Prof. Dr. Matthias Forkel

© EnvRS

Professor in Environmental Remote Sensing

Name

Prof. Dr. Matthias Forkel

Coordinator for ERASMUS+ Geosciences and the BSc Env. Informatics

Send email

Send encrypted email via the SecureMail portal (for TUD external users only).

Address work

Office:

Hülssebau, Room 539 Helmholtzstr. 10

01069 Dresden

Deutschland

Show map of this location.

work Tel.

Office hours:

Wednesday:

08:15 - 09:00

Sprechstunde (ERASMUS, BSc UI)

Eine Anmeldung zu den Sprechzeiten ist ausdrücklich nicht notwendig. Alternativ sprechen Sie mich vor oder nach den Vorlesungen an. Die Sprechstunde fällt aus am: 02.09., 30.09., 14.10.2026

http://www.m-forkel.de/

Support for Undergraduate Students, doctoral students, and Postdocs

Profile and Research Interests

Matthias Forkel studied geography and geoinformatics with a focus on remote sensing and earned his Ph.D. at the intersection of global biogeochemistry and remote sensing. He considers himself an interdisciplinary environmental scientist specializing in remote sensing. Since 2019, he has held the Chair of Environmental Remote Sensing at TU Dresden. His core research areas focus on the development of methods and the analysis of optical and microwave satellite observations for monitoring, understanding, quantifying, and modeling changes in terrestrial ecosystems and landscapes—particularly interactions between the atmosphere, vegetation, the water and carbon cycles, and wildfires, as well as the associated feedbacks within the Earth system. In doing so, he has a strong interest in combining globally oriented Earth system basic research with the practical requirements of regional climate change adaptation (with a focus on Central Europe).

Matthias Forkel’s research focuses on understanding the dynamics of terrestrial ecosystems, disturbance regimes, and climate sensitivities through the integration of Earth observation, data analysis, and data-driven process modeling. He has made significant contributions to conceptual and methodological developments in the areas of large-scale vegetation phenology, biosphere-atmosphere feedbacks, interactions between fire and vegetation, and climate-driven changes in ecosystems by combining multisensor satellite data with process-based and statistical modeling approaches (e.g., Carvalhais et al. 2014; Forkel et al. 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019c, 2025; Buermann et al. 2018; Li et al. 2022, 2024).

A central focus of Forkel’s research is the development and application of remote sensing for wildfire research and management, including the quantification of global fire dynamics and the identification of climatic, vegetative, and anthropogenic influences on wildfire activity (Forkel et al. 2012; Forkel et al. 2017, 2019a, 2019b, 2025). His research focuses on satellite-based indicators of fire loads and fuel moisture, fire behavior, and fire severity worldwide and in temperate forests (Beetz et al. 2024, Forkel et al. 2023, Kranz et al. 2025). This line of research culminates in the S4F approach described in Forkel et al. (2025), which integrates a wide variety of satellite data sets to quantify how vegetation, fuels, and moisture influence emissions from wildfires. More recently, it has contributed to wildfire risk assessments that integrate biophysical and socioeconomic vulnerability dimensions to develop regional climate adaptation strategies (Avouris et al. 2025; Almeida et al. 2024).

A second major core research area involves the use of microwave remote sensing to characterize vegetation structure, biomass, and water status. This work aims to link plant physiological states, forest structure, and fire-relevant fuel moisture processes by combining passive and active microwave observations with modeling and field data. Forkel’s studies demonstrate the feasibility of determining global leaf moisture content using passive microwave signals (Forkel et al. 2023) and combine microwave remote sensing with lidar to quantify changes in the vertical structure of forests (Liu et al. 2024a, 2024b, 2025). Earlier contributions on large-scale passive microwave datasets for vegetation optical depth (VOD) and derived products (Moesinger et al. 2020; Teubner et al. 2018, 2019; Wild et al. 2022) provide fundamental methodological components that support this line of research.

Curriculum Vitae

Professional Experience

• Since 09/2025 | TU Dresden, Dresden | Professor of Environmental Remote Sensing
• 09/2019 – 08/2025 | TU Dresden, Dresden | Assistant Professor of Environmental Remote Sensing; additionally, since 09/2023, Extraordinary Professor, Faculty of Environmental Sciences
• 01/2016 – 08/2019 | Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien), Vienna, Austria | Postdoctoral Fellow/University Assistant in the Department of Geodesy and Geoinformation, Research Group for Climate and Environmental Remote Sensing
• 01/2015 - 12/2015 | Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena | Postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Biogeochemical Integration
• 01/2011 - 12/2014 | Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena | doctoral student in the Department of Biogeochemical Integration
• 2009–2010 | Friedrich Schiller University, Jena | Research Assistant at the Chair of Remote Sensing

Education

• 2015 | Ph.D. (Dr. rer. nat.) | Friedrich Schiller University, Jena | Dissertation: Controls on Global Greening, Phenology, and the Enhanced Seasonal_CO2 Amplitude – Integrating Decadal Satellite Observations and Global Ecosystem Models
• 2008–2010 | M.Sc. | Friedrich Schiller University, Jena | Master of Science in Geoinformatics
• 2005–2008 | B.Sc. | Friedrich Schiller University, Jena | Bachelor of Science in Geography

Memberships and Academic Roles

• Member of the German Weather Service’s National Expert Team on Meteorological Satellite Requirements 2040+
• Academic Coordinator of the Bachelor’s degree program in Environmental Informatics, TU Dresden
• Academic Coordinator of the ERASMUS+ program in the Department of Geosciences/Faculty of Environmental Sciences, TU Dresden ERASMUS website
• Member of the Doctoral Committee of the Faculty of Environmental Sciences, TU Dresden
• Vice Chair of the Cross-Border Scientific Advisory Board of the Saxon Switzerland National Park (Germany) and Bohemian Switzerland National Park (Czech Republic)
• Member of the German Society for Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing, and Geoinformation (DGPF)

Third-Party Funded Projects (at TUD)

• 01/2026 - 12/2029 | ROBUST (Eva Mayr-Stihl Foundation): Forests in Transition: The Future of the European Beech Under Drought Stress; Subproject: Assessment of tree canopy vitality, transpiration, and canopy water status, as well as extrapolation from the individual tree to the stand and landscape scales using remote sensing data (Role: Co-researcher, in collaboration with the Chair of Geosensor Systems)

• 10/2025 – 08/2027 | EO4Nature Soil Moisture Service ( LUP/DLR): Development of a monitoring service for recording and modeling soil moisture (Role: Co-researcher)

• 10/2025 – 09/2028 | THRAC3E ( ESA): High-resolution terrestrial assessment of the carbon cycle and its coordination in Europe (Role: Co-researcher)

• 10/2025 – 09/2028 | DE.CalVal ( DLR): Coordinated German contribution to the

  BIOMASS Cal/Val activities (Role: Co-researcher)

• June 2024 – May 2027 | Wildfire CE ( Interreg Central Europe): Enabling cross-border assessment, communication, and management of wildfire risks in Central Europe (Role: Technical Manager and Scientific Director)

• 07/2023 – 06/2025 | 3C Copernicus Cross Compliance (DLR): Monitoring of cross-compliance obligations in agricultural subsidies (Role: Co-researcher)

• 08/2021 - 12/2026 | Sense4Fire ( ESA) (link) Sentinel-based products on fuels, fires, and emissions to address the changing role of wildfires in the global carbon cycle (Role: Project Leader)

• 2022–2024 | PhenoFeedBacks (DFG): Biophysical effects and feedbacks of phenological changes in plants (Role: Project Leader)

• 04/2022–02/2023 | NFDI4Earth MDI (DFG): NFDI pilot project for the seamless integration of Earth system model data

• 01/2022 – 12/2024 | Recovery (DFG): Recent Changes in the Carbon Cycle of Vegetation in the North (Role: Co-investigator)

• 04/2021 – 03/2025 | FirEUrisk (EU H2020) (link): Development of a holistic, risk-aware strategy for European wildfire management (Role: Co-investigator)

• 04/2021 – 05/2022 | Corona (LfULG): Mapping land cover in Saxony, 1964–1984 (Role: Principal Investigator)

Awards and Scholarships

• 2018 | Best Paper Award from the Faculty of Mathematics and Geoinformation at TU Wien | Related publication: Forkel et al. 2017 GMD
• 2016–2018 | Living Planet Fellowship from the European Space Agency (ESA)
• 2016 | Beutenberg Campus Science Award, Jena | Best Dissertation in Life Sciences and Physics 2015

Publications

Matthias’s publications can also be found here: ORCID, Google Scholar, Scopus, Web of Science, ResearchGate

Key Publications

Number of citations according to Google Scholar (June 2, 2026).

Forkel, M., Wessollek, C., Huijnen, V., Andela, N., de Laat, A., Kinalczyk, D., Marrs, C., van Wees, D., Bastos, A., Ciais, P., Fawcett, D., Kaiser, J.W., Klauberg, C., Kutchartt, E., Leite, R., Li, W., Silva, C., Sitch, S., Goncalves De Souza, J., Zaehle, S., and Plummer, S. (2025).
Burning of woody debris dominates fire emissions in the Amazon and Cerrado.
Nature Geoscience, 18, 140–147, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-024-01637-5 Citations: 10

Forkel, M., Schmidt, L., Zotta, R.-M., Dorigo, W., and Yebra, M. (2023).
Estimating leaf moisture content on a global scale from passive microwave satellite observations of vegetation optical depth
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 27, 39–68, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-39-2023 Citations: 64

Forkel, M., Andela, N., Harrison, S.P., Lasslop, G., van Marle, M., Chuvieco, E., Dorigo, W., Forrest, M., Hantson, S., Heil, A., Li, F., Melton, J., Sitch, S., Yue, C., Arneth, A. (2019).
Emergent relationships with respect to burned area in global satellite observations and fire-enabled vegetation models.
Biogeosciences 16, 57–76. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-57-2019 Citations: 172

Forkel, M., Carvalhais, N., Rödenbeck, C., Keeling, R., Heimann, M., Thonicke, K., Zaehle, S., Reichstein, M. (2016).
Enhanced seasonal CO₂ exchange caused by amplified plant productivity in northern ecosystems.
Science, doi:10.1126/science.aac4971. Citations: 534

Forkel, M., Carvalhais, N., Verbesselt, J., Mahecha, M. D., Neigh, C. S., Reichstein, M. (2013).
Trend change detection in NDVI time series: Effects of interannual variability and methodology.
Remote Sensing, 5(5), 2113–2144. doi:10.3390/rs5052113. Citations: 670

All Publications

Publications are listed chronologically.

Preprints or under public review

Hau, O., Forkel, M., Buermann, W., Kranz, J., Migliavacca, M., Weber, U., Winkler, A.J. (2026).
Phenology and Surface Energy Balance Changes Across Northern Lands.
EGUsphere 1–24. https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-910

Winkler, A.J., Kranz, J., Graf, A., Caporaso, L., Duveiller, G., Fan, N., Gharun, M., Green, J.K., Hammerle, A., Harrison, S.P., Hau, O., Javadian, M., Li, X., Liu, G., Mauder, M., Migliavacca, M., Miralles, D.G., Rachti, D.H., Panwar, A., Reichstein, M., Reimers, C., Ribeiro, A.F.S., Richardson, A.D., Wohlfahrt, G., Yerba, M., Zhao, L., Forkel, M. (2026).
The Phenology-Climate Feedback Loop: Current Understanding and Future Directions.
ESS Open Archive. https://doi.org/10.22541/essoar.177092640.00260655/v1

de Laat, A., Huijnen, V., Andela, N., and Forkel, M. (2024).
Assessment of satellite observation-based wildfire emissions inventories using TROPOMI data and IFS-COMPO model simulations
EGUsphere, 1–81, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-732

2026

(73) Avouris, E., Marrs, C., Beetz, K., Kudláčková, L., Kranz, J., Poděbradská, M., Trnka, M., Forkel, M. (2026).
Exposure of settlements to wildfires in a transboundary wildland–urban interface region in Central Europe.
Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences 26, 4013–4044. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-26-4013-2026

(72) Wang, S., Yang, H., Koirala, S., Santoro, M., Candotti, A., Weber, U., De, R., Robin, C., Cremer, F., Forkel, M., Reichstein, M., Carvalhais, N. (2026).
A global dataset of forest disturbance regimes derived from satellite biomass observations
Earth System Science Data 18, 5895–5913. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-5895-2026

(71) Fang, Z., Forkel, M., Fan, N., Thonicke, K., Wang, J. A., Friedl, M. A., Buermann, W. (2026).
Consistent Tree Cover Dynamics Across Northern Lands During the Last Decades – A Multi-Dataset Assessment
Environmental Research Communications, https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/ae6d8c.

(70) de Laat, A.T.J., Andela, N., Forkel, M., Huijnen, V., Kinalczyk, D., van Wees, D. (2026).
Sentinel-5p Reveals Unexplained Large Wildfire Carbon Emissions in the Amazon in 2024
Geophysical Research Letters 53, e2025GL115123. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GL115123

(69) Moudrý, V., Remelgado, R., Forkel, M., Torresani, M., Laurin, G.V., Šárovcová, E., Garcia Millan, V.E., Fischer, F.J., Jucker, T., Gallay, M., Kacic, P., Hakkenberg, C.R., Kokalj, Ž., Stereńczak, K., Erfanifard, Y., Rocchini, D., Prošek, J., Roilo, S., Gdulová, K., Cord, A.F., Perrone, M., Molina-Valero, J.A., Šmída, J., Surový, P., Melichová, Z., Malavasi, M., Urban, R., Štroner, M., Seidel, D., Szabó, S., Bertalan, L., Eltner, A., Cazzolla Gatti, R., Kaňuk, J., Barták, V., Franke, D., Brede, B., Song, Q., Urbazaev, M., Kissling, W.D. (2026).
Spaceborne Canopy Height Products Should Be Complemented With Airborne Laser Scanning Data: Toward a European Canopy Height Model
Earth and Space Science 13, e2025EA004544. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025EA004544

2025

(68) Pyarali, K., Zhang, L., Forkel, M. (2025).
Assessment of Selected Climate Indicators Across the Elbe River Basin to Analyze Changes in Climate Extremes and Their Effects
Earth Systems and Environment, https://doi.org/10.1007/s41748-025-00855-0.

(67) Liu, X., Moudrý, V., Schuldt, B., and Forkel, M. (2025).
GEDI reveals a decline in overstorey and an increase in understorey canopy cover in protected forests in Central Europe since 2019
Forest Ecology and Management, 597, 123155, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2025.123155.

(66) Kranz, J., Bauer, K., Pampanoni, V., Zhao, L., Marrs, C., Mauder, M., Poděbradská, M., van der Maaten-Theunissen, M., Yebra, M., and Forkel, M. (2025).
Assessing predictors for fuel moisture content in Central European forests.
Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 371, 110590, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2025.110590

(65) Lee, H., Jung, M., Carvalhais, N., Reichstein, M., Forkel, M., Bloom, A. A., Pacheco-Labrador, J., and Koirala, S. (2025).
Spatial Attribution of Temporal Variability in Global Land-Atmosphere CO₂ Exchange Using a Model-Data Integration Framework.
Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 17, e2024MS004479, https://doi.org/10.1029/2024MS004479

(64) Forkel, M., Wessollek, C., Huijnen, V., Andela, N., de Laat, A., Kinalczyk, D., Marrs, C., van Wees, D., Bastos, A., Ciais, P., Fawcett, D., Kaiser, J.W., Klauberg, C., Kutchartt, E., Leite, R., Li, W., Silva, C., Sitch, S., Goncalves De Souza, J., Zaehle, S., and Plummer, S. (2025).
Burning of woody debris dominates fire emissions in the Amazon and Cerrado.
Nature Geoscience, 18, 140–147, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-024-01637-5

(63) Drechsel, J., and Forkel, M. (2025).
Remote sensing forest health assessment—a comprehensive literature review at the European level.
Central European Journal of Forest Research, 71, https://doi.org/10.2478/forj-2024-0022

2024

(62) Al-Qubati, A., Zhang, L., and Forkel, M. (2024).
Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture Under Climate Change: A Review of Carbon Emissions and Sequestration
Sustainable Cities and Society, 115, 105830, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2024.105830

(61) Liu, X., Forkel, M., and Kranz, J. (2024).
Investigating the Association of Seasonal Dynamics in GEDI Canopy Cover Profiles and Sentinel-1 Backscatter in Temperate Forests
IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, 21, 1–5, https://doi.org/10.1109/LGRS.2024.3443525

(60) Almeida, M., Soviev, M., San-Miguel, J., Durrant, T., Oom, D., Branco, A., Ferrari, D., Boca, R., Maianti, P., De, R. D., Suarez-Moreno, M., Roglia, E., Scionti, N., Broglia, M., Alves, D., Matos, C., Ribeiro, L. M., Viegas, D. X., Ribeiro, C., Rodrigues, T., Chuvieco, E., Oliva, P., Garcia, M., Velea, R., Laterza, R., De, L. M., Lorenzoni, P., Arca, B., Salis, M., Bacciu, V., Del, G. L., Pelizzaro, G., Duce, P., Marrs, C., Forkel, M., Beetz, K., Kosczor, E., Podebradska, M., Politi, N., Sfetsos, A., Vlachogiannis, D., Eftychidis, G., Stavrakoudis, D., Varela, V., Gitas, I. Z., Sjostrom, J., Petrila, M., Lorent, A., Drobinkova, N., Vasilev, V., Tsvetkova, N., Yanko, B., Gospodinov, I., Zibtsev, S., Goldammer, J., Myroniuk, V., Sydorenko, S., Soshenskyi, O., Bogomolov, V., and Borsuk, O. (2024)
Report on the Large Wildfires of 2022 in Europe
Publications Office of the European Union, JRC138859, https://dx.doi.org/10.2760/19760

(59) Li, W., Duveiller, G., Wieneke, S., Forkel, M., Gentine, P., Reichstein, M., Niu, S., Migliavacca, M., and Orth, R. (2024).
Regulation of the Global Carbon and Water Cycles through Vegetation Structural and Physiological Dynamics
Environmental Research Letters, 19, 073008, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad5858

(58) Wang, S., Yang, H., Koirala, S., Forkel, M., Reichstein, M., and Carvalhais, N. (2024).
Understanding Disturbance Regimes From Patterns in Modeled Forest Biomass
Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 16, e2023MS004099, https://doi.org/10.1029/2023MS004099

(57) Beetz, K., Marrs, C., Busse, A., Poděbradská, M., Kinalczyk, D., Kranz, J., and Forkel, M. (2024).
Effects of bark beetle disturbance and fuel types on fire radiative power and burn severity in the Bohemian-Saxon Switzerland
Forestry: An International Journal of Forest Research, cpae024, https://doi.org/10.1093/forestry/cpae024

(56) Liu, X., Neigh, C. S. R., Pardini, M., and Forkel, M. (2024).
Estimating forest height and above-ground biomass in tropical forests using P-band TomoSAR and GEDI observations
International Journal of Remote Sensing, 9, 45, 3129–3148, https://doi.org/10.1080/01431161.2024.2343134

2023

(55) Forkel, M. (2023).
Global trends and influencing factors of wildfires under climate change. The contribution of remote sensing to fire geography and wildfire risk assessment
Geographische Rundschau 11-2023, 6–9.

(54) Kugler, L., Marrs, C., Kosczor, E., and Forkel, M. (2023).
Land Cover in Saxony, 1961–1979 (Part 1). Documentation of Changes in Land Cover in Saxony, 1961–1979: Analysis Based on Historical CORONA Spy Satellite Images and Deep Neural Networks
LfULG Publication Series, 6/2023, 72, https://publikationen.sachsen.de/bdb/artikel/42436

(53) Panwar, A., Migliavacca, M., Nelson, J. A., Cortés, J., Bastos, A., Forkel, M., and Winkler, A. J. (2023).
Methodological Challenges and New Perspectives on Shifting Vegetation Phenology in Eddy Covariance Data
Scientific Reports, 13, 13885, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-41048-x

(52) Li, W., Pacheco-Labrador, J., Migliavacca, M., Miralles, D., Hoek van Dijke, A., Reichstein, M., Forkel, M., Zhang, W., Frankenberg, C., Panwar, A., Zhang, Q., Weber, U., Gentine, P., and Orth, R. (2023).
Widespread and complex drought effects on vegetation physiology inferred from space
Nature Communications, 14, 4640, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-40226-9

(51) Reiter, D., Meinel, G., and Forkel, M. (2023).
Evaluation of Actual Land Use in the ATKIS Basic DLM Using Digital Orthophotos and Deep Learning
ZfV - Journal of Geodesy, Geoinformation, and Land Management, https://doi.org/10.12902/zfv-0422-2023

(50) Stolz, J., Forkel, M., van der Maaten, E., Martin, J., and van der Maaten-Theunissen, M. (2023).
Through Eagle Eyes—The Potential of Satellite-Derived LAI Time Series to Estimate Masting Events and Tree-Ring Width of European Beech
Regional Environmental Change, 23, 74, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-023-02068-5

(49) Mukunga, T., Forkel, M., Forrest, M., Zotta, R.-M., Pande, N., Schlaffer, S., and Dorigo, W. (2023).
Effect of Socioeconomic Variables on Predicting Global Fire Ignition Occurrence
Fire, 6, 197, https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6050197

(48) Lee, H., Jung, M., Carvalhais, N., Trautmann, T., Kraft, B., Reichstein, M., Forkel, M., and Koirala, S. (2023).
Diagnosing Modeling Errors in Global Terrestrial Water Storage Interannual Variability
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 27, 1531–1563, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-1531-2023

(47) Schmidt, L., Forkel, M., Zotta, R.-M., Scherrer, S., Dorigo, W. A., Kuhn-Régnier, A., van der Schalie, R., and Yebra, M. (2023).
Assessing the sensitivity of multi-frequency passive microwave vegetation optical depth to vegetation properties
Biogeosciences 20, 1027–1046, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-1027-2023

(46) Forkel, M., Schmidt, L., Zotta, R.-M., Dorigo, W., and Yebra, M. (2023).
Estimating leaf moisture content at the global scale from passive microwave satellite observations of vegetation optical depth
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 27, 39–68, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-39-2023

2022

(45) Li, W., Migliavacca, M., Forkel, M., Denissen, J. M. C., Reichstein, M., Yang, H., Duveiller, G., Weber, U., and Orth, R. (2022).
Widespread increasing vegetation sensitivity to soil moisture.
Nature Communications, 13, 3959, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-31667-9

(44) Jones, M. W., Abatzoglou, J. T., Veraverbeke, S., Andela, N., Lasslop, G., Forkel, M., Smith, A. J. P., Burton, C., Betts, R. A., van der Werf, G. R., Sitch, S., Canadell, J. G., Santín, C., Kolden, C., Doerr, S. H., and Le Quéré, C. (2022).
Global and regional trends and drivers of fire under climate change.
Reviews of Geophysics, 60, e2020RG000726, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020RG000726

(43) Kosczor, E., Forkel, M., Hernández, J., Kinalczyk, D., Pirotti, F., and Kutchartt, E. (2022).
Assessing land surface phenology in Araucaria-Nothofagus forests in Chile using Landsat 8/Sentinel-2 time series.
International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 112, 102862, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2022.102862

(42) Wild, B., Teubner, I., Moesinger, L., Zotta, R.-M., Forkel, M., van der Schalie, R., Sitch, S., and Dorigo, W. (2022).
VODCA2GPP – a new, global, long-term (1988–2020) gross primary production dataset from microwave remote sensing.
Earth System Science Data, 14, 1063–1085, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1063-2022

2021

(41) Zhang, W., Wei, F., Horion, S., Fensholt, R., Forkel, M., and Brandt, M. (2021).
Global quantification of the bidirectional relationship between soil moisture and vegetation productivity.
Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 108735, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2021.108735

(40) Harrison, S. P., Prentice, I. C., Bloomfield, K. J., Dong, N., Forkel, M., Forrest, M., Ningthoujam, R. K., Pellegrini, A., Shen, Y., Baudena, M., Cardoso, A. W., Huss, J. C., Joshi, J., Oliveras, I., Pausas, J. G., and Simpson, K. J. (2021).
Understanding and modeling wildfire regimes: an ecological perspective.
Environmental Research Letters, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac39be

(39) Migliavacca, M., Musavi, T., Mahecha, M. D., Nelson, J. A., Knauer, J., Baldocchi, D. D., Perez-Priego, O., Christiansen, R., Peters, J., Anderson, K., Bahn, M., Black, T. A., Blanken, P. D., Bonal, D., Buchmann, N., Caldararu, S., Carrara, A., Carvalhais, N., Cescatti, A., Chen, J., Cleverly, J., Cremonese, E., Desai, A. R., El-Madany, T. S., Farella, M. M., Fernández-Martínez, M., Filippa, G., Forkel, M., Galvagno, M., Gomarasca, U., Gough, C. M., Göckede, M., Ibrom, A., Ikawa, H., Janssens, I. A., Jung, M., Kattge, J., Keenan, T. F., Knohl, A., Kobayashi, H., Kraemer, G., Law, B. E., Liddell, M. J., Ma, X., Mammarella, I., Martini, D., Macfarlane, C., Matteucci, G., Montagnani, L., Pabon-Moreno, D. E., Panigada, C., Papale, D., Pendall, E., Penuelas, J., Phillips, R. P., Reich, P. B., Rossini, M., Rotenberg, E., Scott, R. L., Stahl, C., Weber, U., Wohlfahrt, G., Wolf, S., Wright, I. J., Yakir, D., Zaehle, S., and Reichstein, M. (2021).
The three major axes of terrestrial ecosystem function.
Nature, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03939-9

(38) Drüke, M., von Bloh, W., Petri, S., Sakschewski, B., Schaphoff, S., Forkel, M., Huiskamp, W., Feulner, G., and Thonicke, K. (2021).
CM2Mc-LPJmL v1.0: biophysical coupling of a process-based dynamic vegetation model with managed land to a general circulation model.
Geoscientific Model Development, 14, 4117–4141, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-4117-2021.

(37) Kuhn-Régnier, A., Voulgarakis, A., Nowack, P., Forkel, M., Prentice, I. C., and Harrison, S. P. (2021).
The importance of antecedent vegetation and drought conditions as global drivers of burnt area.
Biogeosciences 18, 3861–3879, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3861-2021

(36) Li, W., Migliavacca, M., Forkel, M., Walther, S., Reichstein, M., and Orth, R. (2021).
Revisiting Global Vegetation Controls Using Multi-Layer Soil Moisture.
Geophysical Research Letters 48, e2021GL092856, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL092856

(35) Teubner, I. E., Forkel, M., Wild, B., Mösinger, L., and Dorigo, W. A. (2021).
Impact of temperature and water availability on microwave-derived gross primary production.
Biogeosciences 18, 3285–3308. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3285-2021

(34) Chuvieco, E., Pettinari, M. L., Koutsias, N., Forkel, M., Hantson, S., and Turco, M. (2021).
Human and climate drivers of global biomass burning variability.
Science of The Total Environment, 146361, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146361

2020

(33) Crocetti, L., Forkel, M., Fischer, M., Jurečka, F., Grlj, A., Salentinig, A., Trnka, M., Anderson, M., Ng, W.-T., Kokalj, Ž., Bucur, A., and Dorigo, W. (2020).
Earth Observation for Agricultural Drought Monitoring in the Pannonian Basin (Southeastern Europe): Current State and Future Directions
Regional Environmental Change, 20(4), 123. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-020-01710-w

(32) Pfeil, I., Wagner, W., Forkel, M., Dorigo, W., Vreugdenhil, M. (2020).
Does ASCAT detect spring reactivation in temperate deciduous broadleaf forests?
Remote Sensing of Environment 250, 112042. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2020.112042

(31) Lasslop, G., Hantson, S., Harrison, S.P., Bachelet, D., Burton, C., Forkel, M., Forrest, M., Li, F., Melton, J.R., Yue, C., Archibald, S., Scheiter, S., Arneth, A., Hickler, T., Sitch, S. (2020).
Global Ecosystems and Fire: Multi-Model Assessment of Fire-Induced Reductions in Tree Cover and Carbon Storage.
Global Change Biology https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15160

(30) Moesinger, L., Dorigo, W., Jeu, R. de, Schalie, R. van der, Scanlon, T., Teubner, I., Forkel, M. (2020).
The global long-term microwave Vegetation Optical Depth Climate Archive (VODCA).
Earth System Science Data 12, 177–196. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-177-2020

2019

(29) Forkel, M., Drüke, M., Thurner, M., Dorigo, W., Schaphoff, S., Thonicke, K., Bloh, W. von, Carvalhais, N. (2019).
Constraining modeled global vegetation dynamics and carbon turnover using multiple satellite observations.
Scientific Reports 9, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-55187-7

(28) Drüke, M., Forkel, M., von Bloh, W., Sakschewski, B., Cardoso, M., Bustamante, M., Kurths, J., Thonicke, K. (2019).
Improving the LPJmL4-SPITFIRE vegetation-fire model for South America using satellite data.
Geoscientific Model Development 12, 5029–5054. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-5029-2019

(27) Zappa, L., Forkel, M., Xaver, A., Dorigo, W. (2019).
Deriving Field-Scale Soil Moisture from Satellite Observations and Ground Measurements in a Hilly Agricultural Region.
Remote Sensing 11, 2596. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11222596

(26) Forkel, M., Dorigo, W.A., Lasslop, G., Chuvieco, E., Hantson, S., Heil, A., Teubner, I., Thonicke, K., Harrison, S.P. (2019).
Recent global and regional trends in burned area and their compensating environmental controls.
Environmental Research Communications. https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/ab25d2

(25) Teubner, I.E., Forkel, M., Camps-Valls, G., Jung, M., Miralles, D.G., Tramontana, G., van der Schalie, R., Vreugdenhil, M., Mösinger, L., Dorigo, W.A. (2019).
A carbon sink-driven approach to estimate gross primary production from microwave satellite observations.
Remote Sensing of Environment 229, 100–113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2019.04.022

(24) Forkel, M., Dorigo, W., Carvalhais, N., Thonicke, K. (2019).
Remote Sensing for Global Climate-Vegetation Models.
Publications of the German Society for Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing, and Geoinformation 28, 203–213.

(23) Forkel, M., Andela, N., Harrison, S.P., Lasslop, G., Marle, M. van, Chuvieco, E., Dorigo, W., Forrest, M., Hantson, S., Heil, A., Li, F., Melton, J., Sitch, S., Yue, C., Arneth, A. (2019).
Emergent relationships with respect to burned area in global satellite observations and fire-enabled vegetation models.
Biogeosciences 16, 57–76. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-57-2019

(22) Huang, J., Forkelová, L., Unsicker, S.B., Forkel, M., Griffith, D.W.T., Trumbore, S., Hartmann, H. (2019).
Isotope labeling reveals the contribution of newly fixed carbon to carbon storage and monoterpene production under water deficit and carbon limitation.
Environmental and Experimental Botany. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envexpbot.2019.03.010

2018

(21) Buermann, W., Forkel, M., O’Sullivan, M., Sitch, S., Friedlingstein, P., Haverd, V., Jain, A.K., Kato, E., Kautz, M., Lienert, S., Lombardozzi, D., Nabel, J.E.M.S., Tian, H., Wiltshire, A.J., Zhu, D., Smith, W.K., Richardson, A.D. (2018).
Widespread seasonal compensation effects of spring warming on northern plant productivity.
Nature 562, 110–114. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0555-7

(20) Schaphoff, S., Forkel, M., Müller, C., Knauer, J., von Bloh, W., Gerten, D., Jägermeyr, J., Lucht, W., Rammig, A., Thonicke, K., and Waha, K. (2018b).
LPJmL4 – a dynamic global vegetation model with managed land – Part 2: Model evaluation.
Geoscientific Model Development, 11(4), 1377–1403, doi:10.5194/gmd-11-1377-2018.

(19) Schaphoff, S., von Bloh, W., Rammig, A., Thonicke, K., Biemans, H., Forkel, M., Gerten, D., Heinke, J., Jägermeyr, J., Knauer, J., Langerwisch, F., Lucht, W., Müller, C., Rolinski, S., and Waha, K. (2018a).
LPJmL4 – a dynamic global vegetation model with managed land – Part 1: Model description.
Geoscientific Model Development, 11(4), 1343–1375, doi:10.5194/gmd-11-1343-2018.

(18) Teubner, I.E., Forkel, M., Jung, M., Liu, Y.Y., Miralles, D.G., Parinussa, R., van der Schalie, R., Vreugdenhil, M., Schwalm, C.R., Tramontana, G., Camps-Valls, G., Dorigo, W.A. (2018).
Assessing the relationship between microwave vegetation optical depth and gross primary production.
International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation 65, 79–91. doi:10.1016/j.jag.2017.10.006

2017

(17) Forkel, M., Dorigo, W., Lasslop, G., Teubner, I., Chuvieco, E., Thonicke, K. (2017).
A data-driven approach to identify controls on global fire activity from satellite and climate observations (SOFIA V1).
Geoscientific Model Development 10, 4443–4476. doi:10.5194/gmd-10-4443-2017
The publication received the 2017 Best Paper Award from the Faculty of Mathematics and Geoinformation at TU Wien.

(16) Dorigo, W., Wagner, W., Albergel, C., Albrecht, F., Balsamo, G., Brocca, L., Chung, D., Ertl, M., Forkel, M., Gruber, A., Haas, E., Hamer, P.D., Hirschi, M., Ikonen, J., de Jeu, R., Kidd, R., Lahoz, W., Liu, Y.Y., Miralles, D., Mistelbauer, T., Nicolai-Shaw, N., Parinussa, R., Pratola, C., Reimer, C., van der Schalie, R., Seneviratne, S.I., Smolander, T., Lecomte, P. (2017).
ESA CCI Soil Moisture for Improved Earth System Understanding: State-of-the-Art and Future Directions.
Remote Sensing of Environment, 203, 185–215. doi:10.1016/j.rse.2017.07.001

(15) Sippel, S., Forkel, M., Rammig, A., Thonicke, K., Flach, M., Heimann, M., Otto, F. E. L., Reichstein, M., and Mahecha, M. D. (2017).
Contrasting and interacting changes in simulated spring and summer carbon cycle extremes in European ecosystems.
Environmental Research Letters, 12, 7, 075006. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aa7398.

(14) Knauer, J., Zaehle, S., Reichstein, M., Medlyn, B. E., Forkel, M., Hagemann, S., Werner, C. (2017).
The response of ecosystem water-use efficiency to rising atmospheric CO₂ concentrations: sensitivity and large-scale biogeochemical implications.
New Phytologist, 213, 1654–1666. doi:10.1111/nph.14288.

2016

(13) Thurner, M., Beer, C., Carvalhais, N., Forkel, M., Santoro, M., Tum, M., Schmullius, C. (2016).
Large-scale variation in boreal and temperate forest carbon turnover rates is related to climate.
Geophysical Research Letters, doi:10.1002/2016GL068794.

(12) Sippel, S., Otto, F. E. L., Forkel, M., Allen, M. R., Guillod, B. P., Heimann, M., Reichstein, M., Seneviratne, S. I., Thonicke, K., Mahecha, M. D. (2016).
A novel bias correction methodology for climate impact simulations.
Earth System Dynamics, 7, 71–88. doi:10.5194/esd-7-71-2016.

(11) Filippa, G., Cremonese, E., Migliavacca, M., Galvagno, M., Forkel, M., Wingate, L., Tomelleri, E., Morra di Cella, U., Richardson, A.D. (2016).
Phenopix: An R package for image-based vegetation phenology.
Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 220, 141–150. doi:10.1016/j.agrformet.2016.01.006

(10) Forkel, M., Carvalhais, N., Rödenbeck, C., Keeling, R., Heimann, M., Thonicke, K., Zaehle, S., Reichstein, M. (2016).
Enhanced seasonal CO₂ exchange caused by amplified plant productivity in northern ecosystems.
Science, doi:10.1126/science.aac4971.

2015

(9) Renner, M., Forkel, M., Brust, K., Schwärzel, K., Volk, M., Bernhofer, C. (2015).
A hydrometeorological method for distinguishing the long-term effects of land use and climate on the water balance.
Forum for Hydrology and Water Management 35.15.

(8) Forkel, M., Migliavacca, M., Thonicke, K., Reichstein, M., Schaphoff, S., Weber, U., Carvalhais, N. (2015).
Codominant water control on global interannual variability and trends in land surface phenology and greenness.
Global Change Biology, 21(9), 3414–3435. doi:10.1111/gcb.12950.

(7) Semenova, O., Lebedeva, L., Volkova, N., Korenev, I., Forkel, M., Eberle, J., Urban, M. (2015).
Detecting the immediate impact of wildfires on runoff in a poorly gauged mountainous permafrost basin.
Hydrological Sciences Journal, 60(7-8), 1225–1241. doi:10.1080/02626667.2014.959960.

2014

(6) Carvalhais, N., Forkel, M., Khomik, M., Bellarby, J., Jung, M., Migliavacca, M., Mu, M., Saatchi, S., Santoro, M., Thurner, M., Weber, U., Ahrens, B., Beer, C., Cescatti, A., Randerson, J. T., Reichstein, M. (2014).
Global covariation of carbon turnover times with climate in terrestrial ecosystems.
*Nature*, 514, 213–217. doi:10.1038/nature13731.

(5) Forkel, M., Carvalhais, N., Schaphoff, S., Bloh, W. v., Migliavacca, M., Thurner, M., Thonicke, K. (2014).
Identifying environmental controls on vegetation greenness phenology through model-data integration.
Biogeosciences, 11(23), 7025–7050. doi:10.5194/bg-11-7025-2014.

(4) Urban, M., Forkel, M., Eberle, J., Hüttich, C., Schmullius, C., Herold, M. (2014).
Pan-Arctic climate and land cover trends derived from multivariate and multiscale analyses (1981–2012).
Remote Sensing, 6(3), 2296–2316. doi:10.3390/rs6032296.

2012–2013

(3) Urban, M., Forkel, M., Schmullius, C., Hese, S., Hüttich, C., Herold, M. (2013).
Identification of land surface temperature and albedo trends in AVHRR Pathfinder data from 1982 to 2005 for northern Siberia.
International Journal of Remote Sensing, 34(12), 4491–4507. doi:10.1080/01431161.2013.779760.

(2) Forkel, M., Carvalhais, N., Verbesselt, J., Mahecha, M. D., Neigh, C. S., Reichstein, M. (2013).
Trend change detection in NDVI time series: Effects of interannual variability and methodology.
Remote Sensing, 5(5), 2113–2144. doi:10.3390/rs5052113.

(1) Forkel, M., Thonicke, K., Beer, C., Cramer, W., Bartalev, S., Schmullius, C. (2012).
Extreme fire events are related to the previous year’s surface moisture conditions in permafrost-underlain larch forests of Siberia.
Environmental Research Letters, 7: 044021. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/7/4/044021.