Biography

Zhan Li’s research is currently focused on observing and understanding (1) changes in the structure and functioning of ecosystems, and (2) their impacts on the energy, water, and carbon fluxes in land-water complexes. He specializes in remote sensing of land at a range of spatial scales (plot to global, fine to medium resolution), by multiple sensors (multispectral, lidar, radar) on different platforms (ground, airborne and satellite). He has worked on several projects on remote sensing applications funded by different agencies, such as NASA’s MODIS Science Team and USGS’s Landsat Science Team via working with Dr. Crystal Schaaf, and Canadian Space Agency via working with Dr. Mike Wulder and Dr. Joanne White. Zhan Li received his PhD from Boston University via working with Dr. Alan Strahler.

Interests
  • Ecosystem Ecology
  • Land-Water Complexes
  • Remote Sensing
Education

  • PhD in Geography, 2015

    Boston University, Boston, MA, U.S.A.

  • MSc in Geographic Information Science, 2011

    Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

  • BSc in Geographic Information System, 2008

    Nanjing University, Nanjing, China

Experience

 
 
 
 
 
Project Scientist
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Sciences - UFZ
Jan 2021 – Present Leipzig, Germany
 
 
 
 
 
Guest Scientist
Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences
Jul 2021 – Present Potsdam, Germany
  • Helmholtz-Initiative Climate Adaptation and Mitigation, funded by Helmholtz Association, Germany.
 
 
 
 
 
Postdoctoral Scientist
Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences
Jan 2020 – Jun 2021 Potsdam, Germany
  • Helmholtz-Initiative Climate Adaptation and Mitigation, funded by Helmholtz Association, Germany.
 
 
 
 
 
Postdoctoral Scientist
Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada
May 2018 – Jan 2020 Victoria, BC, Canada
  • Earth Observation to Inform Canada’s Climate Change Agenda, funded by Canadian Space Agency and Natural Resources Canada, Canada.
 
 
 
 
 
Research Fellow
University of Massachusetts Boston
Oct 2015 – Apr 2018 Boston, MA, USA
  • North American Land Surface Albedo and Nearshore Shallow-Bottom Properties from Landsat and MODIS/VIIRS, funded by U.S. Geological Survey, Landsat Science Team, U.S.A.
  • Suomi NPP VIIRS BRDF/Albedo/NBAR Products to Extend the Long Term Consistent MODIS Standard Data Record, funded by NASA, MODIS/VIIRS Science Team, U.S.A.
 
 
 
 
 
Research Assistant
Boston University
Sep 2011 – Aug 2015 Boston, MA, USA
  • Development of a Dual-Wavelength, Ground-Based, Echidna® Lidar (DWEL) for Structural Characterization and Virtual Reconstruction of Forest Canopies, funded by NSF, U.S.A.
 
 
 
 
 
Research Assistant
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Sep 2008 – Jun 2011 Beijing, China
  • Wetland mapping from 1978 to 2008, funded by Chinese Academy of Sciences, China.
  • Spaceborne lidar application to urban environment, funded by Chinese Academy of Sciences, China.
  • Individual-tree structure retrieval by terrestrial lidar, funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Publications

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Zhan Li, Daniel Scheffler, Nicholas C. Coops, Nicholas Leach, Torsten Sachs (2021). Towards analysis ready data of optical CubeSat images: Demonstrating a hierarchical normalization framework at a wetland site. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation.

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Zhan Li, Joanne C. White, Michael A. Wulder, Txomin Hermosilla, Andrew M. Davidson, Alexis J. Comber (2020). Land cover harmonization using Latent Dirichlet Allocation. International Journal of Geographical Information Science.

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Zhan Li, Hao Chen, Joanne C. White, Michael A. Wulder, Txomin Hermosilla (2020). Discriminating treed and non-treed wetlands in boreal ecosystems using time series Sentinel-1 data. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation.

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Peter Brehm Boucher, Steven Hancock, David A Orwig, Laura Duncanson, John Armston, Hao Tang, Keith Krause, Bruce Cook, Ian Paynter, Zhan Li, Arthur Elmes, Crystal Schaaf (2020). Detecting Change in Forest Structure with Simulated GEDI Lidar Waveforms: A Case Study of the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA; Adelges tsugae) Infestation. Remote Sensing.

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Michael A. Wulder, Thomas R. Loveland, David P. Roy, Christopher J. Crawford, Jeffrey G. Masek, Curtis E. Woodcock, Richard G. Allen, Martha C. Anderson, Alan S. Belward, Warren B. Cohen, John Dwyer, Angela Erb, Feng Gao, Patrick Griffiths, Dennis Helder, Txomin Hermosilla, James D. Hipple, Patrick Hostert, M. Joseph Hughes, Justin Huntington, David M. Johnson, Robert Kennedy, Ayse Kilic, Zhan Li, Leo Lymburner, Joel McCorkel, Nima Pahlevan, Theodore A. Scambos, Crystal Schaaf, John R. Schott, Yongwei Sheng, James Storey, Eric Vermote, James Vogelmann, Joanne C. White, Randolph H. Wynne, Zhe Zhu (2019). Current status of Landsat program, science, and applications. Remote Sensing of Environment.

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Popular Topics

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