Biography

Kristin is a senior researcher in remote sensing at the Finnish Environment Institute, Helsinki (Finland). She has studied geoecology at Potsdam University (Germany) and obtained her PhD from the Martin Luther University Halle Wittenberg (Germany) on remote sensing of boreal forest phenology. Before joining the Finnish Environment Institute, she worked at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in Ispra (Italy).

Research

Cryosphere changes due to climate change will influence the biosphere e. g. the vegetation carbon uptake and release. Current knowledge about these interactions is insufficient for assessing the carbon balance accurately and to predict how the carbon cycle will respond to the changing climate. The ESA Living Planet Fellowship project CryoBioLinks investigates the linkages between cryosphere variables and the carbon uptake of vegetation and their changes in boreal forests. The project utilizes satellite observations on snow cover, soil freeze and thaw, vegetation indices and solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence, together with in situ observations, to develop proxies on seasonal dynamics of photosynthesis and gross primary production in boreal forests.