Dr. Wenli Zhao
Former Postdoctoral Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry Jena

Wenli obtained his PhD degree from Peking University in July, 2020 (Prof. Guoyu Qiu as the supervisor). During his PhD, he worked on using remote sensing data and eddy covariances to learn the ecohydrology issues, e.g., evapotranspiration. Over this period, he gained the experience of installing eddy covariance towers, sap flow systems, Bowen ratio systems in the field and building a drone (Unmanned aerial vehicle, UAV) thermal infrared observation system. Based on these basic experiences, he conducted the research on vegetation transpiration, water budget, and urban heat island. During his Phd period, he is also working with Prof. Pierre Gentine and Prof. Markus Reichstein to build a physics-constrained machine learning model to predict the evapotranspiration. After he obtained the PhD degree, he stayed in Prof. Pierre Gentine’s lab for postdoc training funded by the USMILE (ERC grant) project. Then, to further develop ideas for collaborations, he joined the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena as a postdoc under the Supervision of Prof. Markus Reichstein and Dr. Alexander Winkler. He was looking at hybrid modeling and machine learning to detect extreme events, e.g., drought, and inferring rooting depths on a large scale. Wenli also serves as a reviewer for Journals, e.g., Water Resources Research, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, Atmosphere, Sustainability, Frontiers. He is also a member of American Geophysical Union and European Geophysical Union.

Mail: wzhao@bgc-jena.mpg.de
Publications: Google Scholar
Official Website: https://www.bgc-jena.mpg.de/person/wzhao/5083042