EAGLE M.Sc. thesis in the Arctic

Our EAGLE student Ronja Seitz is conducting her field work for her Master thesis in the Arctic, on Svalbard. She started collecting her data in June to build up a timeseries with UAS multispectral data to investigate disturbances like rain on snow (ROS) events and goose grubbing on vegetation.

The high resolution time series data acquired by her in a regular time interval throughout the vegetation period accompanied by in-situ observations increases the precision of mapping vegetation, since it includes different phenological stages and raises the possibility to monitor vegetation affected by ROS – events or goose grubbing in the arctic tundra.

UAS data provide the necessary resolution and area coverage to bridge the gap between micro scale field observations and landscape to regional scale satellite data via upscaling using models and is a highly valuable mean of collecting data in inaccessible or vulnerable areas like the arctic.

Her M.Sc. thesis is supervised by Dr. Mirjana Bevanda and Dr. Hélène Barthelemy, and done in collaboration with further colleagues on Svalbard and EORC colleagues like Tobias Ullmann.