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dr.ir. A. Vrieling (Anton)

Associate Professor

About Me

I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Natural Resources, Faculty of Geo-information Science and Earth Observation. My research and teaching activities concentrate on the application of satellite image time series for the understanding, mapping, and monitoring of dynamic natural resources. I predominantly analyze changes in agricultural and natural vegetation cover to infer relevant information. This information can then be applied for improved understanding of the effects of environmental change (e.g. climate), or for more efficient natural resource management. Besides a direct focus on societally-relevant applications, I also have a more fundamental interest in assessing the potential of new satellite sensors, particularly those with a high repeat frequency, for monitoring vegetation seasonality at fine spatial scales. My main focus areas include:

  1. vegetation phenology, including at fine spatial resolution;
  2. agricultural drought monitoring and prediction, for example in the framework of index insurance programs;
  3. interaction between livestock and the environment in rangelands.

Before joining the University of Twente in 2009, I obtained two MSc's and a PhD from Wageningen University, the Netherlands. The MSc's were obtained in the fields of 'Tropical Land Use' and 'Geo-information Science' in 2001. My PhD was on the use of satellite data for soil erosion studies, and was completed in 2007. Between 2007 and 2009, I worked at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (Ispra, Italy).

Expertise

Earth & Environmental Sciences
Africa
Index
Modis
Ndvi
Phenology
Time Series
Vegetation
Agriculture & Biology
Phenology

Publications

Recent
Nidumolu, U., Gobbett, D., Hayman, P., Howden, M., Dixon, J. , & Vrieling, A. (2022). Climate change shifts agropastoral-pastoral margins in Africa putting food security and livelihoods at risk. Environmental research letters, 17(9), [095003]. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac87c1
Muthoka, J. M., Antonarakis, A. S. , Vrieling, A., Fava, F., Salakpi, E. E., & Rowhani, P. (2022). Assessing drivers of intra-seasonal grassland dynamics in a Kenyan savannah using digital repeat photography. Ecological indicators, 142, [109223]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2022.109223
Vrieling, A., Fava, F., Leitner, S., Merbold, L., Cheng, Y., Nakalema, T. , Groen, T. A., & Butterbach-Bahl, K. (2022). Identification of temporary livestock enclosures in Kenya from multi-temporal PlanetScope imagery. Remote sensing of environment, 279, [113110]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2022.113110
Duan, K. , Vrieling, A., Kaveh, H. , & Darvishzadeh, R. (2021). Mapping saffron fields and their ages with Sentinel-2 time series in north-east Iran. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation (JAG), 102, 1-16. [102398]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2021.102398

UT Research Information System

Google Scholar Link

Education

Since 2009 I teach in the Faculty ITC, and prior to that I taught at Wageningen University (2001-2006). I have contributed to a wide variety of courses, generally for international classrooms. My teaching activities focus on the application of satellite image time series for the understanding, mapping, and monitoring of dynamic natural resources. These activities comprise:

  • lecturing in courses on remote sensing, environmental monitoring (mostly related to vegetation), and natural resource management;
  • design and coordination of courses related to e.g. remote sensing of vegetation phenology, drought monitoring, natural resource management;
  • design and supervision of case studies for challenge-based learning;
  • development of online courses in the frameworks of FAO E-learning, the EU-funded GeoNetC project, and the online MSc-programme iGEON;
  • supervision of >40 MSc students for their Master's thesis (besides PhD supervision);
  • individual mentoring in the MSE programme to facilitate students in defining and managing their own learning goals and pathways.

Affiliated Study Programmes

Master

Other

Courses Academic Year  2022/2023

Courses in the current academic year are added at the moment they are finalised in the Osiris system. Therefore it is possible that the list is not yet complete for the whole academic year.
 

Courses Academic Year  2021/2022

Contact Details

Visiting Address

University of Twente
Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation
Langezijds (building no. 19), room 1125
Hallenweg 8
7522NH  Enschede
The Netherlands

Mailing Address

University of Twente
Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation
Langezijds  1125
P.O. Box 217
7500 AE Enschede
The Netherlands

Additional Contact Information