Miguel Mahecha

Miguel Mahecha is Professor of Environmental Data Science and Remote Sensing at the University of Leipzig, where he serves as Institute Head of the Institute for Earth System Science and Remote Sensing. He is also affiliated with the Remote Sensing Centre for Earth System Research, a collaboration between Leipzig University and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ). Mahecha is a member of the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and serves as Principal Investigator in the Centre for Scalable Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence. Additionally, he is a Fellow of the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems and co-spokesperson for the National Research Data Infrastructure for Earth System Sciences (NFDI4Earth).

• Full Professor for Modelling Approaches in Remote Sensing, University of Leipzig (since 03/2020)
• Research Group Leader: Empirical Inference in the Earth System, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena (12/2012 - 03/2020)
• PostDoc, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena (10/2009 - 11/2012)
• PhD in Environmental Sciences, ETH Zürich (06/2006 - 09/2009)
• Diploma in Geoecology, Bayreuth University (10/2000 - 04/2006)

Mahecha's research focuses on understanding ecosystem responses to climate extremes and human-environment relationships during these events. He investigates macro-ecological dynamics and ecosystem functioning using data-driven methods and high-dimensional Earth observations. A key contribution is his co-development of the Earth System Data Cube concept, which integrates empirical methods with theoretical understanding to analyze complex Earth system interactions. His work spans biogeography, ecosystem functioning, and advanced data science methodologies for environmental monitoring.

His recent publications demonstrate a strong emphasis on analyzing compound climate extremes, particularly heatwaves and droughts, and their impacts on ecosystems. Mahecha has pioneered methods using Earth System Data Cubes to integrate diverse environmental datasets, enabling novel insights into biosphere-atmosphere interactions. His research increasingly incorporates artificial intelligence and machine learning approaches to understand spatiotemporal patterns in ecological systems, with applications in real-time forest monitoring and biodiversity assessment.

• Fellow of the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems
• Co-spokesperson for NFDI4Earth (National Research Data Infrastructure for Earth System Sciences)

Mahecha leads multiple significant research projects including Digital Forest (real-time forest monitoring), NFDI4BioDiversity, and XAIDA (extreme events: AI for Detection and Attribution). His work receives funding from diverse sources including EU, DFG, and Stiftungen Inland. He collaborates extensively with the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and the Centre for Scalable Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence. His research group, Earth System Data Science (ESDS), focuses on developing methods to extract valuable information from long-term environmental observations to understand coupled Earth system dynamics.

At the Remote Sensing Centre for Earth System Research, Mahecha's ESDS group investigates how ecosystem functions respond to climate extremes, societal vulnerability to environmental hazards, and nonlinear interactions in coupled Earth systems. The group leverages citizen science data, remote sensing observations, and advanced computational methods to address pressing environmental questions.