Remote Sensing Lab

Image acquired by the VENµS satellite, 2018, over the Zin Valley, Negev Desert, Israel

Personnel
FACULTY

Prof. Arnon Karnieli

Head of Laboratory

Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Sede-Boker Campus 84990, ISRAEL
Telephone:+972-8-6596855
Mobile +972-528795925

 

Prof. Arnon Karnieli received his Ph.D. from the University of Arizona, Tucson, in 1988.  Since then, he has been the Head of the Remote Sensing Laboratory, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boker Campus, Israel.  His primary research is focused on processing spaceborne, airborne, and ground spectroscopic data of drylands concerning desertification and climate change processes.  In this regard, his study’s applications cover dryland ecosystems and agriculture, and to a lesser extent, dust/aerosols and coastal water.  He has experience in land-use and land-cover change, spectral, spatial, and temporal analyses.  Prof. Karnieli is the Israeli Principal Investigator of the recreantly launched Vegetation and Environmental New Micro Spacecraft (VENμS) mission.  Until recently, Prof. Karnieli supervised tens of master students, 15 Ph.D. students, and several post-docs.  Prof. Karnieli has published more than 240 papers in peer-reviewed journals.  His H index = 49 (ISI).

 

Prof. Karnieli‘s achievements were recognized on the following sites:

 

 

CURRENT STUDENTS
POST-DOCS
Micha Silver

Post-Doc

MA Cum laude
PhD Dissertation Title

Simulation of flooding in arid regions using a hydro-meteorolgical model (WRF-Hydro)

Prizes
  • Zin (Negev) Fellow (2017)
Dr. Manuel Salvoldi

VENµS Scientific Center Manager

PhD STUDENTS
Neil Manspeizer

PhD Student

PhD Dissertation Title
Geoacheology / Agricultural Heritage
 
Analyzing potential cliff erosivity from ERS SAR satellite imagery (1997)
 
Klil Noy
PhD Student
PhD Dissertation Title

Spatiotemporal analysis of landscape pattern changes using satellite images in sandy environment

Prizes
  • Excellence appreciation for bachelor’s studies (2017)
  • Excellence award for Master’s studies (2019)
  • Zin (Negev) Fellow (2020)
  • Graduate Student Lighting Talk competition in the International Arid Lands Consortium symposium (2021)
  • Award from the Israeli Geographical Society for the best paper of the year (2021)
  • Certificate of Excellence from the Dean of the Kreitman School (2021-2022)
Nathan Levi

PhD Student

PhD Dissertation Title

Using reflectance spectroscopy for detecting and mapping land-use effects on soil quality in dryland

Prizes
  • Zin (Negev) Fellow (2020)
Arti Tiwari
PhD Student
M. Tech
PhD Dissertation Title

Object-Based Image Procedures for Classification and Differentiation Between Structures

Prizes
  • Zin (Negev) Fellow (2020)
MASTER STUDENTS
Asaf Yupiter Vanunu

MA Student

Master Thesis Title
Prizes
  • 2022 – The School of Sustainability and Climate Change Interdisciplinary Scholarship
  • 2022 – KKL Scholarship
  • 2023 – 2nd Moshe Mirilashvili Fellowship
  • 2023 – Dean’s Certificate of Excellence
Shir Fuchs

MA Student

Master Thesis Title
Prizes
  • 2022 – The School of Sustainability and Climate Change Scholarship
  • 2022 – Ministry of Energy scholarship in the fields of ‎energy, earth and sea sciences
  • 2023 – Dean’s Certificate of Excellence
FORMER
POST-DOC
Dr. Timea Ignat

Post-Doc

Post-Doc Research

Linking ecological and plant physiology applications with spectral methodologies

Aviv-Lee Cohen-Zada
Post-Doc Research
Prizes
  • The Pratt Foundation Scholarship
Dr. Shayli Dor-Haim

Post-Doc

Post-Doc Research

The effect of climate change on the structure and function of the critical zone in ‎drylands

Arun P.V.

Indian Institute of Technology – Bombay, India

Post-Doc Research

Machine learning framework for within-season field-level monitoring and crop yield prediction using VENµS time-series data

Prizes
  • The SIDEER Fellowship for an Outstanding Postdoctoral Scholar
Dr. Noa Levi-Ohana

Post-Doc

MA Cum laude
Post-Doc Research

Spatio-temporal analysis of remote sensing data

PhD Dissertation Title (2017)

The effects of climate change and land cover changes on rainfall-runoff relation in coastal watersheds

Prizes
  • Prize for outstanding PhD dissertation on environment and sustainability from Green Campus (2017)
  • Ilan Ramon Scholarship (2013)
  • Rieger Foundation Prize (2013)
  • Water Authority Scholarship (2012)
  • Daniel Falkner Prize for Excellence in Desert Studies (2012)
  • Zin (Negev) Fellow (2012)
Dr. Tarin Paz-Kagan

PhD

PhD Dissertation Title (2015)

Effects of landuse on soil quality and plants productivity for assessing land degradation and ecosystem services in semi-arid regions of Israel

Prizes
  • Postdoctorate scholarship for outstanding women from the Planning & Budgeting Committee (2015)
  • Haim Molcho Foundation scholarship (2012)
  • Ilan Ramon Scholarship (2015)
Dr. Ittai Herrmann

PhD

PhD Dissertation Title (2012)

Exploring remote sensing methods for precision agricultural applications (2012)

Prizes
  • Pratt Foundation Scholarship (2015)
  • Haim Molcho Foundation scholarship (2007, 2009)
Dr. Noa Hillel

Post-Doc

Post-Doc Research

Remote sensing applications for ecological restoration

Dr. Jisung Chang

Post-Doc

Post-Doc Research

Mapping canopy biodiversity along rainfall gradient of Israel, using imaging spectroscopy

Dr. Tamir Caras
PhD
Post-Doc
PhD Dissertation Title (2015)

Marine benthos mapping at the Gulf of Eilat using hyperspectral remote sensing imagery

Prizes
  • EARSeL best paper award (2013)
Dr. Dani Varghese
PhD
Post-Doc
Post-Doc Research

Implementing climatic growth-limiting factors over Europe

Dr. Charles Ichoku
PhD
Post-Doc
Post-Doc Research

Geomatic, automatic extraction of geomorphological features

Dr. Francis Okeke

PhD

Post-Doc
Post-Doc Research

Methods for fuzzy classification and accuracy assessment of historical aerial photographs for vegetation change analyses

PhD STUDENTS
Dr. Tal Rapaport

PhD

PhD Dissertation Title (2017)

Developing physiologically-based multi-spectral tools for the monitoring of wine vine water status

Prizes
  • The Whole Organism Scholarship for Outstanding PhD Students (2015)
  • The Negev (Zin) Scholarship for Outstanding PhD Students (2014)
  • Daniel Falkner Prize for Excellence in Desert Studies (2013)
Dr. Offer Rozenstein

PhD

MA Cum laude
PhD Dissertation Title (2014)

Remote sensing and spectroscopy of biological soil crusts (2014)

Master Thesis Title (2010)

Comparison of combined rs&gis land-use classification methods in the Northern Negev, Israel

Prizes
  • Mukadi Award for outstanding PhD dissertations, Israel Society of Soil Science (2015)
  • Outstanding Student Paper Award, 2015 Joint Assembly AGU-GAC-MAC-CGU, Montreal, Canada (2015)
  • Tim Casgrain Water Resource Research Award for student exchange, McGill University (2014-2015)
  • Israeli Ministry of Science, Technology and Space, International Education Grant (2013)
  • Best presentation award, KAMGI, Israeli Geomorphological Society Conference (2013)
  • Pratt Foundation Scholarship (2012)
  • Jewish National Fund (KKL) Prize for Ecological Studies (Roberto Valubra Fund) (2010)
Dr. Alon Dadon

PhD

MA Cum laude
PhD Dissertation Title (2010)

Examining the potential use of the EO-1 Hyperion hyperspectral data for geological mapping of Wadi Faddan area, western Jordan

Prizes
  • Ilan Ramon Scholarship (2011)
Dr. Michael Sprintsin

PhD

Hyperspectral monitoring of salt sensitivity in tomato grafting

PhD Dissertation Title (2008)

Quantifying spatial and temporal variations of water stress in a drylands forest by remote sensing

Prizes
  • Grant received from the René Karshon Foundation (2006, 2012)
Dr. Agustin Pimstein

PhD

PhD Dissertation Title (2008)

Characterization of canopy spectral responses of wheat and corn to water stress and nitrogen deficiencies under arid conditions

Prizes
  • Laskov Scholarship, Agriculture Research Organization, Israel (2005, 2007)
  • Haim Molcho Foundation scholarship (2003, 2006)
  • The Frederick Siegmund Prize for Excellence in Desert Studies (2003)
Dr. Yevgeny Derimian

PhD

PhD Dissertation Title (2007)

Optical properties, chemical composition and transport features of atmospheric aerosols over the Negev desert

Prizes
  • Minerva Short-Term Research Grant (2002)
  • Rieger Foundation Prize (2003)
  • Outstanding study award, Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research (2007)
Dr. Yunden Bayarjargal

PhD

PhD Dissertation Title (2008)

Assessing desertification processes in Mongolia by using remote sensing technology

Dr. Zhihao Qin

PhD

PhD Dissertation Title (2001)

A study of temperature change on both sides of the Israel-Egypt border

Heike Schmidt

PhD

PhD Dissertation Title (2000)
The relative contribution of different surface features on the spatial and temporal spectral responses in semi-arid environments
MASTER STUDENTS
Julius Bamah

MA Student

Master Thesis Title

Assessing the effects of pollution on vegetation cover using remote sensing in a desert environment

Prizes
  • The BIDR Director’s Prize for Excellence in Desert Studies (2021-2022)
  • Certificate of Excellence for outstanding academic achievements during his M.Sc. studies (2021-2022)
Tarik Medosevic

MA Student

Master Thesis Title

Spatio-temporal analysis of landscape pattern changes in the Northern Negev using satellite imagery

Master Thesis Title (2018)

Hyperspectral monitoring of salt sensitivity in tomato grafting

Prizes
  • Interdisciplinary scholarship (2016/7-2017/8)
Shahar Pincovici

MSc

Master Thesis Title (2017)

Leaf traits changes in sunflower as result of broomrape parasitism

Prizes
  • Interdisciplinary scholarship (2015/6-2016/7)
Alexandra Shtein

MA

MA Cum laude
Master Thesis Title (2015)

Monitoring the effect of climate on forests phenology at four different sites along a climatic gradient in Israel

Prizes
  • Annual Recognition of Excellence, BIDR Dean Prize (2015)
  • Head of the Geography Department price for outstanding study achievement (2014)
Michael Bernstein

MA

Master Thesis Title (2013)

Hyperspectral detection of pest stress in greenhouse crops

Gal Kagan

MA

Master Thesis Title (2014)

Change detection analysis of short-term climate and human induced changes in the northwestern Negev

Johannes Guagnin

MSc

Master Thesis Title

The Negev as a model for adaptation to climate change

Peng Zhang

MSc

Master Thesis Title (2009)

Spaceborne change detection analysis over Mu-Us sand fields China

Ori Isenberg

MA

Master Thesis Title

The dynamic process in the forming and evolution of aeolian mega-ripples in arid areas over time

Zehava Sigal
MSc
 
Dept. of Geography and Environmental Development, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
Master Thesis Title (2009)

Vegetation dynamics resulting from anthropogenic effects and climatic fluctuations across the Israel – Egypt border

Uri Shapira

MSc

Master Thesis Title

Detection of bad weeds in broad leaf crop and cereal crop using remote sensing

Prizes
  • Haim Molcho Foundation scholarship (2007)
Yoav Cohen

MSc

Master Thesis Title

A comparison between vegetation indices for measuring vegetation dynamics resulting from climatic variations (2007)

Rodica Indoitu

MSc

MA Cum laude
Master Thesis Title

Chemical properties of aerosols over Israel (2007)

Uri Gilad

MSc

MA Cum laude
Master Thesis Title

Examining potential sites for vicarious calibration of space multi-spectral imaging sensors in the Negev desert (2005)

Sharon Oberlander

MSc

Master Thesis Title

Creating management zones for N application – applying GIS for precision agriculture (2005)

Prizes
  • Haim Molcho Foundation scholarship (2003)
Eyal Ben-Ze'ev

MSc

Master Thesis Title
Assessing vegetation condition through biomass burning smoke by applying the Aerosol-Free Vegetation Index (AFRI) on SPOT-VEGETATION and TERRA EOS-MODIS images (2003)
Jonathan Burgheimer

MSc

Summa cum laude
Master Thesis Title

Assessing the contribution of biologic soil crusts to ecosystem CO2 by remote sensing techniques (2003)

Anat Volcani

MSc

Master Thesis Title

Spatial and temporal analysis of the physiological state of Yatir forest with respect to drought years (2003)

David Figueras

MSc

Master Thesis Title

Spatial and temporal analysis of pollution dissipation and relationship to sources in the southeastern mediterranean using SeaWiFS chlorophyll images (2003)

Michal Raz

MSc

Master Thesis Title

Characterization of water and nitrogen stresses in wheat leaves and canopy by the visible and near-infrared reflectance (2002)

Michael Punzet

MSc

Master Thesis Title

Assessing desertification using satellite imagery and geo-statistical methods (2002)

Hagit Zioni

MSc

Master Thesis Title

A new aridity index based on the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Land Surface Temperature (LST), developed from NOAA AVHRR imagery (2002)

Stefanie Herrmann

MSc

Master Thesis Title

Assessment of the state of Central Asian takyrs by means of remote sensing (2001)

Louis Traore

Post-Doc

Master Thesis Title

A GIS and remote sensing methods for assessing and modeling anthropogenic induced land cover change in western Burkina (2001)

Floris Groesz

MSc

Master Thesis Title

Takyr spotting: the detection of takyrs in the Aral Sea basin and the classification according to their suitability for collecting runoff (2000)

Meir Mayo

MSc

Master Thesis Title

Multi-temporal analysis of sediment transport in the southeastern Mediterranean by remote sensing (1992)

FORMER TRAINEES
Ondřej Pešek

Doctorate – Czech Technical University

Post-Doc Research

Possibilities of convolutional neural networks use for remote sensing image classification

Prizes
  • Israeli Council for Higher Education Sandwich Grant

   2022

Christian Dost

PhD Student

Water balance model and multispectral imaging for automated determination of the plant water status

Haijun Qi

Agricultural University, China

Rapid detection of soil components based on hyperspectral imaging technology

Anna Zanchetta

Università di Bologna, Italy

Use of GIS and remote sensing for sustainability and resources management in arid and semiarid areas (2015)

Prizes
  • Erasmus MunDus AcadEmic Network (EDEN) Scholarship (2014)
Christoph Salbach

Helmholtz Centre for Environmental
Research, Leipzig, Germany

Effect of preprocessing transformations on spectral data (2015)

Arnbjoern Rudolph

University of Bayreuth, Germany

Geometrical correction of aerial photographs across the Israel – Egypt borderline (2006)

Christine Hanisch

University of Applied Sciences, Germany

Temporal analysis of the brightness contract across the Israel-Egypt border (2005)

Marj Tonini

Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pontedera (Pisa), Italy

Modeling of optimal water retention structure within an agro-forestry watershed (2000)

Bo Wu

Chinese Research and Development Center for Combating Desertification, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Wanshoushanhou, Beijing, P. R. China

Monitoring desertification processes at the Mu Us sandland, China (1999)

Prasanna Boruah

Assam Remote Sensing Application Center, India

Spectral response of desert plants with respect to adaptation of plants to desert conditions (1995)

Gaelle Krikorian

IUP Gestion et Genie de l’Environnement, Option Espace et Milieux, Paris 7 University, France

Remote sensing and field experiment, Nizzana area, processing and evaluation of a linear sand dune area (1995)

Jules Fleury

Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, France

Radar applications in the Negev desert (1994)

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