Claudia Kuenzer
Head of ‘Land Surface Dynamics’ Group
German Aerospace Center (DLR), Earth Observation Center (EOC)
Germany

Biography
Dr. Claudia Kuenzer received her PhD from Vienna University of Technology in 2005 and is head of the group ‘Land Surface Dynamics’ at the German Earth Observation Centre, EOC, of the German Aerospace Centre, DLR. The currently 18 scientists within this group are involved in earth observation data analyses, monitoring dynamic processes such as landuse change, phenology, inundation and coastal dynamics - to name only a few examples. The group contributes to over 10 third party funded remote sensing projects in different locations globally. Dr. Kuenzer is scientific coordinator of the BMBF - MOST-CN funded DELIGHT Project (Delta Information System for Geoenvironmental and Human Habitat Transition in the Yellow River Delta, China), as well as of the BMBF – MOST-VN funded project CATCH-MEKONG (on Upstream Downstream influences in the transboundary Mekong Basin). She frequently lectures and has lectured for the Universities of Wuerzburg, Vienna University of Technology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Vietnamese Academy of Sciences, and the European Space Agency, ESA. Dr. Kuenzer is head of the EARSeL Special Interest Group on Thermal Remote Sensing, and a Scientific Steering Committee member of the LOICZ (Land and Ocean Interaction on the Coastal Zone) programme under Future Earth. She has authored and co-authored > 60 SCI journal papers, and > 100 conference contributions, and has published two books with Springer. Dr. Kuenzer is Associate Editor of the International Journal of Remote Sensing, and acts as a reviewer for 15 SCI journals from the field of remote sensing, environmental sciences, and geophysics. Next to applied remote sensing especially in the context of land use management and integrated water resources management, her current main research interest is on time series analyses, as well as on the linkage of natural and social sciences.

Abstract
The Potential of Earth Observation Time Series for the Analyses of Land Surface Dynamics

Satellite remote sensing is a valuable tool for monitoring of natural and anthropogenic processes on Earth?s surface. Monitoring of dynamics and detection of changes in natural environments such as forests, wetlands, river basins, or coastal regions require the analyses of data over a long period of time. Pressing future research needs will be the generation of climate relevant and long term data analyses to reveal possible decadal changes and trends. In contrast to former limited use nowadays the provision of new satellite sensors by ESA (Sentinels) and the opening of the data archives of NASA (Landsat) assure the cost-free availability of large satellite data time series and provide a comprehensive data basis. The usage of time series information is not limited to specific satellite sensor types or geographic regions anymore. The presentation of current work gives an overview on the performed analyses of long time series for e.g. water and snow coverage globally from medium resolution optical data, as well as related information on product development. Furthermore, processes on the land surface related to forest and land use change using multi-sensor and multi-scale remote sensing time series are presented from several international applied research projects conducted in Europe and Asia. Exemplarily, classification and analyses results for the Yellow River Delta in China, the Mekong Basin, and others are presented. From the user?s perspective information products derived from satellite data time series provide relevant information on dynamic processes on Earth?s surface ? on e.g. wetland degradation, coastline and river course changes, intensification of land use, changes of cropping cycles, deforestation, impacts of climatic events (such as floods and droughts), etc. ? and can support land and water resource management and environmental planning.