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I am a Physics Engineer and Associate Professor in Technology at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Umeå, Sweden. I work as a researcher at SLU, and I also work as a senior researcher for the Swedish research institute Skogforsk.
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About me
I am interested in remote sensing and optimizing the use of various sensors to monitor the forest. The main goal of my research is to develop new and better methods for doing so. I work with satellite and airborne images (radar and optical), airborne and terrestrial laser scanning, thermal cameras, and lots reference data from the field, e.g., traditional caliper data, soil moisture data, sap flow data etc. Accurate measurements of forest is important for the understanding of the carbon cycle, since the forest biomass represent a large part of the carbon stored in the forests. Accurate forest information also enhance decision making and better and more sustainable use of the forests as natural resource. My work includes e.g., estimation of tree evapotranspiration functions, forest growth, state, changes, and the development of methods to rapidly identify areas affected by natural damages.
Core idea
Remotely sensed data support systematic measurements of forest at scales not possible by humans. The data obtained from remote sensing contain information (e.g., spectral or height) from an observed point or area, which can be used to estimate and predict properties of other or larger areas. The data primarily consist of raster images or laser point clouds, which are geographic data with coordinates. This enables extraction of values for selected locations which can be used to model some reference data (often field measures from the ground). Model-based and model-assisted inference are commonly used to predict wall-to-wall rasters of the variables of interest. Design-based inference and hybrid inference are other common methods for generating estimates of larger regions.
My work develops theories and explores for example what different sensors can be used for, how the data should be processed, and what happens in different conditions when either the acquisition configuration or the observed objects change. The work often relies on statistical methods to achieve this.
Contact
I am fortunate to be doing much of my work in collaboration with terrific colleagues and students. If you should have any comments about my research, suggestions for future studies, or invitations for talks or public speaking, please do not hesitate to contact me by e-mail henrik[dot]persson[at]slu[dot]se
ORCID: 0000-0002-3403-057X