Mark
Friedl
Professor & Chairman
Department
of Geography and Environment, Boston University
Contact Information
675 Commonwealth
Ave, Boston, MA 02215
Tel: (617)
353-5745;
Fax: (617)
353-8399
Email: friedl@bu.edu;
Image credit: Reto Stöckli NASA/GSFC
I am trained as a physical geographer and my research examines biophysical patterns and processes at the Earth's surface. I am particularly interested in how land surface properties affect surface climate, and how land surface biophysics influence the Earth's weather and climate system. These topics are interdisciplinary in nature and involve processes that are relevant to biophysical ecology, micrometeorology, biogeography, and climate. To study these topics, my research relies heavily on remote sensing, biophysical models of land-atmosphere energy exchange, and statistical methods. Current ongoing research projects are focused on (1) developing methods to monitor and map global land cover and vegetation phenology using the data from NASA's MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectoradiometer (MODIS), and (2) using data from MODIS to improve numerical weather forecasts provided by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction. I also have ongoing interests in the application of statistical methods and data mining to geophysical data sets. At BU I work closely with Guido Salvucci, Nathan Phillips, Bruce Anderson, Curtis Woodcock, Crystal Schaaf and Alan Strahler. I currently serve as a subject matter editor for Ecological Applications, which is a journal of the Ecological Society of America, I am also a NASA science team member for MODIS, and I chair the Oak Ridge National Lab Distributed Active Archive Center for Biogeochemical Dynamics User Working Group
Selected Recent Publications
Zhang, X., M.A. Friedl, C.B. Schaaf, A.H. Strahler and A. Schneider, 2004. The footprint of urban climates on vegetation phenology. Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 31, L12209, doi:10.1029/2004GL020137.
Baccini,
A, M.A. Friedl, C.E. Woodcock and R. Warbington 2004. Forest biomass estimation over regional
scales using multisource data, Geophysical Research Letters,
Vol. 31,
L10501, doi:10.1029/2004GL019782.
Zhang, X., M.A. Friedl, C.B. Schaaf and A.H. Strahler 2004. Climate Controls on vegetation phenological patterns in northern mid- and high latitudes inferred from MODIS data, Global Change Biology, Vol 10, pp. 1133-1145, 2004.
Lotsch,
A, M.A. Friedl, and J. Pinzon, 2003.
Spatio-Temporal Deconvolution of NDVI Image sequences using
independent
component analysis, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote
Sensing, Vol.
41. No. 12, pp. 2938-2942.
Schneider, A., Friedl, M.A., McIver, D.K. and C.E. Woodcock 2003. Mapping urban areas by fusing multiple sources of coarse resolution remotely sensed data, Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, Vol 69, no. 12, pp 1377-1386.
Lotsch, A., Friedl, M.A., Anderson, B.T. and C.J. Tucker 2003. Coupled vegetation-precipitation variability observed from satellite and climate records, Geophysical Research Letters, 30(14), 1774, doi: 10.1029/2003GL017506
Yang,
R. and M.A. Friedl 2003. Modeling the effects of 3-D
vegetation
structure on surface radiation and energy balance in boreal forests, Journal
of Geophysical Research, Atmospheres, 108 (D16), 8615, doi:
10.1029/2002JD003109.
Teaching
Interests
I
teach courses in physical geography, land surface climatology and
micrometeorology, and statistical methods for environmental
science. My courses emphasize quantitative methods using
biophysical models and statistical techniques. Courses in
physical geography, land surface climatology, and micrometerology focus
on processes controlling energy and mass exchange between soils,
vegetation, and the atmosphere. Courses in statistical methods
cover topics related to analysis and empirical modeling of geophysical
and biophysical variables.