Project presentation with a view

This final presentation of the seminar projects was definitely one of a kind. At the Schneefernerhaus, students of Dr. Christoph Jörges’ course “Deep Learning in der Umweltfernerkundung” (Deep Learning in Environmental Remote Sensing) presented the findings of their semester-long research above the clouds at the Zugspitze.

The UFS Schneefernerhaus is an environmental research station located just below the summit of the Zugspitze (2,650 m altitude) and is the highest research station in Germany. You can only reach it in their own cable car! Here, the students presented their projects in the form of research posters and gained insights into the daily life and work of the international team conducting research, measurements, and experiments at high altitude. Researchers from many different organisations and disciplines come together here!

Dr. Till Rehm gave the students an introduction to the various measuring devices used at the station, such as LIDAR for atmospheric aerosol research, and explained how permafrost is monitored using old tunnel systems at the Zugspitze.

Overview of the students’ research topics:

• Automated glacier detection through U-Net–based segmentation of Landsat data
• Detection of wasteland in the Ötztal Alps based on Sentinel-2 data and Random Forest
• Determination of local vulnerability of alpine vegetation using deep learning and remote sensing
• Prediction of landslides under current conditions and future climate scenarios using deep learning and remote sensing
• Analysis of the influence of climate and altitude data on snow cover in the Ötztal Alps using machine learning for long-term prediction

A huge thank you to the team at the UFS Schneefernerhaus for making this exceptional experience possible for our students.

Learn more about the UFS Schneefernerhaus here: