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Prof. Petri Pellikka from University of Helsinki visit the MSpace team On October 13, 2023. The visit aims to explore the cutting-edge academic research topics, promote the international academic exchange, and deepen the future collaboration.

Prof. Xinlian Liang first presented an overview of the recent development in the MSpace, including system development, dataset construction, benchmarking studies, and algorithms.

Prof. Petri Pellikka delivered a presentation about the persisted research of his team, i.e., Remote and Environmental Sensing of the impact of Land Cover Changes to Ecosystem Services in Afromontane Landscape in Kenya.

The MSpace team members and Prof. Petri Pellika had an in-depth discussions on the environment observations and their applications in different geological regions. 

Biography

Prof. Petri Pellikka received his Master Degree at University of Helsinki, and Ph.D Degree at University of Munich. He became the professor of Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, Finland in 2002, the member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters in 2010. He is the director of multidisciplinary Taita Research Station of the University of Helsinki in Kenya, visiting professor periods in Carleton University, Ghent University, Cambridge University, Lund University, Beijing Normal University, Wuhan University and Canterbury University. His study focuses on exploring the climate and ecosystem impacts caused by land use change for decades. His research of the land use change and its impacts to ecosystem services based on remote and environmental sensing in Africa has been persisted for more than 20 years. He has supervised 34 PhD theses. 

The abstract of the presentation

Human population of sub-Saharan Africa grows the fastest in the world. Hence, the rapid expansion of cropland was required to maintain the food security. However, the land use change from forests and bushlands to agricultural fields may enhance the consequences on ecosystem services of climate change.

Land use change from natural land covers to managed systems caused vegetation and canopy cover decrease. It led to series of chain reactions. For example, carbon stocks decrease, weakening of capturing the atmospheric water by vegetation, water infiltration and evapotranspiration decrease of soil, increase of land surface temperatures and albedo. All these consequences enhanced the climate change, warming, and lack of water. However, these trends are very typical not only in the Taita Hills, but all around the sub-Saharan Africa. Hence, mitigating the climate change and proposing the smart climate smart solutions, such as agroforestry, are needed for landscapes and agricultural practices. 

In mountainous Taita Hills in Kenya, CO2 sequestration and carbon stocks, water resources and greenhouse gas emissions from soils caused by land use change were monitored using remote and environmental sensing. The data utilized included satellite and airborne imagery and airborne laser scanning data, spectroscopy, and data from the field experiments on the ground. The research achievements of the land use change in Taita research station have impact other research in other parts of the world, especially in the tropical and subtropical areas.