stress indicators,
-
Supporting adaptive forest management,
-
Improving forest inventory systems,
-
And informing smarter reforestation strategies.
Sunniva’s thesis exemplifies how remote sensing science can help tackle some of the most pressing environmental challenges of our time—bridging technological innovation with ecological resilience.
💫 What’s next? We’re thrilled to share that Sunniva will be continuing her academic journey as a PhD researcher, working with the European Space Agency’s (ESA) new BIOMASS satellite mission! This exciting new phase will allow her to continue exploring forest structure and carbon dynamics on a global scale using cutting-edge radar technology.
🌍 Sunniva, we’re proud of your achievement and can’t wait to follow your journey as you contribute to the future of forest monitoring and Earth observation. Congratulations again—and all the best for your PhD adventure!
