Claudia Kuenzer

Claudia Kuenzer is a Senior Researcher and Head of the 'Land Surface Dynamics' Research Group at the German Earth Observation Center (EOC) of the German Aerospace Center (DLR). She serves as the Overall Scientific Project Coordinator for initiatives such as WISDOM, DELIGHT, and DRAGON-3. Her expertise spans multispectral, thermal, and radar remote sensing, with a focus on environmental monitoring, land surface dynamics, and capacity-building in geosciences and resource management. She has held leadership roles in projects addressing coal fires, forest fires, and integrated watershed management in Asia.

Dr. Kuenzer holds a PhD in Earth Sciences and has conducted research at institutions including the University of Trier (Germany), Western Washington University (USA), and Beijing Normal University (China). Her work integrates remote sensing with GIS to address global challenges like climate change impacts, disaster response, and sustainable resource management. She has coordinated large-scale international collaborations, notably in Southeast Asia and Europe.

Key areas of focus include satellite-based monitoring of vegetation, surface water dynamics, and coastal changes. She has pioneered methodologies for analyzing long-term environmental trends using multi-decadal satellite datasets. Her contributions extend to policy-oriented applications, such as vulnerability assessments and knowledge systems for adaptive management in regions like the Mekong Delta.

Her research outputs include over 150 peer-reviewed articles, focusing on remote sensing applications in forestry, hydrology, and climate science. She leads DLR’s efforts in developing innovative tools for Earth observation data analysis, including deep learning approaches for glacier monitoring and supraglacial lake dynamics. Her team also explores offshore wind energy infrastructure tracking and permafrost erosion monitoring in Arctic regions.