Thermal hyperspectral mapping of canopy dieback in bark beetle affected forests of Bavarian Forest National Park

Bark beetle outbreaks have transformed large areas of Central European spruce forests, including the Bavarian Forest National Park. Warming temperatures and recurring droughts weaken trees, making them more susceptible to beetle attacks and leading to widespread canopy dieback. These disturbances do not only change the visual appearance of the forest; they also modify local microclimates by altering shading, evapotranspiration, and wind exposure. Canopy gaps and standing dead wood can create hotter and drier conditions at the forest floor, while regenerating understorey and mixed-species stands may gradually re-establish cooler, more buffered microclimates.

Understanding how canopy dieback reshapes microclimate is crucial for predicting forest regeneration, biodiversity responses, and future resilience to climate extremes. However, microclimate is highly heterogeneous and difficult to monitor with sparse ground sensors alone. Thermal hyperspectral remote sensing provides a powerful means to map canopy temperature and stress indicators continuously across landscapes, capturing fine spatial details that are often overlooked by coarse-resolution climate products.

The Bavarian Forest National Park offers a unique “natural laboratory” for studying these processes, featuring large unmanaged bark beetle disturbance patches, strong gradients in forest structure, and long-term monitoring data. By combining thermal hyperspectral imagery, ancillary forest data, and spatial modelling, this MSc topic will reveal how bark beetle–driven canopy dieback alters microclimate patterns, where cooling or warming hotspots emerge, and how these relate to forest structure and regeneration stages. The results can inform park management on climate-smart conservation strategies and contribute to methods for monitoring disturbance–microclimate interactions in other mountain forest ecosystems.