Image acquired by the VENµS satellite, 2018, over the Zin Valley, Negev Desert, Israel
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:
- In 2013, Karnieli was ranked among the top 20 researchers in the world in the field of remote sensing discipline by the Scientometrics journal (https://DOI 10.1007/s11192-012-0918-z ).
- In 2020, Karnieli was ranked by PLOS Biology among the top 2% of scientists worldwide (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000384)
- In 2023, Karnieli was ranked by Google Scholar in the 6th place among Ben Gurion University researchers, according to the number of citations (19912). (https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_org&org=11984924153857902113&hl=en&oi=io, observed on February 20, 2023.
- In 2023, Karnieli was ranked by Research.com as no. 1082 in the world, no. 6 in Israel, and no. 1 at Ben Gurion University in the field of Environmental Sciences. Ranking is based on D-index (Discipline H-index) metric, which only includes papers and citation values for an examined discipline.
2017
Spatiotemporal analysis of landscape pattern changes using satellite images in sandy environment
- 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)
- 2022 – The School of Sustainability and Climate Change Interdisciplinary Scholarship
- 2022 – KKL Scholarship
- 2023 – 2nd Moshe Mirilashvili Fellowship
- 2023 – Dean’s Certificate of Excellence
- 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
avivlee@post.bgu.ac.il
- The Pratt Foundation Scholarship
The effect of climate change on the structure and function of the critical zone in drylands
Spatio-temporal analysis of remote sensing data
The effects of climate change and land cover changes on rainfall-runoff relation in coastal watersheds
- 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)
Effects of landuse on soil quality and plants productivity for assessing land degradation and ecosystem services in semi-arid regions of Israel
- Postdoctorate scholarship for outstanding women from the Planning & Budgeting Committee (2015)
- Haim Molcho Foundation scholarship (2012)
- Ilan Ramon Scholarship (2015)
Mapping canopy biodiversity along rainfall gradient of Israel, using imaging spectroscopy
Developing physiologically-based multi-spectral tools for the monitoring of wine vine water status
- 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)
Remote sensing and spectroscopy of biological soil crusts (2014)
Comparison of combined rs&gis land-use classification methods in the Northern Negev, Israel
- 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)
Characterization of canopy spectral responses of wheat and corn to water stress and nitrogen deficiencies under arid conditions
- Laskov Scholarship, Agriculture Research Organization, Israel (2005, 2007)
- Haim Molcho Foundation scholarship (2003, 2006)
- The Frederick Siegmund Prize for Excellence in Desert Studies (2003)
Optical properties, chemical composition and transport features of atmospheric aerosols over the Negev desert
- Minerva Short-Term Research Grant (2002)
- Rieger Foundation Prize (2003)
- Outstanding study award, Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research (2007)
MA Student
Assessing the effects of pollution on vegetation cover using remote sensing in a desert environment
- 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)
MA Student
Spatio-temporal analysis of landscape pattern changes in the Northern Negev using satellite imagery
Hyperspectral monitoring of salt sensitivity in tomato grafting
- Interdisciplinary scholarship (2016/7-2017/8)
Leaf traits changes in sunflower as result of broomrape parasitism
- Interdisciplinary scholarship (2015/6-2016/7)
Change detection analysis of short-term climate and human induced changes in the northwestern Negev
The Negev as a model for adaptation to climate change
Spaceborne change detection analysis over Mu-Us sand fields China
Vegetation dynamics resulting from anthropogenic effects and climatic fluctuations across the Israel – Egypt border
A comparison between vegetation indices for measuring vegetation dynamics resulting from climatic variations (2007)
MSc
Creating management zones for N application – applying GIS for precision agriculture (2005)
- Haim Molcho Foundation scholarship (2003)
Spatial and temporal analysis of the physiological state of Yatir forest with respect to drought years (2003)
Assessing desertification using satellite imagery and geo-statistical methods (2002)
MSc
A new aridity index based on the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Land Surface Temperature (LST), developed from NOAA AVHRR imagery (2002)
Assessment of the state of Central Asian takyrs by means of remote sensing (2001)
A GIS and remote sensing methods for assessing and modeling anthropogenic induced land cover change in western Burkina (2001)
MSc
Takyr spotting: the detection of takyrs in the Aral Sea basin and the classification according to their suitability for collecting runoff (2000)
Possibilities of convolutional neural networks use for remote sensing image classification
- Israeli Council for Higher Education Sandwich Grant
Water balance model and multispectral imaging for automated determination of the plant water status
Use of GIS and remote sensing for sustainability and resources management in arid and semiarid areas (2015)
- Erasmus MunDus AcadEmic Network (EDEN) Scholarship (2014)
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental
Research, Leipzig, Germany
Effect of preprocessing transformations on spectral data (2015)
University of Bayreuth, Germany
Geometrical correction of aerial photographs across the Israel – Egypt borderline (2006)
University of Applied Sciences, Germany
Temporal analysis of the brightness contract across the Israel-Egypt border (2005)
Modeling of optimal water retention structure within an agro-forestry watershed (2000)
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)
Assam Remote Sensing Application Center, India
Spectral response of desert plants with respect to adaptation of plants to desert conditions (1995)
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)
Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, France
Radar applications in the Negev desert (1994)
