About

Katarzyna Ostapowicz
Dr Katarzyna Ostapowicz is a research scientist working in Environmental Data Science and Earth Observation, with applications in Land System Science and biodiversity and climate research. Her work examines land-use and land-cover change, ecosystem dynamics, and human–environment interactions across Arctic and temperate regions.

She develops spatial modelling frameworks that integrate satellite time-series, spatial analysis, and GeoAI methods to investigate long-term environmental change and climate-related ecosystem responses. Her research combines methodological development with empirical case studies, contributing to the analysis of biodiversity patterns, carbon dynamics, and land-system transformations.

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Academic Degrees

Expertise

2007: PhD in Earth Sciences (Geography), Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland

2004: MSc in Physics (specialization: Nuclear Physics), Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland

2002: MSc in Physical Geography within Environmental and Mathematical Studies (specialization: Geographic Information Systems), Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland

Selected Research Projects

Research

2025 - PI
Research Council of Norway (NINA's strategic initiative programme SATS), Sen2Veg project: Sentinel-2 Seasonal Composites for Vegetation and Land Cover Monitoring

2024 - PI
Research Council of Norway (NINA's strategic initiative programme SATS), POLARSIF Project: Assessing Vegetation Phenological Changes in Polar Regions Using Solar-Induced Fluorescence Data

2019-2024 - Researcher
European Commission – Horizon 2020, CHARTER project: Drivers and Feedbacks of Changes in Arctic Terrestrial Biodiversity

2019-2023 - PI
National Science Centre Poland, TRACE project: Trajectories, causes and consequences of land cover and land use changes in Central Europe

2016-2019 - PI
National Science Centre Poland, RS4FOR project: Forest change detection and monitoring using passive and active remote sensing data

Selected Publications

Research

Hoffmann M.T., Ostapowicz, K., Bartoń K., Ibisch P.L., Selva N., 2024, Mapping roadless areas in regions with contrasting human footprint, Scientific Reports, 14, 4722, doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-55283-3

Tømmervik H., Julitta T., Nilsen L.; Park T., Burkart A., Ostapowicz K., Karlsen S.R., Parmentier F., Pirk N., Bjerke J.W., 2023, The northernmost hyperspectral FLoX sensor dataset for monitoring of high-Arctic tundra vegetation phenology and Sun-Induced Fluorescence (SIF), Data in Brief, 50, 109581, doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2023.109581

Grabska E., Frantz D., Ostapowicz K., 2020, Evaluation of machine learning algorithms for forest stand species mapping using Sentinel-2 imagery and environmental data in the Polish Carpathians, Remote Sensing of Environment, 251, 112103, doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2020.112103

Bolliger J., Schmatz D.R., Pazúr R., Ostapowicz K., Psomas A., 2017, Reconstructing forest-cover change in the Swiss Alps between 1880 and 2010 using ensemble modelling, Regional Environmental Change, 17, 8, 2265–2277, doi.org/10.1007/s10113-016-1090-4

Ziółkowska E., Ostapowicz K., Radeloff V.C., Selva N., Kuemmerle T., Śmietana W., 2016, Assessing differences in connectivity based on habitat versus movement models for brown bears in the Carpathians, Landscape Ecology, 31, 1863-1882, doi.org/10.1007/s10980-016-0368-8